Misplaced Pages

#314685

117-652: It was named for the USCS Active , a United States Navy survey vessel, the first steamer to navigate the pass in 1855. From 1967 to 2011, the Active Pass light station was part of the British Columbia Shore Station Oceanographic Program , collecting coastal water temperature and salinity measurements for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans everyday for 44 years. Currently, the pass

234-747: A World Series game between two Bay Area baseball teams, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck and caused widespread infrastructural damage, including the failure of the Bay Bridge , a major link between San Francisco and Oakland . Even so, the Bay Area's technology industry continued to expand and growth in Silicon Valley accelerated: the United States census confirmed that year that San Jose had overtaken San Francisco in terms of population. The commercialization of

351-449: A complex multimodal transportation network. The earliest archaeological evidence of human settlements in the Bay Area dates back to 8000–10,000 BC. The oral tradition of the Ohlone and Miwok people suggests they have been living in the Bay Area for several hundreds if not thousands of years. The Spanish empire claimed the area beginning in the early period of Spanish colonization of

468-728: A dense fog she hit a rock near the shore in Humboldt County , California and had to beach to prevent sinking in deep water. Her passengers and crew were saved, but the ship was lost. The ship was built at the Westervelt & MacKay shipyard in New York and launched in September 1849. She was a coal-fired sidewheel steamer , but also rigged as a two-masted sailing ship to take advantage of favorable winds. Like several other shipping entrepreneurs, Westervelt & MacKay sought to take advantage of

585-620: A few years earlier, which now provides drinking water for 2.4 million people in the Bay Area. By 1915, the city had been sufficiently rebuilt and advertised itself to the world during the Panama Pacific Exposition that year, although the effects of the quake hastened the loss of the region's dominant status in California to the Los Angeles metropolitan area . During the 1929 stock market crash and subsequent economic depression , not

702-552: A first in the United States, and four years later a majority of voters in the Bay Area rejected California Proposition 8 , which sought to constitutionally restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples but ultimately passed statewide. The Bay Area was also the center of contentious protests concerning racial and economic inequality . In 2009, an African-American man named Oscar Grant was fatally shot by Bay Area Rapid Transit police officers , precipitating widespread protests across

819-722: A major domestic military and naval hub, with large shipyards constructed in Sausalito and across the East Bay to build ships for the war effort. The Army's San Francisco Port of Embarkation was the primary origin for Army forces shipping out to the Pacific Theater of Operations . That command consisted of fourteen installations including Fort Mason, the Oakland Army Base , Camp Stoneman and Fort McDowell in San Francisco Bay and

936-585: A railroad across the isthmus of Tehuantepec . This American business was controversial in Mexico in the wake of the Mexican-American War . Gold Hunter sailed from San Francisco on March 22, 1851 and arrived at Ventosa Bay on April 6, 1851. She landed her 65 passengers and they began their overland travel to the Atlantic coast by mule. They were ordered back to Ventosa Bay by Mexican authorities and Gold Hunter

1053-467: A rate of one thousand per week on their way to California's interior, including the first large influx of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. The rush was so great that vessels were abandoned by the hundreds in San Francisco's ports as crews rushed to the goldfields. The unprecedented influx of new arrivals spread the nascent government authorities thin, and the military was unable to prevent desertions. As

1170-461: A result, numerous vigilante groups formed to provide order, but many tasked themselves with forcibly moving or killing local Native Americans , and by the end of the Gold Rush, two thirds of the indigenous population had been killed. During this same time, a constitutional convention was called to determine California's application for statehood into the United States. After statehood was granted,

1287-661: A scientific party of the United States Coast Survey to the Chilkat River in the Summer of 1869 to observe a total eclipse of the sun. On this trip Active also carried William H. Seward to Sitka , for his first and only visit to Alaska , which he had been instrumental in acquiring for the United States. On June 4, 1870. Active left San Francisco on her normal route to Victoria. By the morning of June 5, she found herself in dense fog somewhere off Humboldt County. She

SECTION 10

#1733202428315

1404-494: A significant earthquake hazard. Among the more well-understood faults, as of 2014, scientists estimate a 72% probability of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurring along either the Hayward, Rogers Creek, or San Andreas fault, with an earthquake more likely to occur in the East Bay's Hayward Fault. Two of the largest earthquakes in recent history were the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake . The Bay Area

1521-523: A single San Francisco-based bank failed, while the region attempted to spur job growth by simultaneously undertaking two large infrastructure projects: construction of the Golden Gate Bridge , which would connect San Francisco with Marin County , and the Bay Bridge , which would connect San Francisco with Oakland and the East Bay. After the United States joined World War II in 1941, the Bay Area became

1638-607: A single county, Alameda. Diverse assemblages adjoin in complex arrangements due to offsets along the many faults (both active and stable) in the area. As a consequence, many types of rock and soil are found in the region. The oldest rocks are metamorphic rocks that are associated with granite in the Salinian Block west of the San Andreas Fault . These were formed from sedimentary rocks of sandstone , limestone , and shale in uplifted seabeds. Volcanic deposits also exist in

1755-410: A stampede of wealth-seekers descending on Sutter's Mill . The Bay Area's population quickly emptied out as laborers, clerks, waiters, and servants joined the rush to find gold, and California's first newspaper, The Californian , was forced to announce a temporary freeze in new issues due to labor shortages. By the end of 1849, news had spread across the world and newcomers flooded into the Bay Area at

