San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge

Our record this week is the original survey plat for Township 2 South 5 West of the Mount Diablo Principal Meridian. Approved April 19, 1864, this plat portrays the east side of San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay.

It is in Section 3 where we find the western starting point of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Not to be confused with its sister, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge connects San Francisco to the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda to the east, while the Golden Gate connects to Marin County to the north.

One more interesting thing about this plat, and nearly every California record in our collection, is that it is a duplicate. The original records were lost in the fires that resulted from The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

All original land records were kept in the state offices, and duplicates were kept in Washington, D.C. After the earthquake, new copies were made from the duplicates in the Washington Office. Below is the appropriation from Congress for GLO to transcribe copies from the duplicates.

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