-|  August 2025  |-

 CORNERS OF SAN FRANCISCO 


✦ | Harvey’s Place

Harvey Woo passed away in 2023. He lived down the street from me, I saw his wife and she told me. An uncanny thing, mentioning his name, without tilting her head, her eyes looked straight upwards. Harvey is a local legend, and Carol Pogash (freelance) wrote a 1987 profile of Harvey's Place for the S.F. Examiner:
FRIDAY NIGHTS
They call him the patron saint of bike messen­gers. Without Harvey, a lot of bike mes­sen­gers would starve.
On Friday nights, the line of messengers with their paychecks stretches a long way from the counter. "If it weren't for Harvey, I'd starve," said R.K.O. Radio. He's buying a jug of Gatorade and a plate of Harvey's special: beef stew w/ rice.
The bike messengers line up at the Bank of Harvey Woo to pay off their tabs, or part of them. "No matter how much money you make by Friday," said bike messenger Lizard, "you always manage to charge Monday's sand­wich."
"I HEART Harvey," said Amy Rockette of U.S. Courier, who has pedaled on down to Harvey's Place on Fifth Street just below Folsom. "I want to give Harvey $70", she said. Harvey gives bike messengers credit when they're hungry. He gives Amy credit when she needs toilet paper and cat food. He advances them credit when they can't pay their rent.
FREE OIL
It's not just the matter of money that keeps bike messengers coming to Harvey's. When their bikes need oil, he hands them his can. "I know that they can't afford it. What the heck, they don't need to buy the whole can, they only need a few drops", he explains. For minor injuries, he keeps perox­ide and Band-Aids close to the cash register.
BATHROOM
He lets the messengers use his bathroom in the back.
BREAKFAST
Breakfasts at Harvey's include R.K.O.'s favorites: a double cheeseburger, potato chips, coffee and OJ. If R.K.O. has any criticism of Harvey it is that Harvey refused to make milkshakes in the morning. ... Bike messenger Lizard appre­ci­ates a Harvey touch. "His is the only restaurant that has peanut butter and jelly on the menu." This is something about which bike messengers care.
HARVEY WOO
Theirs is a peculiarly symbiotic relationship. Harvey, the pre-law graduate of Michigan State, who grew up in Mis­sis­sip­pi but settled into his shop and luncheon counter business in San Fran­cisco. The hundreds of bike messengers with scraggly hair, black leather jackets and few inhibitions. A lot of folks probably have forgotten what Harvey remembers. "I was young once", he said.



 MENU 
 1931 Shipboard Menu 
•
•
Soup
Main
Sides
Dessert


 2022 College Town  
MEE HENG LOW

protein
noodle
sauce
style


 1940s Children's Menu 

Menu artwork showing boy wearing astronaut helmet.
"Little Gobbler"
"Wimpy"
"Little Doggie"
"Humpty Dumpty"
"Little Jack Horner"
"Piggly Wiggly"
"Small Fry"
"Rub-a-Dub-Dub"


 1954 Captain Nemo's 

Painting of an octopus wearing a firstgen diving helmet (artist unknown).

  Japanese 

Takara



 1842 U.S. Navy Menu 

  Monday
  1. one-lb Pork
  2. half-pint Beans
  3. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  4. two-oz Sugar
  5. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  6. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Tuesday
  1. one-lb Beef
  2. half-lb Rice
  3. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  4. two-oz Butter
  5. two-oz Cheese
  6. two-oz Sugar
  7. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  8. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Wednesday
  1. one-lb Pork
  2. half-pint Beans
  3. quarter-lb Pickles
    or Cranberries
  4. quarter-lb Raisins
    or Dried Fruit
  5. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  6. two-oz Sugar
  7. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  8. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Thursday
  1. one-lb Beef
  2. half-lb Flour
  3. quarter-lb Raisins
    or Dried Fruit
  4. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  5. two-oz Sugar
  6. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  7. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Friday
  1. one-lb Beef
  2. half-lb Rice
  3. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  4. half-pint Molasses
  5. two-oz Butter
  6. two-oz Cheese
  7. two-oz Sugar
  8. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  9. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Saturday
  1. one-lb Pork
  2. half-pint Beans
  3. half-pint Vinegar
  4. quarter-lb Pickles
    or Cranberries
  5. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  6. two-oz Sugar
  7. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  8. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Sunday
  1. one-lb Beef
  2. half-lb Flour
  3. quarter-lb Raisins
    or Dried Fruit
  4. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  5. two-oz Sugar
  6. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  7. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)

