Front:
PORTOLA'S FIRST VIEW OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY
Back:
P.N.C
DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY
Capt. Gaspar De Portola became governor of the Californias
(lower and upper) in 1768. Spain, having decided to check
the Southward encroachment of the Russians from the North,
sent a force to fortify and hold Monterey,
On July 14th 1769 Governor Portola and a small force left
San Diego on foot for Monterey Bay but on account of the
inaccuracy of the maps the bay was passed unrecognized. While
encamped near Mussel Point, Sergt. Jose Francisco Ortega, with
a few men, was despatched by Portola to continue the search,
and while en route was the first white man to explore the
peninsula on which is built the great city of San Francisco. At
the same time a few of Portola's men while hunting in the hills
northeast of the camp on Nov. 2nd 1769, beheld a "great inland
Sea". This, as far as records show, was the first time that white
man gazed upon the great Bay of San Francisco within the
Golden Gate.
Pacific Novelty Company of San Francisco. Publishers.
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