 chimes and its presidios, the two
institutions being bound together.

Four presidios were established by Spain in old California to guard
its missions; the first, at San Diego; the second, at Monterey;
the third, at San Francisco; and the fourth, at Santa Barbara. It
is the third which bespeaks our interest in this chapter, owing to
its importance in the present day as well as to its historic and
natural charm.

The presidio at San Francisco was established in 1776 by an
expedition which set out in two parts in June of that year from
Monterey; one part to go by land, the other by water. The objective
point of the two was a bay which had been discovered in 1769 by
an expedition from San Diego. It was named in honor of Saint
Francis of Assisi, hence, San Francisco. The land expedition
included Friars Palou and Cambon, a few married settlers with large
families, and seventeen dragoons under the command of Don Jose
Moraga, who was to be the commandant of the new post. It carried
garden seed, agricultural implements, horses, mules and sheep. This
party reached the neighborhood of the Golden Gate on June 27 and,
without waiting for the detachment which was coming by sea, chose
a site for the presidio and began work upon the modest buildings
of that station. The seed was placed in the ground, the cattle and
sheep put out to graze and the horses and mules set to labor. All
was activity.

The first part of September saw the buildings of the post
substantially complete and on September 17, the feast of the
Stigmata of Saint Francis, solemn possession of the Presidio, in
the name of the King of Spain, was taken by the grizzled soldier
Moraga, while a mass was celebrated by Palou. A Te Deum was sung, a
cross was planted and salutes were fired over land and water. Thus
was the presidio of San Francisco founded.

[Illustration:

  By courtesy of R. J. Waters & Co.

FORT SCOTT AND THE GOLDEN GATE, PRESIDIO RESERVATION, SAN FRANCISCO]

It is a far cry from 1776 to the present day (though not so long
as from 1776 back to the fir