... Section 3. That should it be necessary to vary the above-described daily allowance, it shall be lawful to substitute one pound of soft bread, or one pound of flour, or half a pound of rice, for fourteen ounces of biscuit; half a pint of wine for a gill of spirits; half a pound of rice for half a pint of beans or pease; half a pint of beans or pease for half a pound of rice.
... Section 5. That no com­mis­sioned officer or mid­ship­man or any person under twenty-one years of age, shall be allowed to draw the spirit part of the daily ration; and all other persons shall be permit­ted to relinquish that part of their ration, under such restrictions as the President of the U.S. may authorize; and to every person who, by this section, is prohibited from drawing, or who may relin­quish, the spirit part of his ration, there shall be paid, in lieu thereof, the value of the same in money, according to the prices which are or may be established for the same. ...


19th century painting of the thirteen Canton Factories.

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-|  August 2025  |-



  BIRTH OF THE CABLE CAR 

Prototype of the final design for San Francisco's cable car.
Beast of Burden
How San Fran­cis­co’s cable car came to be built will re­quire more than one stop on its tell­ing, wend­ing this way and that, and pass­ing land­marks of wealth and waste. 1869 ad for a horse-drawn carriage company.
Before the cable car, the task for get­ting to Nob Hill was rel­e­gated to pay­ing for a ride in a horse-drawn cab. On Octo­ber 11, 1869, this nec­es­sary yet wan­ton civic cruel­ty of us­ing ani­mals as beasts of bur­den changed for the good. The San Fran­cis­co Chron­i­cle had a front page arti­cle on the death of a wretch. It took place when a horse final­ly lost it on Cali­for­nia Street and, throt­tled, dragged down to its death. 		Horse-drawn public transportation.
+
When Andrew Hal­li­die read this, he paused and paced his in­ner office, re­flect­ing on what if any­thing he could learn from this. Hal­li­die was already pros­pe­rous, although not yet famous. He had in­heri­ted a com­pa­ny from his father. The sen­ior Hal­li­die had inv­ent­ed and then patent­ed a “steel cable”: strands of wire lined up and brai­ded into a rope that was super strong, and proved in­dis­pens­able in the gold fields and gold mines.
1848 ad for gold mining tools. 		1872 ad for the Clay St Hill Ralway Co. Hallidie took on a failed con­cern: to build a con­vey­ance cap­a­ble of con­quer­ing the city‘s hills. He bought the Clay Street Hill Rail­way Co., and by May 1873 had built tracks and a cable as­sem­bly up Clay from Ports­mouth Square to Nob Hill, a ver­ti­cal climb of seven blocks.
+
1873 cable car ticket.
+
Early on August 2 1873, a proto­type was in place and, lantern-lit, Hal­li­die stepped on board. Acti­vat­ing a grip lever on­to a mov­ing cable, he as­cen­ded on that peril-prone mai­den voy­age. Few were awake to wit­ness, yet by open­ing day on Sep­tem­ber 1, the ser­vice was in de­mand. In 1880 over one mil­lion tic­kets were sold.
Locomotive Landmark
The first cable cars were tiny trams pow­ered by a patent­ed grip that alter­nate­ly holds, and releases, a con­tin­u­ous­ly mov­ing steel cable run­ning under the street. Power is sup­plied by huge drums housed at near­by power stations along the route. 1877 photo of dummy and trailer set-up.
