In this presentation Jim Schein provides rare views of the natural topography of early San Francisco, including a peat bog south of Market Street; giant sand dunes on what is now Lombard Street; and long lost rivers and lagoons.

Through paintings, maps, and surveys we see the earliest roads (sand paths, really) that connected San Francisco’s earliest “neighborhoods”—Yerba Buena Cove, Mission Dolores, and the Presidio. We see how paths grew into roads, eventually connecting every part of the city, as well as the many obstacles early planners faced as they tried to make the far reaches of the growing city accessible.