1872-649: A storm sank the San Agustin and killed between 7 and 12 people. On December 8, 80 remaining crew members set sail on the San Buenaventura , a launch which was partially constructed en route from the Philippines . Seeking the fastest route south, the expedition sailed past the Golden Gate, arriving at Puerto de Chacala, Mexico on January 17, 1596. The Bay Area estuaries remained unknown to Europeans until members of

1989-644: A troop transport and dispatch boat during various wars with Native Americans and during the San Juan Islands " Pig War " with the United Kingdom in 1859. She also rushed Union troops to Los Angeles , California, in 1861 during the early stages of the American Civil War . She was sold by the government in 1862 and sailed along the West Coast for a number of private companies until June 5, 1870. In

2106-562: Is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay , and anchored by the cities of San Francisco , Oakland , and San Jose . The Association of Bay Area Governments defines the Bay Area as including the nine counties that border the estuaries of San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay , and Suisun Bay : Alameda , Contra Costa , Marin , Napa , San Mateo , Santa Clara , Solano , Sonoma , and San Francisco . Other definitions may be either smaller or larger, and may include neighboring counties which are not officially part of

2223-551: Is a major shipping lane and is primarily used by BC Ferries ' passenger and vehicle ferry runs between Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal at Tsawwassen , Lower Mainland , the southern Gulf Islands and Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal at Swartz Bay , Vancouver Island . Because the pass has a river 's narrowness, the ferries pass extremely close to its shores. It is also used by pleasure craft , fishing boats , freighters and freight ferries, making it very 'active' commercially as well. However, strong eddies and tide rips are always present in

2340-751: Is accepted by most local governmental agencies including San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board , Bay Area Air Quality Management District , the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority , the Metropolitan Transportation Commission , and the Association of Bay Area Governments , the latter two of which partner to deliver a Bay Area Census using the nine-county definition. Various U.S. Federal government agencies use definitions that differ from their local counterparts' nine-county definition. For example,

2457-403: Is additionally known for the complexity of its landforms, the result of millions of years of tectonic plate movements. Because the Bay Area is crossed by six major earthquake faults , the region is particularly exposed to hazards presented by large earthquakes. The climate is temperate and conducive to outdoor recreational and athletic activities such as hiking, running, and cycling. The Bay Area

SECTION 20

#1733202428315

2574-820: Is home to a complex network of watersheds, marshes, rivers, creeks, reservoirs, and bays that predominantly drain into the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean. The largest bodies of water in the Bay Area are the San Francisco , San Pablo , and Suisun estuaries. Major rivers of the North Bay include the Napa River , the Petaluma River , the Gualala River , and the Russian River ; the former two drain into San Pablo Bay ,

2691-468: Is host to five professional sports teams and is a cultural center for music, theater, and the arts. It is also host to numerous higher education institutions, including research universities such as the University of California, Berkeley , and Stanford University , the latter known for helping to create the high tech center called Silicon Valley . Home to 101 municipalities and 9 counties, governance in

2808-463: Is largely influenced by the cold California Current , which penetrates the natural mountainous barrier along the coast by traveling through various gaps. In terms of precipitation , this means that the Bay Area has pronounced seasons. The winter season, which roughly runs between November and March, is the source of about 82% of annual precipitation in the area. In the South Bay and further inland, while

2925-581: The Bank of Italy (now known as the Bank of America ), had managed to retrieve the money from his bank's vaults before fires broke out through the city and was the only bank with liquid funds readily available and was instrumental in loaning out funds for rebuilding efforts. Congress immediately approved plans for a reservoir in Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park , a plan they had denied

3042-602: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which regulates broadcast, cable, and satellite transmissions, includes nearby Colusa , Lake and Mendocino counties in their " San Francisco - Oakland - San Jose " media market , but excludes eastern Solano County. On the other hand, the United States Office of Management and Budget , which designates metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and combined statistical areas (CSA) for populated regions across

3159-582: The Golden Gate or the estuaries, likely due to fog. Sir Francis Drake became the first European to land in the area and claim it in June 1579, when he landed at Drakes Bay near Point Reyes. Even though he claimed the region for Queen Elizabeth I as Nova Albion or New Albion , the English made no immediate follow up to the claim. In 1595, Philip II of Spain tasked Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho with mapping

3276-680: The Hayward Fault Zone , Concord-Green Valley Fault , Calaveras Fault , Clayton-Marsh Creek-Greenville Fault , Rodgers Creek Fault , and the San Gregorio Fault . Significant blind thrust faults (faults with near vertical motion and no surface ruptures) are associated with portions of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the northern reaches of the Diablo Range and Mount Diablo . These "hidden" faults, which are not as well known, pose

3393-636: The Hayward fault , and the Diablo Range , which includes Mount Diablo and Mount Hamilton and runs along the Calaveras fault . In total, the Bay Area is traversed by seven major fault systems with hundreds of related faults, all of which are stressed by the relative motion between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate or by compressive stresses between these plates. The fault systems include

