Port of San Francisco

Mission Bay was once a vast salt marsh and tidal lagoon stretching over five hundred acres, where the water was so deep that early settlers could navigate the area by canoe. You are standing on land that did not exist in its natural state, as the original estuary was systematically filled in during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to expand the city. Much of the ground beneath you consists of rock, sand, and debris used to reclaim the bay, including significant amounts of rubble salvaged from the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake. This transformation turned a sprawling natural habitat into a functional industrial zone that served as a critical railyard for the Southern Pacific Railroad.