Hop on a Powell Street cable car in San Francisco and, with bells clanging, you'll be carried up one of the steepest hills of the city. From the top you can look across San Francisco Bay to the Golden Gate Bridge silhouetted like a great orange web against the sky.

Just where you see the fishing boats returning with their day's catch, the Spanish Schooner San Carlos made its way in 1775. That was the first ship to cast anchor in San Francisco Bay. But from then on, a succession of vessels sailed into that famous port as part of one of the most colorful and exciting pageants in all history.

Like the city itself, The Story of San Francisco by Charlotte Jackson is a brilliant pageant introducing the fabulous characters and situations that have made its history—the Spanish up from Mexico, Yankee traders in their clipper ships, prospectors during the gold rush, and ship-loads of Chinese from across the Pacific.

With every episode of the pageant of San Francisco came breath-taking excitement. And as you read The Story of San Francisco, you feel as though you are standing on Nob Hill watching the great drama of this story-book city unfolding before your eyes.

From the dust jacket