During the 1840s, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints played some very important roles in the development of California: civic projects in San Diego; helping build Fort Moore in Los Angeles; documenting the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill; and blazing a trail through the Sierra-Nevada mountains that was later used by countless thousands who were part of the gold rush.
Historic marker in Portsmouth Square commemorating the first raising of an American flag following the U.S. war with Mexico. | Kenneth Mays
Another major impact began on July 31, 1846, when the Saints of the ship Brooklyn arrived in Yerba Buena or present-day San Francisco. This region had recently come under U.S. rule following the war with Mexico. The intersection of Broadway and Battery Streets in San Francisco has traditionally been associated with their arrival and landing site.
The California Pioneer Heritage Foundation has put together a walking tour of sites in downtown San Francisco associated with this period of history. One is Portsmouth Square, which the tour labels as the birthplace of San Francisco. Here the first U.S. flag was raised (before the arrival of the Brooklyn) and, later, Sam Brannan would publicly announce the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill.
The CPHF notes that following that discovery in 1848, “many Mormons abandoned their new homes and went to pan gold. Enterprising Chinese merchants, already occupying much of this street, obtained squatters rights on the abandoned Mormon homes, thus making this (DuPont Street) and the adjoining streets, on which the Saints had erected more than a hundred structures, part of Chinatown.”