Map of
the Bernal Land Grants in relation to the early City of San Francisco.
From
a brochure issued by the real estate firm of Latimer Bros. & Seymour,
New York, 1857.
This map illustrated a pamphlet
which is in the collection of the
Daniel E. Koshland San Francisco History
Center
on the 6th floor of the Main
Branch of the San Francisco Public
Library.
A number of photo copies of
historic maps of San Francisco, including this one,
are available for sale at the
History Center desk. Ask to browse the maps binder...
If you've ever read the title to a
piece of real estate you've possibly noticed that property location is described
as distance in feet and inches in a specific compass direction from a street
corner. But how are streets themselves defined? Often their positions
are described by specific distances from "monuments" (you've seen brass discs
embedded in sidewalks), markers established by the earliest surveys of the
area.
In parts of California, and in some
San Francisco neighborhoods, this first U.S. survey - and maybe the first
accurate survey ever - was the one mandated by the Land Commission of 1851.
The Commission, created to fulfill one of the commitments of the Treaty of
Gudalupe Hidalgo, was charged with confirming the boundaries of Mexican and
Spanish Land Grants, the holders of which were newly-minted United States
citizens whose property ownership would be confirmed by the commission.
About the time I began researching
the Bernal Grant in San Francisco I discovered that the borders of their property
is marked on contemporary San Francisco street maps produced by Thomas Brothers Maps, a fact that, I came
to realize, must be because these property lines were set by the first survey
of the area and which therefore help to define todays street easements throughout
the neighborhoods of the Mission District.
These photos, which show features of the erstwhile Bernal
Land Grants of 1839 (Rincon de las Salinas) and 1840 (El Potrero Viejo) were
shot using the The Thomas Guide: 1997 Golden Gate Street Guide and Directory.
Back to Bernals...
Photos, copyright © 1999