3510-511: The Internet in the middle of the decade rapidly created a speculative bubble in the high-tech economy known as the dot-com bubble . This bubble began collapsing in the early 2000s and the industry continued contracting for the next few years, nearly wiping out the market. Companies like Amazon.com and Google managed to weather the crash however, and following the industry's return to normalcy, their market value increased significantly. Even as

3627-596: The Monterey Peninsula . In 1857 the ship carried the U.S. survey corps which established the boundary between Washington Territory and the British possessions which later became Canada . In 1858 she surveyed Grays Harbor and Shoalwater Bay in Washington Territory. A new chart of San Pedro Harbor was produced in 1859 and Active surveyed Humboldt Bay . As one of the few government ships stationed on

Active Pass - Misplaced Pages Continue

3744-604: The North Pacific High through the Golden Gate, which creates the city's characteristic cool winds and fog . The microclimate phenomenon is most pronounced during this time, when fog penetration is at its maximum in areas near the Golden Gate strait, while the South Bay and areas further inland are sunny and dry. Along the San Francisco peninsula, gaps in the Santa Cruz Mountains , one south of San Bruno Mountain and another in Crystal Springs, allow oceanic weather into

3861-539: The Pacific Ocean on the west and the bay on the east and are characterized by their mountainous and woody terrain. Sonoma and Napa counties are known internationally for their grape vineyards and wineries , and Solano County to the east, centered around Vallejo , is the fastest growing region in the Bay Area. The " Peninsula " subregion includes the cities and towns on the San Francisco Peninsula, excluding

3978-598: The Portolá expedition , while trekking along the California coast, encountered them in 1769 when the Golden Gate blocked their continued journey north. Several missions were founded in the Bay Area during this period. In 1806, a Spanish expedition led by Gabriel Moraga began at the Presidio, traveled south of the bay, and then east to explore the San Joaquin Valley . In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain and

4095-583: The San Joaquin River Delta , causing a cooling effect in Stockton and Sacramento , so that these cities are also cooler than their Central Valley counterparts in the south. The Bay Area is home to a diverse array of wildlife and, along with the connected San Joaquin River Delta represents one of California's most important ecological habitats. California's Dungeness crab , Pacific halibut , and

4212-658: The USS ; Portsmouth into the bay and seized San Francisco, which was then known as Yerba Buena , and raised the American flag for the first time over Portsmouth Square . In 1848, James W. Marshall 's discovery of gold in the American River sparked the California Gold Rush , and within half a year 4,000 men were panning for gold along the river and finding $ 50,000 per day. The promise of fabulous riches quickly led to

4329-610: The University of California, Berkeley Richard Walker claimed that "no other U.S. city-region is as definitionally challenged [as the Bay Area]." When the region began to rapidly develop during and immediately after World War II , local planners settled on a nine-county definition for the Bay Area, consisting of the counties that directly border the San Francisco , San Pablo , and Suisun estuaries : Alameda , Contra Costa , Marin , Napa , San Francisco , San Mateo , Santa Clara , Solano , and Sonoma counties. Today, this definition

4446-485: The gay rights movement . At the same time, parts of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties began to rapidly develop from an agrarian economy into a hotbed of the high-tech industry . Fred Terman , the director of a top-secret research project at Harvard University during World War II, joined the faculty at Stanford University in order to reshape the university's engineering department. His students, including David Packard and William Hewlett , would later help usher in

4563-466: The osprey . In 1927, zoologist Joseph Grinnell wrote that osprey were only rare visitors to the San Francisco Bay Area, although he noted records of one or two used nests in the broken tops of redwood trees along the Russian River . In 1989, the southern breeding range of the osprey in the Bay Area was Kent Lake , although osprey were noted to be extending their range further south in

4680-561: The west coast of the United States , including populations residing in tributaries to San Francisco Bay. California Coast Chinook salmon were historically native to the Guadalupe River in San Francisco Bay, and Chinook salmon runs persist today in the Guadalupe River, Coyote Creek , Napa River , and Walnut Creek . Industrial, mining, and other uses of mercury have resulted in a widespread distribution of that poisonous metal in

4797-563: The 1980s an effort to re-introduce the species to the area began with the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group and the San Francisco Zoo importing birds and eggs from Vancouver Island and northeastern California, and there are now nineteen nesting couples in eight of the Bay Area's nine counties. Other once absent species that have returned to the Bay Area include Swainson's hawk , white tailed kite , and

Active Pass - Misplaced Pages Continue

4914-541: The Americas . The earliest Spanish exploration of the Bay Area took place in 1769. The Mexican government controlled the area from 1821 until the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . Also in 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold in nearby mountains , resulting in explosive immigration to the area and the precipitous decline of the Native population . The California Gold Rush brought rapid growth to San Francisco . California

5031-470: The Bay Area at the time of first European contact were descended from Siberian tribes who arrived at around 1,000 BCE by sailing over the Arctic Ocean and following the salmon migration. However the current academic consensus is compatible with the oral tradition of the Ohlone and Miwok peoples, which suggests they have been living in the Bay Area for several hundreds if not thousands of years. At

5148-616: The Bay Area became part of the Mexican province of Alta California , a period characterized by ranch life and visiting American trappers. Mexico's control of the territory would be short-lived, however, and in 1846 a party of settlers occupied Sonoma Plaza and proclaimed the independence of the new Republic of California . That same year, the Mexican–American War began, and American captain John Berrien Montgomery sailed

