Some pictures from the Gold Rush docents' trip to the Customs House and the Wells Fargo Museum. Click on a picture to see a larger version
 
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The neo-Federal architecture of the Customs House has recently been beautifully restored. The bulding features Italian marble from the same quarry that DiVinci obtained his marble, brass doorknobs with and embossed American Eagle, icicle glass with intricate patterns, and gracefully carved woodwork. 
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The United States shield and motto are the subjects of one of the mural panels on the wall of the main room ofthe Customs House. 
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The ceiling of the main room, located on the second floor, is a large skylight with murals on canvass panels depicting various patriotic and historical scenes and themes. 
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Oakland Museum of California Gold Rush docents touring the Customs House in San Francisco. Located at 555 BAttery in SF, the Customs House was under construction at the time of the 1906 Earthquake, and was completed a few years later. This is the room where importers come to pay import dutines and obtain clearance papers to permit them to bring goods into this country. These transactions are mostly handled automatically now. 
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The letter-press - a 19th Centrury Copy machine. Documents written in iron based inks were placed in this press next to sheets of moistened paper. The moisture in the paper caused the iron in the inks to oxidize and the iron oxides were transferred to the moist papers. A copy of the original document resulted. 
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Wells Fargo stage coach in the Wells Fargo Museum in San Francisco. 15 people, or more, could travel in luxury at a breakneck pace of 5 miles per hour and in a little over 4 days of non-stop travel be in Los Angeles..