Gold Rush Check, "Page, Bacon", Bankers, San Francisco, 1855

Description

Gold Rush – “Banking House of Page, Bacon & Co.”  Receipt of Deposit dated San Francisco, March 9, 1855. Issued to James Waters for 0, for a term of two months at 1% per month interest. Signed on the back by Waters and bank representative Thomas Jenkins. At this time he bank was raising money to cover massive obligations; it closed for good two months later in May, 1855, but not before Waters was paid back, as indicated by his signature on the back. About 8 x 4 inches.
Page, Bacon opened their San Francisco office in June, 1850. They soon became one of the biggest banks in California.  The Saint Louis headquarters of Page, Bacon and Company faced a run on "Black Friday" early in1855.   According to the Huntington Library: "...Various factors, among them falseness on the part of Page & Bacon's New York correspondents, and involvement in the financing of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, compelled the St. Louis house to close its doors." (See Huntington Library, "Inventory of the Henry Douglas Bacon Papers, ca. 1766-1906," accessed 08/25/2016.)
News of the Saint Louis bank made its way back to San Francisco by 05/01/1855. The manager of the American Theatre in San Francisco got the first news of the bankruptcy and withdrew his ,000, triggering a run on the holdings Page, Bacon and other financial institutions in San Francisco.  Page, Bacon's San Francisco office suspends, arranges more funding to cover deposits, and was able to re-open.
Two folds, some soiling, in Very Good condition.