5265-449: The Bay Area has experienced numerous political, cultural, and artistic movements, developing unique local genres in music and art and establishing itself as a hotbed of progressive politics . Economically, the post-war Bay Area saw large growth in the financial and technology industries, creating an economy with a gross domestic product of over $ 700 billion. In 2018 it was home to the third-highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in

5382-402: The Bay Area involves numerous local and regional jurisdictions, often with broad and overlapping responsibilities. The Coyote Hills Shell Mound, the earliest known archaeological evidence of human habitation of the Bay Area estuaries, dates to around 10,000 BCE, with evidence pointing to even earlier settlement in Point Reyes in Marin County . It has been conjectured that the people living in

5499-509: The Bay Area their home, making the region a popular destination for birdwatching . Many birds are listed as endangered species despite once being common in the region. Western burrowing owls were originally listed as a species of special concern by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1979. California's population declined 60% from the 1980s to the early 1990s, and continues to decline at roughly 8% per year. A 1992–93 survey reported little to no breeding burrowing owls in most of

5616-434: The Bay Area, all naturally spawned anadromous steelhead populations below natural and manmade impassable barriers in California streams from the Russian River to Aptos Creek , and the drainages of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bays are listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act . The Central California Coast coho salmon population is the most endangered of the many troubled salmon populations on

5733-420: The Bay Area, left behind by the movement of the San Andreas Fault, whose movement sliced a subduction plate and allowed magma to briefly flow to the surface. The region has considerable vertical relief in its landscapes that are not in the alluvial plains leading to the bay or in the inland valleys. The topography, and geologic history, of the Bay Area can largely be attributed to the compressive forces between

5850-420: The Bay Area: the Karkin of the Carquinez Strait , the Chochenyo of the East Bay , the Ramaytush of the San Francisco Peninsula , and the Tamien of the South Bay. The Miwok had two major groups in the Bay Area: the Bay Miwok of Contra Costa and the Coast Miwok of Marin and Sonoma . In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the Pacific coast near the Bay Area though the expedition did not see

5967-458: The Bay. The wild turkey population was introduced in the 1960s by state game officials, and by 2015 have become a common sight in East Bay communities. The Bay Area is well known for the complexity of its landforms that are the result of the forces of plate tectonics acting over of millions of years, since the region is located in the middle of a meeting point between two plates. Nine out of eleven distinct assemblages have been identified in

SECTION 50

#1733202428315

6084-424: The California scorpionfish are all significant components of the bay's fisheries . The bay's salt marshes now represent most of California's remaining salt marsh and support a number of endangered species and provide key ecosystem services such as filtering pollutants and sediments from the rivers. Most famously, the bay is a key link in the Pacific Flyway and with millions of shorebirds annually visiting

6201-554: The Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada. In 2014, a Bay Area-wide survey found osprey had extended their breeding range southward with nesting sites as far south as Hunters Point in San Francisco on the west side and Hayward on the east side, while further studies have found nesting sites as far south as the Los Gatos Creek watershed, indicating that the nesting range now includes the entire length of San Francisco Bay. Most nests were built on man-made structures close to areas of human disturbance, likely due to lack of mature trees near

6318-408: The East Bay receives oceanic weather that travels through the Golden Gate strait, and further diffuses that air through the Berkeley Hills , Niles Canyon and the Hayward Pass into the Livermore Valley and Altamont Pass . Here, the resulting breeze is so strong that it is home to one of the world's largest array of wind turbines . Further north, the Carquinez Strait funnels the ocean weather into

6435-399: The Farallon Islands where their ship, Lucas , had gone aground in a thick fog. The ship was also used to support U.S. military operations against Native American tribes in conflicts in the Pacific Northwest. In December 1855 she sailed to Oregon to support Major General John E. Wool in what became known as the Rogue River Wars . She carried arms and ammunition from San Francisco to

6552-476: The Navy was to reinforce Union control of Southern California by transporting Companies D and K of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry to San Pedro in August 1861. On September 19, 1861 Active sailed from San Francisco for San Pedro with another company of infantry aboard. Active was purchased from the government for $ 30,000 by the San Francisco-based shipping and trading firm McRuer & Merrill in June 1862. While McRuer & Merrill had originally intended to use

6669-434: The Pacific Plate and the North American plate. The three major ridge structures in the Bay Area, part of the Pacific Coast Range , are all roughly parallel to the major faults . The Santa Cruz Mountains along the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Hills in Marin County follow the San Andreas fault , The Berkeley Hills , San Leandro Hills and their southern ridgeline extension through Mission Peak roughly follow

6786-413: The San Francisco Bay Area are not officially delineated, and the unique development patterns influenced by the region's topography , as well as unusual commute patterns caused by the presence of three central cities and employment centers located in various suburban locales, has led to considerable disagreement between local and federal definitions of the area. Because of this, professor of geography at

6903-415: The San Francisco Bay Area, such as the Central Coast counties of Santa Cruz , San Benito , and Monterey , or the Central Valley counties of San Joaquin , Merced , and Stanislaus . The Bay Area is known for its natural beauty, prominent universities, technology companies, and affluence. The Bay Area contains many cities, towns, airports, and associated regional, state, and national parks, connected by

