The U.S. Post Office opened its first San Francisco branch in 1848. No mail was delivered to the gold fields, so miners waited each morning for the post office to open. This lithograph, made after a drawing by H. F. Cox, depicts four lines at the post office, for Spanish-language service, general delivery, parcel delivery, and newspaper pickup. American Prints Collection, Graphic Arts Collection.
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After emigrating from his hometown of Oneonta, New York, in 1851, Carleton Watkins found work as a photographer’s aide in San Francisco. Once in business for himself, he began photographing the Yosemite Valley and California mining scenes. His stereoviews and mammoth photographs of Yosemite made him famous and helped to influence federal legislation to protect the valley, which President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) signed on June 30, 1864. Western Americana Photographs Collection, Manuscripts Division.
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