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general merchandising store and ship's chandlery, the
Hoff Store was located at the present day intersection of Battery
and Sacramento Streets. In 1850, W.C. Hoff, a recent immigrant
from the East Coast, opened his store atop Howison's
Pier, which ran along the present-day Sacramento Street. This
flourishing Gold Rush commercial establishment, which provided
a vast, diverse assortment of merchandise for miners, mariners
and local residents alike, was destroyed in the Great San Francisco
Fire of May 3-4, 1851. Although the fire damaged the site to
a considerable extent, much of the merchandise inside Hoff's
Store was preserved when Howison's Pier collapsed and
the blazing structures atop the wharf were plunged into the
waters of the Bay, where the combination of Bay water and Bay
mud provided a favorable environment for preservation. |
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Archeo-Tec
excavated the Hoff Store in 1985-1986, revealing a commercial
emporium of intact Chinese and Euro-American artifacts, including
tools and hundreds of military weapons. A wide range of food
objects were preserved within the mud, among them were stoneware
pots full of salt-glazed butter, pickled olives and onions,
and bakery items, including 169 small, square, individually
wrapped cakes. Evidence of fruit, butchered meat, grains,
Chinese spices, tea, and condiments complete this remarkably
detailed portrait of the general store.
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