7020-500: The U.S. forces in Oregon. In February 1856 Active carried two companies of infantry to Seattle to support white settlers in the conflict that became known as the Puget Sound War . For most of the first quarter of 1856 Active patrolled Puget Sound , moving men and material for the Army and keeping watch on Native American movements. She returned to San Francisco in April, 1856 with General Wool and his staff aboard. The Northwest Boundary Survey, which Active supported in 1857,

7137-411: The United States. The Bay Area is home to approximately 7.52 million people. The larger federal classification, the combined statistical area of the region which includes 13 counties, is the second-largest in California—after the Greater Los Angeles area—and the fifth-largest in the United States, with over 9 million people. The Bay Area's population is ethnically diverse: roughly three-fifths of

SECTION 60

#1733202428315

7254-436: The Whale , a humpback whale who entered San Francisco Bay twice on errant migrations in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Bottlenose dolphins and harbor porpoises have recently returned to the bay, having been absent for many decades. Historically, this was the northern extent of their warm-water species range. In addition to the many species of marine birds that can be seen in the Bay Area, many other species of birds make

7371-472: The area's largest city and the 13th-most populous in the United States . Despite its urban character, San Francisco Bay is one of California's most ecologically sensitive habitats, providing important ecosystem services such as filtering the pollutants and sediments from rivers and supporting a number of endangered species . In addition, the Bay Area is known for its stands of coast redwoods , many of which are protected in state and county parks. The region

7488-590: The bay has been significantly altered heavily re-engineered to accommodate the needs of water delivery, shipping, agriculture, and urban development, with side effects including the loss of wetlands and the introduction of contaminants and invasive species . Approximately 85% of those marshes have been lost or destroyed, but about 50 marshes and marsh fragments remain. Huge tracts of the marshes were originally destroyed by farmers for agricultural purposes, then repurposed to serve as salt evaporation ponds to produce salt for food and other purposes. Today, regulations limit

7605-436: The bay into north and south regions. In 1989, the federal Environmental Protection Agency defined the South Bay as the northern part of Santa Clara County and the southeastern part of San Mateo County. The Bay Area is located in the warm-summer Mediterranean climate zone ( Köppen Csb ) that is a characteristic of California's coast, featuring mild to cool winters with occasional rainfall, and warm to hot, dry summers. It

7722-444: The bay shallows as a refuge, is the most important component of the flyway south of Alaska . Many endangered species of birds are also found here: the California least tern , the California clapper rail , the snowy egret , and the black crowned night heron . There is also a significant diversity of salmonids present in the bay. Steelhead populations in California have dramatically declined due to human and natural causes; in

7839-418: The bay, with uptake in the bay's phytoplankton and contamination of its sportfish . Aquatic mammals are also present in the bay. Before 1825, Spanish, French, English, Russians and Americans were drawn to the Bay Area to harvest prodigious quantities of beaver , river otter , marten, fisher, mink, fox, weasel, harbor and fur seals and sea otter . This early fur trade, known as the California Fur Rush ,

7956-420: The capital city moved between three cities in the Bay Area: San Jose (1849–1851), Vallejo (1851–1852), and Benicia (1852–1853) before permanently settling in Sacramento in 1854. As the Gold Rush subsided, wealth generated from the endeavor led to the establishment of Wells Fargo Bank and the Bank of California , and immigrant laborers attracted by the promise of wealth transformed the demographic makeup of

8073-437: The city of San Francisco, natural and artificial topographical features direct the movement of wind and fog, resulting in startlingly varied climates between city blocks. Along the Golden Gate Strait , oceanic wind and fog from the Pacific Ocean are able to penetrate the mountain barriers inland into the Bay Area. During the summer, rising hot air in California's interior valleys creates a low pressure area that draws winds from

8190-418: The commercial opportunities afforded by the California gold rush by building a ship for service in the Bay Area . She was christened Gold Hunter . The ship sailed for San Francisco via Cape Horn in December 1849. After multiple stops, she arrived in San Francisco on April 29, 1850 with 150 passengers aboard. She immediately began freight and passenger service between San Francisco and Sacramento for

8307-406: The company's schedule and remained on the Sacramento River. McKim was refloated, and Gold Hunter began running between San Francisco and Acapulco in September, 1850. She made one round-trip per month stopping in Monterey , Santa Barbara , San Pedro , San Diego , San Blas , Mazatlan, and Acapulco. This venture does not appear to have been successful, as Simmons, Hutchinson & Co. sold

8424-494: The country, has five MSAs which include, wholly or partially, areas within the nine-county definition, and one CSA which includes eight Bay Area counties (excluding Sonoma ), but including neighboring San Benito , Santa Cruz , San Joaquin , Merced , and Stanislaus counties. The Association of Bay Area Health Officers (ABAHO), an organization that has fought local outbreaks of HIV/AIDS in 1980s and with COVID-19 pandemic and Delta cron hybrid variant (2020–22), consists of

8541-490: The destruction of tidal marshes, and large portions are currently being rehabilitated to their natural state. Over time, droughts and wildfires have increased in frequency and become less seasonal and more year-round, further straining the region's water security . According to the 2010 United States Census , the population of the nine-county Bay Area was 7.15 million, with 49.6% male and 50.4% female. Of these, approximately 2.3 million (32%) are foreign born. In 2010