The tram oper­a­tor is sta­tioned for­ward of the tram. He em­ploys the grip grabs and holds on to the mov­ing cable, the tram al­so moves. When grip is re­leased, tram stops, even on a hill, us­ing a gear inven­tion pre­vent­ing slip­page. Be­sides the tram oper­a­tor (grip­man) is the con­ductor. 		The San Francisco cable car became a state registered landmark in 1877.
+
Andrew Smith Halli­die was born on March 17, 1837 in Lon­don, to An­drew Smith (b.1798 Dum­frie­shire, Scot­land) and Julia John­stone (Locker­bie). He died April 24 1900, in San Fran­cis­co. Six years later his cable car system would survive the 1906 Earth­quake. 		1880 postcard of a Naples cable car. Cable cars then sprouted world­wide, from New York to Hong Kong. Naples crowned its open­ing by com­mis­sion­ing a song, “Funiculi, Funi­cula.”
+
1917 Hallidie Building.
+
In 1917, Andrew Smith Hallidie had an inno­va­tive build­ing named for him. The Hal­li­die Build­ing (the architect is Wil­lis Polk) has a facade rising eight stories and sheathed in glass.
City of Cubes
When news of the dis­cov­ery of gold in Cali­for­nia trav­eled back east, the brawn and brains of a young nation came west­ward, where notions of Free­dom waltzed hand-in-glove with great­ness as well as greed. 1848 California Gold Rush.
Accord­ingly, access from the gold mines to San Fran­cisco were sur­veyed. Roads, bridges and tracks were built wher­ever gold was found, with way­sta­tions estab­lished for res­pite and re­cre­ation. The min­ing meth­ods these men brought with them quick­ly evolved to meet the chal­lenges posed by the Com­stock Lode and its trib­u­ta­ries.
Philipp and Mrs Deidesheimer.
 The Deidesheimers
1860 Deidesheimer Square Set drawing.
+
The Indus­trial Rev­o­lu­tion cre­a­ted tools used in sci­en­tific pre­ci­sion­ing, al­low­ing in­no­va­ted mod­els to be test­ed and prof­it­ably man­u­fac­tured. Among these ideas was the in­ge­nuous “square set” cre­a­ted by ger­man en­gi­neer Philipp Deide­shei­mer. Grey Brechin picks up the um­bil­i­cal cord:
1860 Deidesheimer Square Set mdel.
+
The Square Set intro­duced meth­ods of con­struc­tion. Deide­shei­mer’s gift went from con­struct­ing safe­ty zones to con­duct the back­break­ing busi­ness of min­ing into oth­er uses, in­clud­ing the abil­i­ty of a grid of steel beams and col­umns to al­low sup­port for more height. 		1870 Equitable Life Assurance Building NYC. “Sky­scraper” came into usage in the 1880s; Amer­i­ca had fif­teen. These build­ings us­ual­ly came w/ mod­ern plumb­ing, elec­tri­cal out­lets in every room, a tele­phone line in every unit, cen­tral heat­ing, and an ele­vator.
+
1870 Jayne Building Philadelphia and 1885 Home Insurance building Chicago. 1990 space elevator
❛ … NASA took a fresh look at the steel cable in light of a super ma­te­rial, car­bon nano­tube ... uber-strong, light and flex­i­ble. “Space Ele­vators: An Ad­vanced Earth-Space Infra­struc­ture for the New Mil­len­ium” is the feas­i­bil­i­ty paper of this new science, to erect a track run­ning on cables, from here to the Moon, a jour­ney of some 62,000 miles.❜ — Meghan Neal, February 28 2014.

