The Man Who Built San Francisco

[barryqwalsh]

The Limerick man who built San Francisco – An Irishwoman’s Diary on Michael Maurice O’Shaughnessy




Arriving late on his very first day at what was then Queen’s College Cork, Michael Maurice O’Shaughnessy was told what a “calamity” it would be if he ever went on to assume the position of railway chief engineer, where timing was everything.


The Limerick man who built San Francisco – An Irishwoman’s Diary on Michael Maurice O’Shaughnessy

 

[skye]

The man who built San Fransicko must be turning in his grave as we speak............. he never knew it would all end up like this...... his dream turned into a nightmare...oh well

 

[JoeMoma]

The man who built San Fransicko must be turning in his grave as we speak............. he never knew it would all end up like this...... his dream turned into a nightmare...oh well

No more Rice-a-roni for me.

 

[Tax Man]

No single man built San Francisco. It basically started as a mission on the el camino real.

 

[skye]

No single man built San Francisco. It basically started as a mission on the el camino real.

and look at it now

el camino to Hell

 

[IsaacNewton]

History forum, why does this look like a thread in the Flame Zone.

 

[longknife]

No single man built San Francisco. It basically started as a mission on the el camino real.

In 1769, Don Gaspar Portola led an expedition from San Diego to find the perfect harbor of Monte Rey. He continued north to the straits were the bay entered the sea. Friar Crespi, the expedition diarist, found a spot at the mouth of a creek and designated it for a mission called San Francisco de Asis. Portola then marked a spot for a presidio, a military garrison to protect Spanish territory from the inroads of Russian fur traders.

The mission flourished but the garrison was never a truly functional military fort. It wasn't until the discovery of gold at Sutters Mill that caused the explosive growth of a city.