Howdy, Another SFslice from a prior posting: "Howdy, Early in 1849 it became evident that San Francisco was on its way to becoming a major commercial center with the tremendous influx of shipping. The "Daily Alta California" asked that shipmasters provide "any information of a public character which they may be enabled to give us on arrival.... LISTS of PASSENGERS we will always be happy to insert." Probably the most important step for documenting harbor shipping was the appointment of a HARBORMASTER who recorded arriving and departing vessels; and passed on to the newspapers such information as the name of the vessel, the port it was from or clearing to, and, for arrivals, time of passage, number of passengers, and a general view of the cargo. Initially, vessel arrivals had been heralded either by a chance observer on the hills above town, or only after a ship had rounded CLARK's Point and dropped anchor off the waterfront. With the influx of ship traffic, the harbormaster perched a lookout at the summit of Loma Alta, a sandy rock projections marking the northern end of Yerba Buena Cove. In February, 1849, a San Francisco naval officer drew up some suggested code signals for ships to notify their arrivals to shore. For a better view in September, 1849, a marine lookout station - a small two-story, rectangular, frame building - was erected atop the 284 foot high Loma Alta hill. From the station's roof, a large flagstaff with wooden semaphore arms "telegraphed" - using an appropriate flag - a ship's arrival, nationality, and ship type to the town below. It didn't take people long to dub the station, Telegraph Hill. Telegraph Hill was slightly prempted in April, 1850, when Messrs. George E. SWEENEY and Timothy E. BAUGH opened a second lookout station outside the "harbor at Point Lobos, the south head of the bight leading to the Golden Gate," which on a clear day, with a telescope, had several miles' visability and could spot vessels far out at sea. The Point Lobos lookout would signal by semaphore the Telegraph Hiil lookout, who signaled the Merchants Exchanged downtown, who in turn, from its flagstaff, notified the downtown merchants. The merchants would then often print and pass out broadsheets(handbills?) throughout the town. This system continued until 1852/53 when a magnetic telegraph line was installed between Point Lobos and downtown. It wasn't until 1961, that modern radio-telegraph communications and radar finally closed down "The Outer Signal Station" at Point Lobos.(Mainly from Delgado's "To California by Sea.") Hang on. One more SF coming in a bit :-) Bob Norris in Dallas <BNorris166aol.com>