Andrew Smith Hallidie 1837-1900
CABLE CAR NOTES
| Based on San Fran­cisco’s Golden Era by Lucius Beebe and Charles Clego (1060); Cable Car Days in San Fran­cisco by Edgar Myron Kahn (1940); The Head­light, March 1947, Western Pacific Club; Imperial San Fran­cisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin by Gray Brechin (1999); and on­line articles by Mary Bellis (“The History of Sky­scrapers”), Karen Barss (“Man­hat­tan’s Golden Age of Sky­scrapers”), and Meghan Neal (“Space Ele­vators Are Total­ly Pos­sible”) | A 1959 epi­sode of TV series Bonanza fea­tures a Phil­ipp Dei­de­shei­mer plot point. | Thank you Taryn Ed­wards, MLIS, Mechan­ics’ Institute. | Thank you Penelope Houston, SF Public Library.

█
| Birth of the Cable Car |

 MENU 
 1931 Shipboard Menu 
•
•
Soup
Main
Sides
Dessert


 2022 College Town  
MEE HENG LOW

protein
noodle
sauce
style


 1940s Children's Menu 

Menu artwork showing boy wearing astronaut helmet.
"Little Gobbler"
"Wimpy"
"Little Doggie"
"Humpty Dumpty"
"Little Jack Horner"
"Piggly Wiggly"
"Small Fry"
"Rub-a-Dub-Dub"


 1954 Captain Nemo's 

Painting of an octopus wearing a firstgen diving helmet (artist unknown).

  Japanese 

Takara


 1842 U.S. Navy Menu 

  Monday
  1. one-lb Pork
  2. half-pint Beans
  3. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  4. two-oz Sugar
  5. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  6. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Tuesday
  1. one-lb Beef
  2. half-lb Rice
  3. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  4. two-oz Butter
  5. two-oz Cheese
  6. two-oz Sugar
  7. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  8. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Wednesday
  1. one-lb Pork
  2. half-pint Beans
  3. quarter-lb Pickles
    or Cranberries
  4. quarter-lb Raisins
    or Dried Fruit
  5. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  6. two-oz Sugar
  7. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  8. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Thursday
  1. one-lb Beef
  2. half-lb Flour
  3. quarter-lb Raisins
    or Dried Fruit
  4. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  5. two-oz Sugar
  6. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  7. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Friday
  1. one-lb Beef
  2. half-lb Rice
  3. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  4. half-pint Molasses
  5. two-oz Butter
  6. two-oz Cheese
  7. two-oz Sugar
  8. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  9. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Saturday
  1. one-lb Pork
  2. half-pint Beans
  3. half-pint Vinegar
  4. quarter-lb Pickles
    or Cranberries
  5. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  6. two-oz Sugar
  7. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  8. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)
  Sunday
  1. one-lb Beef
  2. half-lb Flour
  3. quarter-lb Raisins
    or Dried Fruit
  4. fourteen-oz Biscuit
  5. two-oz Sugar
  6. quarter-oz of Tea or
    oz of Coffee or Cocoa
  7. quarter-oz Spirits (gill)

... Section 3. That should it be necessary to vary the above-described daily allowance, it shall be lawful to substitute one pound of soft bread, or one pound of flour, or half a pound of rice, for fourteen ounces of biscuit; half a pint of wine for a gill of spirits; half a pound of rice for half a pint of beans or pease; half a pint of beans or pease for half a pound of rice.
... Section 5. That no com­mis­sioned officer or mid­ship­man or any person under twenty-one years of age, shall be allowed to draw the spirit part of the daily ration; and all other persons shall be permit­ted to relinquish that part of their ration, under such restrictions as the President of the U.S. may authorize; and to every person who, by this section, is prohibited from drawing, or who may relin­quish, the spirit part of his ration, there shall be paid, in lieu thereof, the value of the same in money, according to the prices which are or may be established for the same. ...


19th century painting of the thirteen Canton Factories.

