thy sons' disgrace--
Rise with a spirit that no flame can scorch
To make thyself a new and honored place.

Ah, Good Gray City! Let me sing thy song
Of western splendor, vigorous and bold;
In vice or virtue unashamed and strong--
Stormy of mien but with a heart of gold!
I love thee, San Francisco; I am proud
Of all thy scars and trophies, praise or blame
And from thy wind-swept hills I cry aloud
The everlasting glory of thy name.

PREFACE

This is the story of San Francisco. When a newspaper editor summoned me
from the mountains to write a serial he said:

"I've sent for you because I believe you love this city more than any
other writer of my acquaintance or knowledge. And I believe the true
story of San Francisco will make a more dramatic, vivid, human narrative
than any fiction I've ever read.

"Take all the time you want. Get everything straight, and _put all
you've got into this story_. I'm going to wake up the town with it."

To the best of my ability, I followed the editor's instructions. He
declared himself satisfied. The public responded generously. The serial
was a success.

But, ah! I wish I might have written it much better ... or that Robert
Louis Stevenson, for instance, might have done it in my stead.

"Port O' Gold" is history with a fiction thread to string its episodes
upon. Most of the characters are men and women who have lived and played
their parts exactly as described herein. The background and chronology
are as accurate as extensive and painstaking research can make them.

People have informed me that my fictional characters, vide Benito, "took
hold of them" more than the "real ones" ... which is natural enough,
perhaps, since they are my own brain-children, while the others are
merely adopted. Nor is this anything to be deplored. The writer, after
all, is first an entertainer. Indirectly he may edify, inform or teach.
My only claim is that I've tried to tell the story of the city that I
love as truly and attractively as I was able. My only hope is that I
have been worthy of the task.

Valuable aid in the accumulation of historical data for this volume was
given by:

Robert Rea, librarian, San Francisco Public Library;

Mary A. Byrne, manager Reference Department, San Francisco Public
Library;

John Howell and John J. Newbegin, booksellers and collectors of
Californiana, for whose cheerful interest and many courtesies the