2-888-019 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

California: the Fremont Hotel, San Francisco, [USA]; from a recent sketch, 1850. The 1849 Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure-seekers to California. 'The Fremont Hotel, shown in the foreground...is the first house one sees as you are going round the Point...The barren side of the hill before us was covered with tents and canvas houses, and nearly in front a large two-story building displayed the sign, "Fremont Family Hotel"...Crossing the shoulder of the hill, the view extended around the curve of the bay, and hundreds of tents and houses appeared, scattered all over the heights, and along the shore for more than a mile...I set out for a walk before dark, and climbed a hill, back of the town, passing a number of tents pitched in the hollows. The scattered houses spread out below me, and the crowded shipping in the harbour, backed by a lofty line of mountains, made an imposing picture'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.