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-|  August 2025  |-



 WILD WILD WEST  Wild Wild West
Illustrated w/ collages, drawings, maps, paintings, photographs, prints and quotes

| ⁋ |  Out west, when 1848 was on­ly twenty-four days old, mechan­ic James Marshall was mak­ing a rou­tine in­spec­tion on the grounds of a saw­mill he man­aged for his em­ploy­er. That was when the New Jer­sey native noticed some odd-look­ing ore in a water chan­nel of the South Fork of the Amer­i­can River. It was “... bright, yet mal­le­a­ble. I then tried it be­tween two rocks, and found that it could be beaten in­to a differ­ent shape, but not broken.”

Robert Frost: Such was life in the Golden Gate Gold dusted all we drank and ate And I was one of the children told We all must eat our peck of gold


 | ⁋ |  Nine days after Marshall emerged from the waters w/ his find, the Treaty of Guada­lupe Hidal­go was signed, trans­fer­ring a large tract of Mex­ico to the United States.  | ⁋ |  These concurrent events to­geth­er pre­cip­i­ta­ted the Cali­for­nia Gold Rush of 1849, when folks came from all over, bring­ing dreams while pray­ing to the god and god­dess of wealth for a show of “colour”  | ⁋ |  The first came from Mon­te­rey, San Fran­cis­co, San Jose and So­no­ma: when clerks, doc­tors, labor­ers, law­yers, mechan­ics, ranch­eros left their jobs. Sail­ors de­ser­ted their ships. Soldiers de­ser­ted the Mex­i­can War. As word spread more came from Hawai‘i, Mex­ico and Ore­gon.  | ⁋ |  Gold seekers showing up near the saw­mill of John August Sut­ter, where gold was first dis­cov­ered, had no need for milled lum­ber, and his busi­ness went into de­cline. All the while, a new settle­ment grew across the Amer­i­can Riv­er to be­come Colo­ma, the first gold rush town. Near­by stands a mon­u­ment, by the Native Sons of the Golden West, to mark the grave of James Wil­son Marshall, the “dis­cov­er­er of gold.”



Westward-Ho!

Panama 1849

One can cross Pan­a­ma to get to Cali­for­nia rather than sail around Cape Horn. Up Chagres riv­er to the town of Cule­bra; then don­keys to Gulf of Pan­a­ma, elev­en miles away.
Maps were consulted and what became the Cali­for­nia Trial be­gan w/ exis­ting routes. Emi­grants showed up along the Mis­sou­ri riv­er and towns in Illi­nois or Iowa. Wagon trains hitched, they head­ed out, cross­ing land­apes of grass­lands, prai­ries, steppes, val­leys and riv­ers to Wyo­ming and Fort Lara­mie. Fort Laramie 1834  | ⁋ |  The only way to cross the Rock­ies was a cor­ri­dor be­yond Fort Lara­mie, lev­el and broad. South Pass af­ford­ed sev­er­al routes pas­sage to Cali­for­nia. At a fork in the road soon after, the Ore­gon Trail veers right while the Mor­mon Trail turns south to­ward Fort Bridger.

Fort Bridger 1842  | ⁋ |  Overland travelers chose routes de­pen­dent on start­ing point and final des­ti­na­tion. Oth­er factors were the con­di­tion of their wagons, live­stock, and the avail­ability of water.

Atlantic Ocean 1852
Gold Country 1850  | ⁋ |  From California, one can get to Ore­gon on the Apple­gate Trail (1846), an alter­native to the haz­ard­ous last leg of the Ore­gon Trail.

 | ⁋ |  The Oregon Trail be­gins in Mis­sou­ri and leaves ei­ther Fort Leav­en­worth, Inde­pen­dence or Saint Jo­seph for a two thou­sand mile trek to the Ore­gon Ter­ri­tory. Past the Great Plains, then the Rock­ies, head­ing west north­west to the Snake river, Fort Boise, Wit­man Mis­sion, The Dales, Fort Van­cou­ver, the Colum­bia river, and the coast.

