Page 30 - Historical Study of Yerba Buena Island, Treasure Island and Their Buildings

Jennings built a barn, stable, windmill, carpenter's shop, forge, wharf, oyster beds, and other
buildings on his portion of the island; while Dowling established a quarry that supplied building
stone for San Francisco as well as ballast for ships. Dowling a!so built a boatway on his part of
the island. At least one boat was erected there prior to the military taking possession of the
island in 1867. Altogether, Dowling constructed a small house, a shack, two wells (one dry), a
quarry, small boat repair facilities, and a little plank wharf atop light piles. The little wharf is the
site where the Navy eventually built its long wharf. (Ref. E.) Sadly, one of Dowling's sons
drowned and his remains are buried on the island.

In 1850, Elbert Jones presented a document (dated November 1838) to the Registrar by which he
claimed that Governor Alvarez, via Mexican grant, transferred ownership of Y erba Buena Island
to Juan Jose Castro. Supposedly, Castro had sent to the the island some sheep and hogs along
with Indians to watch over them. There was no other evidence, however, of this taking place or
any record of said grant located in document archives. Elbert Jones claimed to have purchased
the grant from Senor Castro in November 1848, and was attempting to take ownership of Yerba
Buena Island on this basis. Thus started a long story of litigation and battles over ownership of
the island that continued into the early 1940's. The United States (US) Land Commission
eventually rejected the grant claim of Mr. Jones and affirmed Nathan Spear's ownership from
1836 to 1849. However, it does not appear that they considered the matter of Captain Nye's
grant. Eventually, the US Land Commission rejected all private claims to Yerba Buena Island,
which cleared the way for the United States government to claim it for its sole use.

A few years later, Mr. J. Polack bought both the Castro grant from Mr. Jones and the ownership
claim from Mr. King. He then sued Jennings and Dowling to stop them from quarrying the
island; but the suit failed. In 1856, Dowling sold two-thirds of his claim to Charles Scott and
John Vandewater. Sometime during 1864, Dowling bought the Mexican deed from the now
retired Captain Nye who happened to be residing with him at the time. By 1866, through a set of
complicated deals, Benjamin S. Brooks bought all claims to the island including Jennings claim.
Once possession was obtained, Mr. Brooks then sold the entire island to Egbert Judson.
(Ref. GG). Judson, Brooks and Dowling continued to live on the island until the US military
forced them to leave in 1869. The military had already established their presence in 1867.
Those who lived on the island were required to lease back the land on which they lived.
Mr. Polack became one of the petitioners who sought government compensation for the 1867
confiscation of the island. (Ref. HH).

In 1867, the US military claimed the right to take the island based on the Mexican decree of July
183 8. The decree stated that " ... the islands of the Department of the Californias ... " are to be
" ... added to the territory for public distribution ... " to those who demand them. Additionally,
the 1848 treaty, under which California became property of the United States, mentioned the
coastal islands as being given to the US Government. President Fillmore, in November 1850,
issued a Presidential order claiming these islands for the US government. There were, however,
several provisos regarding occupancy and time frames which the government appears to have
ignored. Consequently, since the military never compensated the occupants for their loss, the
manner in which the military took possession may have been illegal. In any case, it led to many
years of bitter and acrimonious debate in the courts and Congress. Eventually, the government,
in order to end the litigation, declared that it reserved all the islands in the bay for military or
other public purposes. The claimants were never compensated for their losses (Ref. GG and
Ref. HH).

September 1, 1995 Historical Study of Yerba Buena Island, 1-7
Treasure Island, and their Buildings