"Thanks be to God, I have arrived at this port of San Diego. It is beautiful to behold and does not belie its reputation."

"I thought San Diego must be Heaven on earth...It seemed to me the best spot for building a city I ever saw."

"What a change in weather! It was sleeting when I left St. Louis. Here, on the 23rd of February, palm leaves flutter in warm wind and sun."

"Of all the dilapidated, miserable-looking places I have ever seen, this was the worst...an altogether dreary, sunblasted point of departure for nowhere..."

"I have been in worse places than this."