Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/San Francisco Harbor, 1851

Original - San Francisco harbor in 1850 or 1851, with Alcatraz Island in the background.

Reason: A rare daguerrotype showing San Francisco's economic activity during the California gold rush. Merchant ships crowd the harbor and freshly constructed clapboard buildings fill the foreground. Hardly any of this scene could be replaced with a later photograph: the gold rush ended shortly afterward, construction projects began on Alcatraz Island in 1853, steam ships replaced sailing ships, and the great San Francisco earthquake/fire of 1906 destroyed most of the city's early architecture. Restored version of Image:SanFranciscoharbor1851.jpg. This is San Francisco 55 years before the earthquake and more than 80 years before Alcatraz became a federal prison.
Articles this image appears in: History of San Francisco, California, Alcatraz Island, California gold rush
Creator: unknown

Support as nominator Durova^Charge! 22:32, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
Support Historic, unique perspective, excellent restoration job, and as you say, daguerrotypes are rare. Dr. Extreme (talk) 22:37, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
Support Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 05:19, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
Support Very nice image with good historic value. Juliancolton ^{The storm still blows...} 22:36, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
Support. I was just reading a book about SF in the Gold Rush and how the harbor was so full of boats that many had to wait for days before they could unload, and along comes a photo of that very phenomenon. howcheng {chat} 17:18, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Promoted Image:SanFranciscoharbor1851c sharp.jpg MER-C 08:24, 11 March 2008 (UTC)