In the late 1800's until around 1908, San Francisco was one of the worlds largets whale hunting and processing ports. The Arctic Oil Works opened in 1884 at the foot of Sixteenth and Illinois Street in Mission Bay. It was one of the largest whale processing factories in the world and the building was one of the very first reinforced concrete structures in the United States. It was built by Ernest Ransome. Note the figures beach seining with a net, (probably for smelt, anchovies or herring) in the left hand side of the image. The tracks of the Southern Pacific and Sante Fe Railroad are also visible in this undated lithograph from the Bancroft Library.