California Marker - First U.S. Branch Mint

California Centennial Commission Marker - Four years after California became a state in 1850, the United States Treasury here erected the first branch mint in California to accommodate the gold flowing in from the Sierra. Although today's waterfront is more than a half mile east of this location, the mint originally stood only a few feet from the San Francisco Bay and the Long Wharf. The prospect from the intersection of Commercial and Montgomery was a forest of masts rather than today's bulwark of skyscrapers. In 1875, the mint was moved to Fifth and Mission Streets and the Commercial Street structure was rebuilt as a four-story, brick Subtreasury designed by William Appleton Potter. The 1906 Earthquake and Fire gutted the building, which was once again rebuilt, this time as a one-story, brick building. The surviving structure was incorporated into the highrise Bank of Canton as the Pacific Heritage Museum with exhibits devoted to the history of the building and to the arts of Pacific Rim cultures. Count Agoston Haraszthy, was the mint's first assayer and is known as Father of Modern Viticulture in California, Buena Vista Winery and Vineyards.