Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin by Gray Brechin (review)

Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin Gray Brechin Berkeley: University of California Press Reviewed by D ennis J. D ingem ans University of California, Davis T his scholarly contribution by a geographer to the long list of books about the City of San Francisco combines an impressive record of original research with a forcefully argued rhetorical framework. In the end, it proves to be an unhappy marriage, as the author's logical sequence of topics is not a good vehicle for conveying his abundant, insightful observations. However, most purchasers will find reasons tojudge the book adequately satisfying, either because Brechin writes beautifully as he tells (or retells) compelling stories, because the publishers have allowed ample (nearly five score) fascinating illus­ trations from inaccessible sources, or because the final 70 pages of notes, bibliography, and index are a treasure trove about one of our country's most important places. The author's ambitious purposes are stated outright before the first of the seven substantive chapters. San Francisco is classified as an example of an imperial city, one that grew prosperous and great by exploiting its links to a surrounding region. Brechin proposes to examine "the radical environmental impact that one city has had on California and the Pacific Basin" (p. xxii) and asks, "Was it worth it?" (p. xvii). His 330-page response is suffused with the conclusion that the main beneficiaries of imperial urbanism have been a small coterie of powerful urban elites and their families. The few pros­ pered and the many have been ground down and have had their lives diminished by environmental destruction and pollution. Part One, titled "foundations of dominion," discusses mining and water supply as two key relationships between the city and its contado, the Italian word Brechin prefers for the city's tributary area. The first chapter examines San Francisco's early links to the economy 144 D in g e m a n s : Review of Imperial San Francisco 145 of gold, mercury, silver, and other mines. Building upon some ideas of Lewis Mumford, bold intellectual claims are staked in the asser­ tion that mining has been the motor of urban history, with even the first large cities supported by "the pyramid of mining." The second chapter discusses the city's water supply. Environmental impacts of these twin foundations of dominion are presented mostly through the research of others. Strong story lines are provided by the defor­ estation of the Sierra's eastern slopes, the hydraulic debris in the Central Valley, and the filling of a Yosemite National Park valley with Hetch Hetchy Reservoir water. The role of wealthy investors and manipulators in these projects is the heart of Brechin's original research contribution from his work with rare or ephemeral source materials. Part Two, titled "the thought shapers," devotes a chapter each to the Hearsts of mine and publication fame; the de Youngs, with similar roots; and the Scott brothers, whose core enterprises were metalworking and ship building. These three powerful families are presented as exemplars of their class. All benefited directly and in­ directly from the growing city and all knew well that political imperialism was an essential underpinning of economic expansion. The Spanish-American War and related imperialist intrusions throughout the Pacific and Latin America receive emphasis. Brechin's research contribution here is often the archival digging that reveals craven motivations and ruthless methods by the families and their associates in mining, lumbering, agriculture, and other resourceextraction enterprises. The concluding Part Three is given the arcane title "remote con­ trol" as an application of another of Mumford's late-in-life conceptualization of the destructive workings of contemporary so­ ciety. A chapter on "toward limitless energy" that might well have been put in the book's first section reviews the rise of petroleum fortunes, dams, and hydroelectric dynasties of the west. Here again the author's familiarity with memoirs, personal papers, and corpo­ rate records reveals illuminating details concerning the methods of the corporate and family enterprises that tapped the resources of the golden state for the benefit of the state's urban elite. The final chapter reviews the rise of the Berkeley campus of the University of 146...