8658-490: The firm of Simmons, Hutchinson & Co. Evidently, her owners were not satisfied with running Gold Hunter on the Sacramento River. On May 22, 1850, the company announced it would shift the ship to the San Francisco - Portland route at the end of the month. The next day, it announced that the ship would instead run from San Francisco to Mazatlan, Mexico beginning June 10, 1850. Neither plan happened. Gold Hunter

8775-598: The flooding, so Captain Lyons beached Active . The passengers, their baggage, the mail, and supplies for the stranded people were safely brought ashore about 22 miles south of Cape Mendocino . The captain dispatched the purser to Eureka , 80 miles away, to seek help. On foot and horseback, he reached the town at 3 P.M. on June, 6. Word of the wreck came just in time to reach the North Pacific Transportation Company's Pacific , which sailed immediately to

8892-549: The growth of the technology sector transformed the region's economy, progressive politics continued to guide the region's political environment. By the turn of the millennium, non-Hispanic whites , the largest ethnic group in the United States, were only half of the population in the Bay Area as immigration among minority groups accelerated. During this time, the Bay Area was the center of the LGBT rights movement : in 2004, San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples ,

9009-566: The hit American pop song San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) further enticing like-minded individuals to join the movement in the Bay Area and leading to the Summer of Love . In the proceeding decades, the Bay Area would cement itself as a hotbed of New Left activism, student activism , opposition to the Vietnam War and other anti-war movements , the black power movement , and

9126-511: The interior, causing a cooling effect for cities along the Peninsula and even as far south as San Jose. This weather pattern is also the source for delays at San Francisco International Airport . In Marin county north of the Golden Gate strait, two gaps north of Muir Woods bring cold air across the Marin Headlands , with the cooling effect reaching as far north as Santa Rosa . Further inland,

9243-408: The larger subregions, the East Bay includes a variety of enclaves, including the suburban Tri-Valley area and the highly urban western part of the subregion that runs alongside the bay, including Oakland. The " North Bay " includes Marin , Sonoma , Napa , and Solano counties, and is the geographically largest and least populated subregion. The western counties of Marin and Sonoma are encased by

9360-485: The latter two into the Pacific Ocean. In the South Bay, the Guadalupe River drains into San Francisco Bay near Alviso . There are also several lakes present in the Bay Area, including man-made lakes like Lake Berryessa and natural albeit heavily modified lakes like Lake Merritt . Prior to the introduction of European agricultural methods, the shores of San Francisco Bay consisted mostly of tidal marshes. Today,

9477-522: The pass, making it a hazardous corridor for smaller vessels to transit. A variety of wildlife may be seen in the pass, including harbour seals , sea lions , bald eagles , and orcas . 48°51′35″N 123°18′43″W  /  48.85972°N 123.31194°W  / 48.85972; -123.31194 This article about a location on the Coast of British Columbia , Canada is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . USCS Active Active

9594-671: The public health officers of 9 Bay Area counties, in addition to the Central Coast counties of Santa Cruz , San Benito , and Monterey and the city of Berkeley . Among locals, the nine-county Bay Area is divided into five sub-regions: the East Bay , North Bay , Peninsula , city of San Francisco , and South Bay . The " East Bay " is the densest region of the Bay Area outside of San Francisco and includes cities and towns in Alameda and Contra Costa counties centered around Oakland . As one of

9711-497: The racial makeup of the nine-county Bay Area was 52.5% White (42.4% were non-Hispanic and 10.1% were Hispanic ), 23.3% Asian , 6.7% non-Hispanic Black or African American , 0.7% Native American or Alaska Native , 0.6% Pacific Islander , 5.4% from two or more races and 10.8% from other races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race formed 23.5% of the population. The Bay Area cities of Vallejo , Suisun City , Oakland , San Leandro , Fairfield , and Richmond are among

9828-513: The region and even riots in Oakland. His name was symbolically tied to the Occupy Oakland protests two years later that sought to fight against social and economic inequality. By August 2023, San Francisco was in such severe decline that Mayor Matt Mahan of San Jose joked that one day the region might be renamed the "San Jose Bay Area", after its largest and most prosperous city. The borders of

9945-465: The region's high-tech revolution. In 1955, Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory opened for business in Mountain View near Stanford, and although the business venture was a financial failure, it was the first semiconductor company in the Bay Area, and the talent that it attracted to the region eventually led to a high-tech cluster of companies later known as Silicon Valley . In 1989, in the middle of

10062-412: The region's residents are Hispanic/Latino , Asian , African/Black , Indian , or Pacific Islander , all of whom have a significant presence throughout the region. Most of the remaining two-fifths of the population is non-Hispanic White American . The most populous cities of the Bay Area are San Francisco, Oakland , and San Jose , the latter of which had a population of 969,655 in 2023, making San Jose

10179-557: The region. In the early morning of April 18, 1906, a large earthquake with an epicenter near the city of San Francisco hit the region. Immediate casualty estimates by the U.S. Army 's relief operations were 498 deaths in San Francisco, 64 deaths in Santa Rosa , and 102 in or near San Jose, for a total of about 700. More recent studies estimate the total death count to be over 3,000, with over 28,000 buildings destroyed. Rebuilding efforts began immediately. Amadeo Peter Giannini , owner of

