The Presidio was first occupied by United States troops in 1847, on March 4th, when the sword was trembling in the weak hands of Spain.

On November 6th, 1850, President Millard Fillmore set these grounds apart forever as a Military Reservation.

As I walked on, before me to the west, rose hundreds of tents in which were soldiers, some of whom had returned from the Philippine Islands, and others of them were soon to embark for the Orient.

Yonder too is the cemetery, where, as on Arlington Heights above the Potomac, sleep the Nation's dead; and "There Honour comes, a pilgrim gray, To bless the turf that wraps their clay." After your visit to the Presidio you will naturally desire to go to the Cliff House, that world renowned resort on Point Lobos south of the Golden Gate, and about seven miles distant from the City Hall.
Thousands frequent this favoured spot annually, and especially on Saturday afternoons is it thronged.

You can reach the Cliff either by the street cars going by Golden Gate Park, or by the electric railway which skirts the rocky heights of the Golden Gate.