The Pacific Mail Steamship Company, founded in 1848 in New York, acquired the right to carry US mail to the west coast. Pacific Mail transported goods and people along the Pacific down to the isthmus of Panama. With one of the largest private navies in the world, Pacific Mail chose Benicia for their Pacific dock in 1850 after Benicia founder, Thomas Larkin, successfully lobbied to make Benicia a port of entry. They installed great foundries, machine shops and sleeping quarters where 30 men could stay and double as a fire department. Wharves were built and a 50-ton crane was brought in. It was the first heavy industry west of the Mississippi. Before it closed in 1870, over 2000 hands were employed to repair and fuel the paddle-wheeled steamships. The brawling, raucous docks at the Pacific Mail Steamship Company works around East G and East 5th Streets earned the name of Devil’s Street. The headquarters building was demolished along with warehouses and factory structures in the early part of the 21st century. All that remains of the Pacific Mail headquarters today is an informational marker and the disarticulated façade stored on East H Street. This mural shows the trains loaded aboard the Solano Train Ferry. It characterizes the bustling environment at the end of First Street where the ferries were loaded and, in this scene, a horse-drawn carriage stands by the huge engines. The images in this mural are problematic as this mural clearly illustrates the Solano Train Ferry which was not associated with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company nor were the train ferries docked at the Pacific Mail location.