We hear horror stories about how much someone is paying for a one-room apartment in San Francisco, and we have to cringe. Houses in the fancy suburbs are even more expensive, particularly in Silicon Valley. Has it always been that way? Maybe not, but in the early days of the city, which became a city thanked to the Gold Rush of 1849, things were even worse.
Edward Gould Buffum, author of Six Months in the Gold Mines (1850), described having a breakfast of bread, cheese, butter, sardines and two bottles of beer with a friend and receiving a bill for $43 – the equivalent today of about $1,200.
There were reports of canteens charging a dollar for a slice of bread or two if it was buttered, the equivalent of $56. A dozen eggs might cost you $90 at today’s prices; a pick axe would be the equivalent of $1,500; a pound of coffee $1,200 and a pair of boots as much as $3,000 when today you could get a decent pair for around $120.
The few who struck gold became wealthy, but the people who sold goods to miners and prospectors raked in the cash, too. Read about the hyper inflated early days of San Francisco at Smithsonian.