I recieved an old bill dated 1898 from BAKER & HAMILTON of Sacrament Ca. for $119.15 The heading reads Baker & Hamilton Hardware Agricultural Implements and Vehicles. Manufactory,Benicia, Ca. --109 to 115 J. st. Sac. Ca. & Junction Market, Pine and Davis St. ,S.F. Ca.

Baker and Hamilton were two guys that went up to Sacramento during the gold rush in 1849 and instead of panning for gold, they set up a tent and sold shovels and hardware to the miners. Needless to say, they made a lot of gold that way. They built the building in SF in 1905, a year before the great earthquake, and it survived pretty well. In the 1980's they moved down to Southern Cal and sold the building.

Yeah, I saw an old catalog from Baker & Hamilton. Looked like it was from the fifties. It was BIG!! They were like a ultra huge hardware store that had farm/agricultural equipment, machine tools, carpenter tools, plus a variety of other items.