(10:10 PM)
san francisco mint
read this article on the defense of the san francisco mint during the 1906 fire. Grace Under Fire. via kottke. especially noted:
... the Panic of 1857, a three-year economic downturn triggered in part by the loss of 15 tons of California gold when the SS Central America sank in a hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas. [Some dude] could only imagine the consequences if the mint gold—nearly 30 times the value of that carried by the Central America—were to be lost.
