JULY 5, 1936: William B. Bourn II died at Filoli, his San Mateo country estate. At the time of his death he was the wealthiest man in San Francisco, if not the world.

JULY 5, 1936: William B. Bourn II died at Filoli, his San Mateo country estate. At the time of his death he was the wealthiest man in San Francisco, if not the world.

In 1850 William B. Bourn arrived in San Francisco and in 1869 opened the Empire Gold Mine of Grass Valley in the Sierra Nevada foothills….

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JULY 3, 1852: Congress authorized a second Mint to be established in San Francisco. It would operate out of the Old Mint Building until 1937.

JULY 3, 1852: Congress authorized a second Mint to be established in San Francisco. It would operate out of the Old Mint Building until 1937.

A second US Mint opened in San Francisco in 1854 to accommodate all the gold coming out of the Sierras. In its first year of…

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