3- increased by the lack of local competition. Her economy was largely self-sufficient and independent of other cities in the Bay Area. She was the third ranking commercial center in the United States and her population exceeded the total of all other Bay Area communities. A handful of commuters came to work in San Francisco either by ferry boat or steam train, but for the most part her people lived and worked in the city. She grew at a moderate rate, was the Gateway to the Orient, and the dominant metropolitan area of the Far West. San Francisco was beautiful, prosperous, unrivaled, and could afford the luxury of solving her problems, such as they were, at a leisurely pace.