H68.220.35

• california gold rush

poster. Description: "100 Laborers Wanted to build a Wharf..." Roach & Woodward. From the History Information Station: The phenomenally rapid growth of San Francisco required large amounts of human labor, a commodity that was in short supply in Gold Rush California. Why should a man waste his time working for others when untold wealth lay waiting in the gold fields? Apart from their request for laborers, the authors of this 1849 broadside also advertise the purchase of gold dust, sale of town lots, and loans to miners. Such speculative financial schemes abounded in San Francisco, a city which harbored business practices Easterners found shocking. The poster is a vivid reminder of the role played by sharp operators, dream chasers and market cornerers in creating the Golden State. The Parker House was San Francisco's foremost hotel in the earliest days of the Gold Rush.