Nevada/California Regional Convention
"Good as Gold"

Only a few hundred people lived there in the 1840s, but the discovery of gold brought unimaginable growth. The city soon averaged 30 new houses and two murders each day. A plot of San Francisco real estate that cost $16 in 1847, sold for $45,000 just 18 months later. In less than two years the city burned to the ground six times. But there was always money to rebuild it bigger and better. Nearly a half-billion dollars worth of gold passed through the city in the 1850s -- and everyone wanted their share.