Shoreline Markers

Everything east of these two sidewalk tablets was sold before it was land. Surveyors staked the shallows of Yerba Buena Cove into water lots, and the town auctioned them in 1847, 1850 and 1852 to buyers who meant to fill them. From 1852 a steam shovel the town called the steam paddy cut down the sand hills, one of them blocking Market Street between Second and Third, and railcars dumped the sand into the cove. The bay's edge now lies nearly half a mile east. No state plaque stands here.

What the plaque says

This tablet marks the shore line of San Francisco Bay at the time of the discovery of gold in California, January 24, 1848. Map reproduced above delineates old shore line. Placed by Historic Landmarks Committee, Native Sons of the Golden West, 1921. The shore line of San Francisco Bay reached a point twenty-five feet northeasterly from this spot at the time gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Coloma, California, January 24, 1848. Map of old water line shown on tablet on opposite side of street. Placed by Historic Landmarks Committee, Native Sons of the Golden West, 1921.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muir Beach Overlook — 11 mi
  A cliff edge on Highway 1, and the concrete dugouts where two-man crews watched the sea after Pearl Harbor.
• Muir Woods National Monument — 12 mi
  A redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.
• Earthquake Trail — 28 mi
  A short loop along the San Andreas, where a broken fence shows how far Point Reyes moved in under a minute in 1906.
• Kule Loklo — 28 mi
  A Coast Miwok village built in the 1970s to honour a people its builders were told had died out. They had not.

More markers nearby

• Liberty Bell Slot Machine — steps away
• Site of First California State Fair — steps away
• Fort Gunnybags — 0.2 mi
• Site of Parrott Granite Block — 0.2 mi