“We entered the Eldorado House and such a scene I never beheld…around the sides & center some twenty Gambling tables all in active operation—the room literally thronged, women dealing & betting among the men—a band of some five or six musicians at the far end of the room in full Blast. Licentious pictures hung on the Walls…6 most beautiful chandeliers costing $500 each—a Bar with costly furnishing of massive silver & glass ware and a General excitement with the clash of Glasses—rattling of dice —men of every caste nation & equipment…Imagine then 5 other rooms like this…and you will have the truth…”

— A San Francisco gambling hall described in a traveler’s letter, ca. 1850 .