Taken from the script by Ben Hecht:

 

There they are at last, Miss Rutledge.

The will-o’-the-wisp lights of fortune.

San Francisco,

the latest newborn of a great republic.

 

I see a lot of fog and a few lights.

I like it when life’s hidden.

It gives you a chance to imagine nice things.

Nicer than they are.

Listen to them.

Men like to yell, don’t they?

They imagine they’re millionaires already.

 

More than that.

They’ve all left lives behind they didn’t like.

They all dream of being reborn

in the new land.

 

Do they? Or do they dream of gold?

 

No, Miss Rutledge.

Behind that fog lies

not only sand filled with gold…

…but a new empire for men of vision.

 

Men of vision! I love the fine names

men give each other…

…to hide their greed

and lust for adventure.

I am amazed at your idealism, Col. Cobb.

 

Newspaper men are either drunkards

or idealists, Miss Rutledge.

I’m afraid I’m both.

 

 

…

You poor dear.

Let me take you back to the ship.

 

No.

I’m not running away.

I came here to get something

and I’m going to get it.

 

Yes, but San Francisco

is no place for a woman.

 

Why not? I’m not afraid.

I like the fog.

I like this new world.

I like the noise of something happening.

No, San Francisco is no place

for a bad loser, man or woman.

Dan Morgan was a bad loser.

I’m not. I’m staying.

 

…

Rome wasn’t built in a day, gentlemen.

The paths of empire have always started

in the mud and ended in glory.

I shall make that the subject

of my first editorial.