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         "French San Francisco"  by Claudine Chalmers.  Nineteenth-century California was not a destination for the faint of heart, and Frenchmen are usually said to prefer their slippers to their traveling boots. Yet many visitors from France starting in 1786 and made their way to the remote and beautiful territory, leaving enduring accounts and images of their experience. As France's troubled revolutionary era began in the 1840s, tens of thousands of Frenchmen journeyed to California's goldfields. Some found wealth, others freedom, and some death. Many remained in San Francisco, helping shape the city and make it French from the inside.  

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 " Les Pyrénées et la Californie " by   Amaury Mars 1898. Free digital download (French only). Interesting biographical information on French immigrants, French organizations and businesses in San Francisco prior to 1898. (photos too)

Purchase a bound copy on the link above or free pdf at right. (large file so be patient) Scroll down to get to the body of the book. Copyrighted 1898.  
lespyrnesetla_calif.pdf
File Size: 21731 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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"Castles and Chateaux of Old Navarre and the Basque Provinces"   An account of the life and historical monuments of the old French provinces. Henri de Navarre is the chief romantic and historical figure of all that part of France bounded on the south by the Pyrenean frontier.  

Ligue Henri IV, c/o Alliance Française, 1345 Bush St. San Francisco Ca. 94109                                                                           © 2010 Ligue Henri IV