On the afternoon of the meeting there was a crowd in the Merchants'
Exchange Board Room.The announcement of the subscriptions created enthusiasm.In two hours the amount ran up to more than four million dollars.During the next few years they were increased to about $6,500,000.
Meanwhile, the State voted a tax levy of five million dollars, and San Francisco voted a bond and issue of the same amount, and by an act of the Legislature, in special session, the counties were authorized to levy a small tax for county Participation, amounting, in estimate, to about three million dollars.
Recognition From CongressNext came the task of securing from Congress official recognition of San Francisco as the site of the International Exposition in celebration of the Panama Canal.
Headquarters were established in Washington.Presently serious opposition developed.Emissaries went from San Francisco to Washington singly and in delegations.Stress was laid on San Francisco's purpose not to ask for an appropriation from the national government.There were several cities in competition - Boston, Washington, Baltimore and New Orleans.New Orleans proved the most formidable rival.It relied on the strength of of a united Democracy and of the solid South.
In the hearings before the Congressional Committee it was made plain that the decision would go to the city with the best financial showing.
As soon as the decision was announced New Orleans entered into generous cooperation with San Francisco.
The Exposition was on the way.
Naming the President.
The offer of the presidency of the Exposition Company was made to a well-known business man of San Francisco, C.C.Moore.Besides being able and energetic, he was agreeable to the factions created by the graft prosecution of a half dozen years before.Like the board of directors, he was to serve without salary.He stipulated that in the conduct of the work there should be no patronage.With the directors he entered into an a agreement that all appointments should be made for merit alone.
Choosing the SiteThe choice of site was difficult.The sites most favored were Lake Merced, Golden Gate Park and Harbor View.Lake Merced was opposed as inaccessible for the transportation both of building materials and of people, and, through its inland position, as an unwise choice for an Exposition on the Pacific Coast, in its nature supposed to be maritime.
The use of the park, it was argued, would desecrate the peoples recreation ground and entail a heavy cost in leveling and in restoring.
Harbor View and the Presidio had several advantages.It was level.It was within two miles or walking distance of nearly half the city's inhabitants.It stood on the bay, close to the Golden Gate, facing one of the most beautiful harbors in the world, looking across to Mount Tamalpias and backed by the highest San Francisco hills.Of all the proposed sites, it was the most convenient for landing material by water, for arranging the buildings and for maintaining sanitary conditions.
After a somewhat bitter public controversy the Exposition directors, in July, 1911, announced a decision.It caused general surprise.There should be three sites: Harbor View and a strip of the adjoining Presidio, Golden Gate Park and Lincoln Park, connected by a boulevard, specially constructed to skirt the bay from the ferry to the ocean.
That plan proved to be somewhat romantic.The boulevard alone, it was estimated, would cost eighteen million dollars.
Harris D.H.Connick, the assistant city engineer was called on as a representative of the Board of Public Works, and asked to make a preliminary survey of Harbor View.He showed that, of the proposed sites, Harbor View would be the most economical.The cost of transporting lumber would be greatly reduced by having it all come through the Golden Gate and deposited on the Harbor View docks.The expense of filling in the small ponds there would be slight in comparison with the expense of leveling the ground at the park.
A few weeks later Harbor View and the Presidia was definitely decided on as the site, and the only site.
For months agents had been at work securing options on leases of property in Harbor View, covering a little more than three hundred acres, the leases to run into December 1915.Reasonable terms were offered and in one instance only was there resort to condemnation.The suit that followed forced the property owner, who had refused fifteen hundred dollars, to take nine hundred dollars.President Moore was tempted to pay the fifteen hundred dollars, but he decided that this course would only encourage other property owners to be extortionate.
Some trouble was experienced with the Vanderbilt properties, part of which happened to be under water.After considerable negotiating and appeals to the public spirit of the owners, it was adjusted.About seven hundred thousand dollars was paid for leases and about three hundred thousand dollars for property bought outright.
The Director of WorksWhile President Moore was looking for the man he wanted to appoint as head of the board of construction, Harris D.H.Connick called to suggest and to recommend another man.Later the president offered Connick the position as director of works.
Connick had exactly the qualifications needed: experience, youth, energy, skill and executive ability.He hesitated for the reason that he happened to be engaged in public work that he wished to finish.But he was made to see that the new work was more important.He removed all the buildings at Harbor View, about 150, and he filled in the ponds, using two million cubic yards of mud and sand, and building an elaborate system of sewers.The filling in took about six months.On the last day mules were at work on the new land.And within a year the ground work and the underground work was finished.