10296-586: The region. Between 1950 and 1960, San Francisco welcomed over 100,000 new residents, inland suburbs in the East Bay saw their populations double, Daly City 's population quadrupled, and Santa Clara 's population quintupled. By the early 1960s, the Bay Area and the rest of Northern California became the center of the counterculture movement . Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco were seen as centers of activity, with

10413-513: The region. Construction of the First transcontinental railroad from the Oakland Long Wharf attracted so many laborers from China that by 1870, eight percent of San Francisco's population was of Asian origin. The completion of the railroad connected the Bay Area with the rest of the United States, established a truly national marketplace for the trade of goods, and accelerated the urbanization of

10530-487: The route, the pricing equilibrium between the two main competitors more or less remained. In 1866, however, Patton built Idaho , and a full-scale rate war broke out. Profitability went out of the northern route. This caused the California Steam Navigation Company to sell its entire ocean-going fleet, including Active , to the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company in 1867. The Anchor Line

10647-593: The rumors, but McRuer & Merrill quickly denied them. The Fraser Canyon gold rush created immediate demand for shipping between San Francisco and British Columbia . The forty-niners who had rushed to California now rushed to the new gold fields to the north. Active was purchased by the California Steam Navigation Company to meet this demand. Beginning in October 1865, she was sailing between San Francisco, Portland , and Victoria . This route

10764-553: The ship to Portland interests in January 1851. She ran between San Francisco and Portland completing two round-trips per month. This new routing was also short-lived. In March 1851, the ship changed hands again to run between San Francisco and Tehuantepec, Mexico. She sailed for the Tehuantepec Railroad Company which sought to establish a transcontinental link via steamers in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans connected by

10881-646: The ship to trade with China, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's Golden Gate caught fire and sank on July 27, 1862 with $ 1.4 million of gold and silver coin aboard. A salvage party chartered Active and sailed her to the wreck site off Manzanillo, Mexico on August 10, 1862. The salvage attempt was unsuccessful and she arrived back to San Francisco on October 29, 1862. In December 1862, newspapers published reports that Active and two other steamers had been acquired by Mexico for coastal patrol. France's intervention in Mexico lent credibility to

10998-585: The ship was wrecked in a storm off the east coast of Patagonia in May, 1851. Rather than send another ship from the east coast to replace Jefferson , the Coast Survey purchased Gold Hunter in February 1852 and renamed her Active . Lieutenant James Alden, Jr. , was her first commanding officer in Coast Survey service. He remained her captain for most of the ship's time with the government. Active's primary mission

11115-429: The ship. Rising waters extinguished the boiler fires before she reached the shore and McKim settled to the bottom in about twelve feet of water. There were no injuries. Gold Hunter was not seriously damaged in the collision. She took McKim's 75 passengers and their baggage to San Francisco and then back to Sacramento. Since McKim was also operated by Simmons, Hutchinson & Co., Gold Hunter took her place in

11232-573: The sub port of Los Angeles. After World War II, the United Nations was chartered in San Francisco, and in September 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco to re-establish peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers was signed in San Francisco, entering into force a year later. In the years immediately following the war, the Bay Area saw a huge wave of immigration as populations increased across

11349-452: The survivors. They were embarked on Pacific and brought to Crescent City . Pacific then returned to the scene of the wreck to attempt to salvage some of the $ 100,000 worth of cargo aboard Active . She had little success; waves were breaking over the stranded ship as high as her smokestack. San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area , commonly known as the Bay Area ,

11466-619: The tensions, delivering men and supplies to the American Camp on San Juan Island. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, California's sympathies were largely with the Union , but Confederate interests were also present. Active was one of very few government vessels on the west coast, and in view of the emergency was transferred to U.S. Navy control in July 1861. One of her first jobs for

11583-645: The time of colonization, the Ohlone peoples in the Bay Area primarily lived on the San Francisco Peninsula, in the South Bay and in the East Bay, and the Miwok primarily lived in the North Bay, northern East Bay, and Central Valley. Ohlone villages were spread across the Peninsula, East Bay, South Bay, as well as further south into the Monterey Bay area. There were eight major divisions of Ohlone people, four of which were based in

11700-521: The tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, the city of San Francisco is not considered part of the "Peninsula" subregion, but as a separate entity. The term "South Bay" has different meanings to different groups: Writing in 1959 for the Army Corps of Engineers , the United States Department of Commerce defined the South Bay as comprising five counties, corresponding to their two-way division of

11817-537: The titular city of San Francisco. Its eastern half, which runs alongside the Bay, is highly populated, while its less populated western coast traces the coastline of the Pacific Ocean and is known for its open space and hiking trails. Roughly coinciding with the borders of San Mateo County , it also includes the northwestern Santa Clara County cities of Palo Alto , Mountain View , and Los Altos . Although geographically located on

11934-523: The west coast of the Americas. Soromenho set sail on Manila Galleon San Agustin on July 5, 1595 and in early November they reached land between Point St. George and Trinidad Head , north of the Bay Area, in the Lost Coast . The expedition followed the coast southward and on November 7 the San Agustin anchored in Drakes Bay, and claimed the region as Puerto y Bahía de San Francisco . In late November,

