1848 Medau View of San Francisco, California

This is a c. 1848 Carl Wilhelm Medau view of San Francisco, California. Although undated, we believe this view to have been created prior to or just at the start of the California Gold Rush due to the relatively small number of buildings illustrated. The lack of iconography associated with the California Gold Rush also lends credence to this belief, as we are familiar with later views of San Francisco made during the Gold Rush that include Gold Rush iconography. Most likely looking toward the Golden Gate, over one dozen tents are illustrated in the foreground, implying a lack of available housing for newcomers, which would suggest that the first of the fortune-seekers were beginning to arrive. A man and two women are depicted on the lower right, with the women sitting on a verdant hillcrest while the man, possibly a military officer, brandishes a sword. Buildings populate a fair amount of the rest of the foreground and middle ground, with a few illustrated in the background, on the hills across the Golden Gate from the viewer's vantage point. Small sailboats and rowboats are included near the end of a long pier, juxtaposed with the large, ocean-going vessel tied up further along the pier. A cluster of ship's masts is discernible along the horizon on the right, which also suggests a large influx of people and/or supplies is either on its way or has arrived. The whole is surrounded by a beautifully engraved decorative border.

Westerners had been living in the area now known as San Francisco since 1776, when the Spanish established the Presidio of San Francisco and a mission there. The settlement, for it was not yet a city, was not known as San Francisco until January 30, 1847, when its name was changed from Yerba Buena. Thus, this view must have been engraved after the settlement was renamed. It was engraved by P. Rohrich and published by C. W. Medau and Company in Prague c. 1848.