The site of the city of San Francisco is very uneven, embracing a series
of hills, of which the highest ones, known as the Twin Peaks, reach to
an elevation of 925 feet, and form the crown of an amphitheatre of lower
altitudes. Several of the latter are covered with handsome residences,
and afford a magnificent view of the surrounding country, with its
bordering bay and ocean, and the noble Golden Gate channel, a river-like
passage from ocean to bay of five miles in length and one in width. This
waterway is very deep except on the bar at its mouth, where the depth of
water is thirty feet.

Since its early days the growth of the city has been very rapid. In 1900
it held 342,782 people, and the census estimate made from figures of the
city directory in 1904 gave it then a population of 485,000, probably
a considerable exaggeration. In it are mingled inhabitants from most
of the nations of the earth, and it may claim the unenviable honor of
possessing the largest population of Chinese outside of China itself,
the colony numbering over 20,000.

Of the pioneer San Francisco few traces remain, the old buildings having
nearly all disappeared. Large and costly business houses and splendid
residences have taken their place in the central portion of the city,
marble, granite, terra-cotta, iron and steel being largely used as
building material. The great prevalence of frame buildings in the
residence sections is largely due to the popular belief that they
are safer in a locality subject to earthquakes, while the frequent
occurrence of earth tremors long restrained the inclination to erect
lofty buildings. Not until 1890 was a high structure built, and few
skyscrapers had invaded the city up to its day of ruin. They will
probably be introduced more frequently in the future, recent experience
having demonstrated that they are in considerable measure earthquake