12051-485: The west coast, Active was frequently called upon to provide aid to mariners in distress. In 1853, for example, she was dispatched to the wrecks of Lewis , and Carrier Pigeon , and on false alarms to rescue John Stuart , and to a supposed wreck on the Farallon Islands . In 1854 she was sent to find the overdue Sea Bird and ended up towing the disabled ship to port. In November 1858, she rescued 147 people from

12168-419: The western counties in the Bay Area, leaving only Alameda , Contra Costa , and Solano counties as remnants of a once large breeding range. Bald eagles were once common in the Bay Area, but habitat destruction and thinning of eggs from DDT poisoning reduced the California state population to 35 nesting pairs. Bald eagles disappeared from the Bay Area in 1915, and only began returning in recent years. In

12285-541: The western terminus of Vanderbilt's route between the Atlantic and Pacific. This venture, too, was controversial within the host country and ultimately failed. As commerce on the west coast grew in the wake of the California gold rush , the United States needed basic aids to navigation, starting with charts. The Coast Survey dispatched the steamer USRC Jefferson from Philadelphia in March 1861 to meet this need. Unfortunately,

12402-459: The winter season is cool and mild, the summer season is characterized by warm sunny days, while in San Francisco and areas closer to the Golden Gate strait, the summer season is periodically affected by fog. Due to the Bay Area's diverse topographic relief (itself the result of the clashing tectonic plates ), the region is home to numerous microclimates that lead to pronounced differences in climate and temperature over short distances. Within

12519-600: Was admitted as the 31st state in 1850. A major earthquake and fire leveled much of San Francisco in 1906. During World War II , the Bay Area played a major role in America's war effort in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater , with the San Francisco Port of Embarkation , of which Fort Mason was one of 14 installations and location of the headquarters, acting as a primary embarkation point for American forces. Since then,

12636-574: Was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast Survey , a predecessor of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey , from 1852 to 1861. Active served on the U.S. West Coast. She conducted the Coast Survey ' s first reconnaissance from San Francisco , California , to San Diego , California, in 1852. Active sometimes stepped outside her normal Coast Survey duties to support U.S. military operations, serving as

12753-515: Was contested between the California Steam Navigation Company and the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company. Ben Holladay , a tough steamboat pioneer, ran this dominant company. The two companies appeared to have an understanding that prevented a rate war. This changed in 1865 when Jarvis Patton established the Anchor Line, and put his ship Montana on the San Francisco - Victoria line. He cut prices to gain customers, but with only one ship on

12870-405: Was east of her intended course and found herself among the rocks just offshore. She turned to port to head out to sea and struck a submerged rock. Initial examination of the hold did not show any damage, so the ship continued to head away from land. Flooding from a leak forward was discovered shortly thereafter and the ship began to settle by the bow. The ship's pumps were not able to keep up with

12987-527: Was first reported in Redwood Creek at Muir Beach in 1996, has since been spotted in the North Bay's Corte Madera Creek , the South Bay's Coyote Creek , as well as in 2010 in San Francisco Bay itself at the Richmond Marina . Other mammals include the internationally famous sea lions who began inhabiting San Francisco's Pier 39 after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the locally famous Humphrey

13104-404: Was folded in shortly thereafter. In March 1869 the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company was reincorporated under the laws of California as the North Pacific Transportation Company. Active continued to sail under the new company's name. Her trade was brisk: she arrived in San Francisco on July 2, 1869 with 336 passengers aboard. In an echo of her time as a survey ship, she carried

13221-448: Was headed down the Sacramento River at about 9 P.M. on June 11, 1850 when her pilot saw a light ahead. He thought the light was on an anchored ship, but in fact it was the steamer McKim headed up the river for Sacramento. McKim turned to starboard to avoid a collision, crossing Gold Hunter's bow. Gold Hunter hit her amidships, holing McKim below her waterline. Flooding was immediate and McKim's captain headed for shore to beach

13338-599: Was more than any other single factor, responsible for opening up the West and the San Francisco Bay Area, in particular, to world trade. By 1817 sea otter in the area were practically eliminated. Since then, the California golden beaver re-established a presence in Alhambra Creek , followed by the Napa River and Sonoma Creek in the north, and the Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek in the south. The North American river otter which

13455-533: Was not allowed to land cargo for the railroad, ostensibly because Tehuantepec was not a port of entry. At some point in 1851, likely shortly after it became clear that she was not going to be allowed to support the Tehuantepec Railroad, the ship was acquired by Cornelius Vanderbilt's Independent Line. His vision was to create a transcontinental link not across Mexico, but across Nicaragua . Gold Hunter sailed between San Francisco and San Juan del Sur ,

13572-575: Was successful in establishing the land border between the United States and the British Columbia . The survey did not, however, finalize the status of the San Juan Islands. Both the British and American militaries maintained bases on San Juan Island, which both nations claimed. Tensions grew into a skirmish later known as the "Pig War". In 1859 Active was pressed into military service again during

13689-609: Was to produce nautical charts of the West Coast of America . Her initial tasks in 1852 were to survey Cape Flattery and the south shore of the Strait of Juan De Fuca , and to resurvey the mouth of the Columbia River . In 1854 Active surveyed the new port of Seattle , which had been settled by the Denny party only three years before. In 1855 she surveyed San Francisco Bay. In 1856 she surveyed San Diego Bay , San Clemente Island , and

#314685