Receipt book for steamer Antelope

Built in New York in 1847, this 425-ton sidewheel steamer of the U.S. Mail Steamship Company ran passengers between Panama and San Francisco through 1851, then was sold to the Union Line. The Antelope, “thoroughly repaired and made new” started carrying passengers from Pacific Wharf, San Francisco to Sacramento on February 21, 1852. During the gold rush, so much treasure was brought to San Francisco aboard this vessel that its express messenger's department was known as "the gold room" and its floor was braced against the weight of heavy shipments. Antelope carried the first mail from the Pony Express terminus in Sacramento to San Francisco on April 14, 1860.

1 volume

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