Reviews Gold Rush Port: The Maritime Archaeology of San Francisco's "Waterfront by James P. Delgado (University of California Press, Berkeley, 2009, 256pp, illus, appen, biblio, index, ISB N 978-0-52025580-7; $45hc)
Gold Rush Port: The Maritime Archaeology ofSan Francisco's Waterfront is rhe laresr
ir reads overmuch like an academic rreatise. But rhis is a minor quibble, and one caused by rhe seemi ng contrasr berween earlier works by rhe aurhor, who is a fluid wri rer, and rhe sraid prose found here. His asserrions thar San Francisco's crearion and development are best und ersrood as a manifesrarion of rhe expansion of capitalism and the emergence of a world economy are
offering from prodigious aurhor Jam es Delgado. Based on over rhirty years of exrensive fieldwork and rhorough archival research , ir relares rhe srory of how San Francisco cam e ro play a major role in JAMES P. DELGADO global commerce. Tied ro rhe sea in ways rhar few ciries could expecr ro become, San Francisco grew from a sleepy ourposr ro a The Mari Lim_: Archaeology of San Franci sco 's Wat c rf~t busdingentrepor all because ofirs maririme connecrions. By analyzing and interprering rhe buried hulks associared wirh rhe Gold Rush of rhe mid-nineteenth century, Delgado is able ro convincin gly relay his argument thar the rise of San Francisco was nor "an accident arrribured ro rhe discovery of gold," bur had been carefully planned and orchestrared by enrrepreneuri al merchants and farsighred visionaries. Ir is hard ro imagine this book being wrirten by anyo ne but Delgado. The most well defined and arriculated. In so doing, highly regarded scholar of San Francisco's Delgado makes a convincing case rhar maritime past, he has impeccable creden- rhe city of San Francisco was literally and tials, and has spent dozens of years investi- figurarively builr o n a maririme foundation. garing rhe buri ed ships rhar make up much This book's srrengrh is in irs rhesis: San of rhe subsrrare of modern San Francisco. Francisco was a porr before ir was a city, Ochers have given a rhorough reporr of and rhis allowed ir ro become rhe firsr rrue rhe process by which rhe city was "claimed Am erican entrepor in the Pacific Basin. from the sea" and, had rhis book merely Even before rhe frenzied acrivity associared expanded on d1ar srory, it wo uld have been with rhe Go ld Rush, the shoreline of San a welcome addirion. Bur this is more rhan Francisco was synonymous with its business a mere caraloguing of vessels such as rhe disrricr. This meant rhat ir was well-placed Niantic or General Harrison, or of orher ro arrracr inves rment in rransporr faci liries long-forgorren venues associared wirh San and commercial acrivity, and ro engage Francisco's sroried pasr. Indeed, Gold Rush in an exchange of mineral wealrh for rhe Port reveals new derails abo ur the cargoes mass- produced goods of the industrial age. contained in sroreships and warehouses When over rwo hundred sroreships were and provides a window in ro rhe pasr rhrough co nvened into warehouses rhey creared his descriprions of rhe sire formarion pro- rhe necessary infrasrrucrure for business cess. The aurhor then exrrapolares from and commercial exchanges. Delgado rhen rhese findin gs ro place his own scholar- merhodically places rhese ships-and rheir ship within a wi der rheorerical consrrucr, conrenrs-inro a wider cultural, hisrorical, parricularly rhat of rhe role rhar maririme and archaeological contexr so as ro explore rransport played in rhe developm enr of a the narure of maririme rrade and show how modern wo rld sysrem. Ar rimes, rhis im- rhar sysrem rransformed San Francisco. By pedes rhe progress of the book, bur rhis is looking at commodi ty flow, Delgado is able understandable: this is, afrer all , based on ro link the parricular of buried Gold Rush Delgado's docroral disserrarion, and ar rimes ships ro rhe generality of global economic
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growth. His final conclusion is rhat San Francisco's waterfront was the center of a rapidly developing entrepot that was dominated by commission m erchants. As he writes, "rhe sroreships and rhe warerfront thar housed rhem are arrifacrs of the incorporarion of San Francisco inro rhe wo rld sysre m." The developmenr of rhe city was not jusr a byproductof rhe Gold Rush: by using maririme rrade and connecrions, and by managing and conrrolling rhe influx of commodiries and bui lding a successful entrepor, San Francisco became a central component of rhe global markerplace. While the observarion thar "San Francisco was dependant on maririme trade rhar linked it to national and inrernarional eco nomies" mighr nor be surprising, rhere is much here ro recommend this book ro special ises and the general public alike. Histo rians, archaeo logisrs, and ochers will find much to inform rheir own scholarship in rhis volume, and casual readers and aficionados will learn somerhing new each rime rhey peruse irs conrenrs. TIMOTHY
G.
L YNCH, PHD
Vallejo, California
Charles Wilkes and the Exploration of Inland Washington "Waters: journalsfrom the Expedition of1841 edired by Richard W Blumenthal (McFarland & Co mpany, Inc., Publish ers, Jefferson , NC, 2009 , 320pp, maps, illus, appen, nores, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-7864-4316-1; $49 .95pb) The 1838 ro 1842 US Exploring Expedirion (US Ex Ex) was rhe last nationallysponso red voyage of discovery to circle the globe under sail. As America's grandesr Enli ghtenment explorarory ges rure, the US Ex Ex produced volumes of Wilkes's own narratives, so me of the n ation's first surveyed charts outside its own terrirorial seas, and a wealth of o bj ecrs that wo uld become the core collectio n of rhe Sm ithso nian Institution. The lay public first gor a comprehensive view of the Wilkes legacy only rwen ty years ago, when rhe Smithsonian assembled a travel ing exhibirion from irs own and orher collections. The exhibition's global scope was brearhraking, bur many specific details were lost in its sweep. The Pacific Norrhwest gor some anention in a synopt:ic volume,
The Wilkes Expedition: Puget Soiund and the Oregon Country, edired by FranKes Sarkin SEA HISTORY 130, SPRUNG 2010