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Jhe San Francisco SUNDAY CALL lAQAZNE'g SECTION I PART lj the HILL of THE ALIENS SAN FRANCISCO'S FAMOUS HILLS With the approach of exposition year San Francisco looms larger and larger in the eyes of the world. Wherever the city is known —and that is everywhere—men talk of the hills which are the city's throne. The city's history and its romance have centered singularly about these conspicuous summits. Four of the hills stand as visible monuments of four distinct epochs. The story of these hills will be told in The Sunday Call in articles that will seek to portray something of the spirit of each and something of its meaning. The present article concerns Telegraph hill, the beautifica tion of which enters prominently into the exposition plans. The articles to follow are "Rincon—The Hill Where Aristocracy Began," "Nob —The Hill of the New Fortunes" and "Russian— The Hill of Those Who Love It." These articles will form a notable series and will prove of interest at home as well as abroad. The second article appears next Sunday. Mabel H. Collyer TELEGRAPH HILL lias always been an alien in her own port. And she has always presented almost as sorry, an appearance as she does today. Her beautiftcatlon has been discussed and many plans for her improvement have been drawn by am bitious and patriotic young engineers. The carrying out of any of these plans constituted a problem that has been handed down from one generation to the next ever since the pioneers first flung their shacks across her slopes. Perhaps had she been occupied by only one nation, instead of by such a motley, national pride would have decked her in gala attire long ago. The Italians might have been inspired to erect beautiful little villas with wonderful hanging gardens on the side where her cliffs are now marred by wretched makeshifts. The Japanese might have made of her a miniature Tokyo, with paper folding houses, or the Mexicans might have graced her with winding lanes, leading through patios to mission like adobe mansions. The possibilities for her improvement are legion. But she has been the puppet of all nations and the pet of none. Compared to her fairer, re dignified sister hills, she has been jade, with her hat on the side, her irt awry, a goat at her heels. And, -rangely enough, in all her checkered •■: as a Mecca for foreign irami nts, she has never become Angli cized even to a small degree. She is lay qwite as much a modern young tower of Babel as she was in 1849, when seemingly every nation on earth was represented on her si opt > ~ud even a most efficient linguist was frequently at a loss to make himself understood. Bayard Taylor, who came by steamer. in 1549, describes her slopes as they then appeared: "The barren side of the hill before us was covered with tents and canvas houses. Grossing the shoulder of the hill, the view extended around the* curve of the bay, and hundreds of tents and houses appeared scattered all over the heights and along the shore for more than a mile. Great quantities of goods were piled up in the open air for want of a place to store them. The streets were full of people hurrying to and fro—Yankees of every possible variety, native Californlans in scrapes and sombreros, Chilians, Sono'rians, Kanakas from Hawaii, Chinese with long tails, Malays armed with their everlasting creeses." In 1849 the signal station was erected on the pinnacle of the hill by the shipping firm of Sweeny & Baugh. This station commanded a view of eight miles through the Golden gate, and the signals heralding the approach of incoming -vessels could be seen from all quarters of the town. This sign language, understood even by the veri est little heathen Chinese, constitutes Telegraph hill's only attempt t© adopt a language universal. The signaling apparatus consisted of a high, black pole supporting two large, black arms. The angles at which these arms were set indicated the character of the vessel entering the Gate. The signal for the thrice welcome "side wheeler" bearing mail and papers frohi Panama, was the two arms extended at right angles to tut pole. Later another station with similar signals was erected on Point Lobos. In 1858 an electric tele graph system was established between these two stations to circumvent the fog which so frequently hung like a pall across the Gate. The steepness of Telegraph hill has been extolled by every writer whose pen has been moved to describe it. From some of these descriptions, a stranger might easily deem h*er a worthy rival of the Matterhorn. One author describes his ascent as "like a chicken going to roost." Charles Warren Stoddard, who lived on the slope of the hill, near what he termed "the snow line," describes a descent from the very top: "So steep was the way that at inter vals the modern fire escane would' have been a welcome aid to our progress. Steps plunged headlong from one ter race to another. From the veranda of one house one might have leaped to the roof of the house just below. The town stood on end just there, and at the foot was the foreign quarter." However mongrel her pedigree and inharmonious her surroundings, the old hill, like her native city, has always had charm. Stoddard gives a series of brief sketches: "We the Spanish quarter at the foot of the hill by the balconies like hanging gardens, and by the dark eyed senoritas with lace mantillas drawn over their blue-black hair. * * * Everywhere we heard the most mellifluous of languages—the "lovely lingo" we used to call it. * • The shopkeepers and their aids were like actors in a play. They seemed really to be playing and not trying ta engage in any serious business. In the Continued on Neat Pas* MNmm ; it i 1912 '■•