The Bank of California was opened in San Francisco, California, on July 4, 1864, by William Chapman Ralston and Darius Ogden Mills. It was the first commercial bank in the Western United States, the second-richest bank in the nation, and considered instrumental in developing the American Old West. History The ancestor of the bank was the banking firm of Garrison, Morgan, Fretz & Ralston, established in San Francisco in January 1856 by a group that included Ralston, Cornelius K. Garrison and R.S. Fretz. Ralston established the Bank of California in 1864 when he sold shares to 22 of the state's leading businessmen for $100 a share. The bank opened on July 4, 1864, with Darius Ogden Mills as president and Ralston as cashier; Louis McLane was on the board of directors. A branch was opened in Gold Hill, Nevada, near Virginia City, on September 4, 1864. William Sharon was long the bank's Nevada agent. Built of stone quarried on nearby Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, the Bank of California Building at the northwest corner of California and Sansome streets in San Francisco was said to be "one of the handsomest structures on the coast …" The Bank of California financed a number of mining operations of the Comstock Lode, and repossessed some mines when their owners defaulted, and ultimately generated enormous profits as a result. However, Ralston sometimes lent money to mine owners in circumstances that would inevitably lead to default and repossession. At the height of their power, Ralston and his "Ring" (as his associates were known) were able to exert monopolistic influence over sections of commerce and industry in San Francisco and in Virginia City. In July 1869, Ralston averted a run on the bank by exchanging nearly $1 million worth of gold bars for an equivalent value in gold coin from the United States Sub-Treasury in San Francisco. The transfer was carried out in the middle of the night by two of Ralston's associates, Asbury Harpending and Maurice Dore. When the bank opened in the morning, the sight of tray after tray of gold coin at the tellers' windows quashed any thought by depositors of mounting a run on the bank. Mills retired as president of the Bank of California in October 1873 and was succeeded by Ralston, who kept Mills on the board of directors for the prestige of his name. At a time of