The Santa Fe Trail starts off in Mis­sou­ri, rolls through Kan­sas and a cor­ner of Colo­rado. Cross­ing the Arkan­sas river be­fore drop­ping to New Mex­ico, the trail loses its iden­tity some­what in San­ta Fe, where it is braid­ed to the Gila Trail, a local 16th-c. com­merce and trav­el high road, bring­ing trade from in­land to the coast.
 | ⁋ |  The Mormon Trail, gathers in Illi­nois and wends by Iowa and Nebras­ka be­fore join­ing estab­lished trails in Wyo­ming. To­geth­er they cross the Rock­ies, then the Mor­mon Trail con­tin­ues south south­west to Utah Ter­ri­tory to end up in Los Angeles. Be­sides the over­land­ers there were al­so sea­farers.

O Pioneers! 1849 Cape Horn 1849  | ⁋ |  An eight-month sea route from New York to San Fran­cis­co would in­volve a haz­ard­ous round­ing of Cape Horn.

Gold Fever


A 49er carries pick­axe, shov­el and pan. Can add a rock­er and a hop­per; some also con­duct hy­draul­ic ex­pe­ri­ments. A water wheel would be jim-dan­dy, to pick up indi­vid­ual quan­ti­ties of gold-bear­ing grav­el and sand.

Gold Mining 1949
49er 1848 Personal gear: pair of blan­kets, fry­ing-pan, flour, salt pork, bran­dy (or other sanc­ti­fy­ing spirit). Field gear must-haves: pick­axe, shovel and pan. Some pro­cure a mule. toolbox  | ⁋ |  Gold miners w/ no finan­cial back­ing learn to con­gre­gate along moun­tain roads and wait for sup­ply wagons pass­ing through, bring­ing food and tools and carry­ing out gold dust. Satur­day nights were for saloon­ing and carous­ing. Sun­day is a holi­day – laun­dry, tool re­pair, swap­ping stories, writ­ing let­ters, nap­ping.

49ers 1854
gold pan  | ⁋ |  A twelve inch shal­low sheet-iron pan to rinse soil w/ water and lo­cate the gold. rocker  | ⁋ |  A rock­er is a rec­tan­gu­lar wood­en box mount­ed on two rock­ers and set at a down­ward angle.
hopper  | ⁋ |  The hop­per is a box sit­ting on top of the rock­er, lined w/ a sheet of per­for­a­ted iron. Be­neath is an area called the “riddle-box.”
long tom  | ⁋ |  The long tom is an im­proved rock­er plus hop­per, reach­ing to twen­ty feet in length. A long sheet of per­for­a­ted iron lines the bot­tom and be­neath that iw the riddle-box.
 | ⁋ |  Women too had gold fev­er, com­ing from Mex­ico, Chile, Peru, Eng­land, France, New York and New Orleans. James Marshall tests his discovery’s quality in Mrs Wimmer’s kettle of boiling soap  | ⁋ |  Depicted in history as adven­turess, courte­san, har­lot, pick­pocket, pros­ti­tute and the demi­monde, these women were al­so book­keep­ers, cooks, laun­dress­es, shop-keep­ers, maids, wives. When moun­tain roads im­proved suffi­cient­ly to make trav­el be­tween towns feas­i­ble, they set forth as per­form­ers. Golden Girls 1849  | ⁋ |  Mrs Clappe came west in 1851 w/ her hus­band. In her let­ters home she gives an ac­count of the era, about geol­ogy and a vis­it to a rural doctor’s rude of­fice of pine shin­gles and cot­ton cloth.

City of Gold
saloon chandelier
Sydney Duck “Eng­lish Jim” Stuart was hanged for rob­bery and mur­der on July 11 1851.

San Francisco 1851
Yerba Buena 1847 1848 Yerba Buena was a ham­let on the San Fran­cis­co penin­sula w/ an ex­cel­lent har­bor. The Span­iards es­tab­lished a mari­time trad­ing post and built the Mis­sion of San Fran­cis­co de Asis. Ships dock­ing in its cove dis­charged sea­far­ers to a Span­ish-style pla­za known as Ports­mouth Square. Eureka! 1848
 | ⁋ |  On arrival gold seek­ers rent­ed lodg­ings in shan­ties and tent towns, and stayed long enough to buy tools and pro­vi­sions be­fore head­ing out.

