#26 Used In California 1858

This is a common cover with a #26 postmarked SAN FRANCISCO/JUN/22/1858/CA. It was addressed to Placer County, CA. The envelope was partially printed for use among the Masons Lodges. In less than 10 years, San Francisco became a very large city. This year, 1858, was an important year for us philatelists. In 1858, the Overland Mail Co. started carrying mails between San Franciaco and St. Louis. QUOTE:
"With California booming, thanks to the 1849 Gold Rush, Americans east and west had been clamoring for faster and surer transcontinental mail service for years. Finally, in March 1857, the U.S. Congress passed an act authorizing an overland mail delivery service and a $600,000 yearly subsidy for whatever company could succeed in reliably transporting the mail twice a week from St. Louis to San Francisco in less than 25 days. The postmaster general awarded the first government contract and subsidy to the Overland Mail Company. Under the guidance of a board of directors that included John Butterfield and William Fargo, the Overland Mail Company spent $1 million improving its winding 2,800-mile route and building way stations at 10-15 mile intervals. Teams of thundering horses soon raced across the wide open spaces of the West, pulling custom-built Concord coaches with seats for nine passengers and a rear boot for the mail."

Talking about what had happened in San Francisco in 1858, read this:
http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=...us_to_Canada

Maybe the cover shown is not so "common" of a cover!

I am rather fascinated by the addressee of the cover scanned. It is addressed to Oro City, Placer County, California. From what I gather through internet searches, the "city" was only in existence for four years. The post office was around for less than a year in 1853 and again in (1855? to) 1858 and then apparently closed up shop, as did the entire gold mining town.

References on the internet all lead to stories about a different Oro City (in Colorado) which is obviously not the same location. It is exceedingly rare to find anything on-line about this long forgotten gold mining town.

I did, however, find this reference to a philatelic cover from the region ... as addressed to another Masonic Lodge in Yuba City. I wonder if they used an actual postmark back then or if a manuscript cancel was the order of the day?

wt1: I have found a very brief history of the Oro City here. It was part of Gold Hill, Placer County, CA.
http://www.californiagenealogy.org/...old_hill.htm

Fotofila: I found that reference, too. What I find especially interesting is that no one has specifically identified exactly where in Placer County Oro City had stood. I guess there were a lot of gold mining towns that came and went faster than we realize today.

What's really amazing is that considering the short duration of the town in the 1850s, that there was enough of a population to warrant having a Masonic Lodge there.