Sydney Ducks 1848  | ⁋ |  Brought over from Aus­tra­lia to perform labor, Eng­lish con­victs de­ser­ted en masse and in­stead formed a gang. Soon a fron­tier patch of law­less­ness, Sydney Town, sprout­ed at the base of Tele­graph Hill. The Sydney Ducks preyed on peo­ple and prop­er­ty, aug­men­ted by a gang of lady pick­poc­kets, and wil­ling­ly com­mit­ted mur­der to survive.
Post Office  | ⁋ |  The embers of Syd­ney Town re­kin­dled and gave birth to the Bar­bary Coast, chock-a-block w/ bars, saloons, broth­els, con­cert halls, dance halls; where “get­ting shang­haied” was first re­hearsed. Sur­vived the 1906 Earth­quake and Fire, by 1917 the red-light dis­trict was no more.

San Francisco 1848 1849 19850 1851 Mint of San Francisco

Gold Mountain
Coloma Valley 1849
Sutter’s Mill on the South Fork of the Amer­i­can River.
Sutters Mill 1848 Coloma, next to Sut­ter’s Mill, was the first gold min­ing town. A post of­fice and jail were add­ed in 1852 – both proved pop­ular. Gold min­ing also took place north at Bid­well’s Bar, Cut Eye Fos­ter’s Bar, Down­ie­ville, Dutch Flat, Good­year’s Bar, Grass Val­ley, Hell­town, Illinois­town, Iowa Hill, Kana­ka Flat, Lousy Level, Marys­ville, Mur­der­ers Bar, Neva­da City, Plu­mas City, Poker Flat, Rough and Ready, Wash­ing­ton, Whis­key Flat, Wis­con­sin Hill, and You Bet.

 | ⁋ |  Coloma is now a ghost town in­side Marsh­all Gold Dis­cov­ery State His­toric Park.  | ⁋ |  South at Angels Camp, Chi­nese Camp, Dog­town, Fair Play, Hor­ni­tos, Jack­son, Moke­lum­me Hill, Mor­mon Bar, Raw­hide, Rich Gulch, Shaw’s Flat, Sonora, Vol­cano.
 | ⁋ |  Gold was found along trib­u­ta­ries to the San Joa­quin and Sac­ra­men­to riv­ers. At Au­burn, Dia­mond Springs, Grizz­ly Flats, Mis­sou­ri Flat, Placer­ville.

Miwok 1851  | ⁋ |  Home to Native Amer­i­cans incl. the Miwok, the Sier­ra Neva­da was rude­ly af­fect­ed by the Gold Rush. In 1849 an incident oc­curred along the Mid­dle Fork of the Amer­i­can River when some 49ers died and some indi­genes killed. An un­easy truce ob­tained when Native Amer­i­cans were hired on as labor­ers and paid in tin, but by 1900 their pop­u­la­tion had de­clined to only ±16,000.

Hollywood 1935  | ⁋ |  Be­fore James Cag­ney was the Fris­co Kid and Ed­ward G. Robin­son drama­tized life in the Bar­bary Coast era, there was a 1913 fea­ture, The Last Night of the Bar­bary Coast, now a lost film.
pair of jeans The 1849 state cen­sus count­ed 42,000 over­land­ers and 35,000 sea­far­ers caught up by gold fev­er; to­geth­er w/ 3,000 sail­ors who had deser­ted ships.

Chinatown 1852 Like all who seek a bet­ter to­mor­row, the Chi­nese too came to the Cali­for­nia Gold Rush, formed a fra­tern­i­ty in Colo­ma, squat­ted spent claims and worked as a team over the “tail­ings” left be­hind. In 1880 this gold-min­ing China­town was lost to fire.


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