The first European to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was the Portuguese Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542, sailing for the Spanish Empire. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila Galleons on their return trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565.[33] Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain.
Spanish missionaries began setting up 21 California Missions along the coast of what became known as Alta California (Upper California), together with small towns and presidios. In 1821 the Mexican War of Independence gave Mexico (including California) independence from Spain; for the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote northern province of the nation of Mexico. Cattle ranches, or ranchos, emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. After Mexican independence from Spain, the chain of missions became the property of the Mexican government and were secularized by 1832. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Spanish-speaking Californians) who had received land grants, and traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants.
Beginning in the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the U.S. and Canada began to arrive in Northern California, harbingers of the great changes that would later sweep the Mexican territory. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts surrounding California. In this period, Imperial Russia explored the California coast and established a trading post at Fort Ross.
Bear Flag of the Republic of California
In 1846 settlers rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterwards, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma.
“[We] overthrow a Government which has seized upon the property of the Missions for its individual aggrandizement; which has ruined and shamefully oppressed the laboring people of California.”
—William Ide, Declaration from the Bear Flag Revolt
The Republic's first and only president was William B. Ide, who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. His term lasted 22 days and concluded when California was occupied by U.S. forces during the Mexican-American War.
The California Republic was short lived. The same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). When Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay and began the military occupation of California by the United States, Northern California capitulated in less than a month to the U.S. forces. After a series of defensive battles in Southern California, including The Siege of Los Angeles, the Battle of Dominguez Rancho, the Battle of San Pasqual, the Battle of Rio San Gabriel and the Battle of La Mesa, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing American control in California. Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the war, the region was divided between Mexico and the U.S.; the western territory of Alta California, was to become the U.S. state of California, and Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah became U.S. Territories, while the lower region of California, the Baja Peninsula, remained in the possession of Mexico.
In 1848 the non-native population of California was estimated to be no more than 15,000. But after gold was discovered, the population burgeoned with U.S. citizens, Europeans and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. By 1854 over 300,000 settlers had come. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted to the United States undivided as a free state, denying the expansion of slavery to the Pacific Coast.
The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule was located at Monterey from 1777 until 1835, when Mexican authorities abandoned California, leaving their missions and military forts behind. In 1849 the Constitutional Convention was first held there. Among the duties was the task of determining the location for the new state capital. The first legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only a short break in 1861 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento.
Travel between California and the central and eastern parts of the U.S. was time consuming and dangerous. A more direct connection came in 1869 with the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad through Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains. After this rail link was established, hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens came west, where new Californians were discovering that land in the state, if irrigated during the dry summer months, was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere.
Migration to California accelerated during the early-20th century with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to become the most populous state in the Union. In order to meet the population's needs, major engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built across the state. The state government also adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop a highly efficient system of public education.
Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's wide variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s.
Conquest of California
Hostilities between U.S. and Mexican troops commenced in April 1846 with Mexican troops killing and capturing a number of U.S. Army troops in the future state of Texas. The Battle of Palo Alto, the first major battle of the Mexican-American War, was fought on May 8, 1846, a few miles from the modern-day city of Brownsville, Texas. A force of some 3,400 Mexican troops (a portion of the Army of The North) led by Mexican General Mariano Arista engaged a force of 2,400 United States troops under General Zachary Taylor. Taylor's forces drove the Mexicans from the field. The United States Congress responded to these hostilities by issuing a Declaration of War against Mexico on May 13, 1846—the Mexican-American War had began.
The main forces available to the United States in California were the bluejacket sailors and U.S. Marines on board the ships of the Pacific Squadron. Speculating that war with Mexico over Texas and other land was very possible, the U.S. Navy had sent several additional naval vessels to the Pacific in 1845 to protect U.S. interests there. It took about 200 days, on average, for ships to travel the greater than 12,000 miles (19,000 km) trip from the East coast around Cape Horn to California. Initially as the war with Mexico started there were five vessels in the U.S. Navy's Pacific Squadron near California. In 1846 and 1847 this was increased to 13 Navy vessels—over half the U.S. Navy's available ships. The only other U.S. military force then in California was the about 30 military topographers etc. and 30 mountain men, guides, hunters, etc. in Captain John C. Fremont’s United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers exploratory force. They were exiting California on their way to Oregon when they got word in early June 1846 that war was imminent and a revolt had already started in Sonoma, California. On hearing this, Fremont and his exploratory force returned to California.
The former fleet surgeon William M. Wood and John Parrot, the American Consul of Mazatlan, arrived in Guadalajara Mexico on 10 May 1846. There they heard word of the on-going hostilities between the U.S. and Mexico forces and sent a message by special courier back to Commodore Sloat then visiting Mazatlan. On 17 May 1846 this courier's messages informed Commodore Sloat that hostilities between the U.S. and Mexico had commenced. Commodore (Rear Admiral) John D. Sloat, commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Squadron and his fleet of four vessels were then at anchor in the harbor of Mazatlan Mexico. On hearing the news Commodore Sloat dispatched his flagship, the Frigate USS Savannah, and the Sloop USS Levant to Monterey harbor where they arrived on 2 July 1846. They joined the Sloop USS Cyane which was already there. There were U.S. fears that the British might try to annex California to satisfy British creditors.The British Pacific Station's ships off California were stronger in ships, guns and men.
Hearing rumors of possible Mexican military action against the newly arrived settlers in California (this had already happened in 1840), some settlers decided to neutralize the small Californio garrison at Sonoma, California. On June 15, 1846, some thirty settlers, mostly former American citizens, staged a revolt and seized the small Californio garrison in Sonoma without firing a shot. Initially there was little resistance from anyone in California as they replaced the dysfunctional and ineffective Mexican government—which already had 40 Presidents in the first 24 years of its existence. Most settlers and Californios were neutral or actively supported the revolt. John A. Sutter and his men and supplies at Sutter’s Fort joined the revolt. They raised the "Bear Flag" of the California Republic over Sonoma. The republic was in existence scarcely more than a week before Frémont returned and took over on June 23 from William B. Ide the leader of the Bear Flag Revolt. The California state flag of today is based on this original Bear Flag and still contains the words "California Republic".
In 1846 the U.S. Navy was under orders to take over all California ports in the event of war. There were about 400–500 U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy bluejacket sailors available for possible land action on the Pacific Squadron’s ships. Hearing word of the Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma, California and the arrival of the large British 2,600 ton, 600 man, man-of-war HMS Collingwood (1841), flagship under Sir George S. Seymour, outside Monterey Harbor, Commodore Sloat was finally stirred to action. On 7 July 1846—seven weeks after war had been declared, Commodore John D. Sloat instructed the Captains of the ships:USS Savannah and Sloops: USS Cyane and USS Levant of the Pacific Squadron in Monterey Bay to occupy Monterey, California—the Alta California capital. Fifty American marines and about 100 bluejacket sailors landed and captured the city without incident--the few Californio troops formerly there having already evacuated the city. They raised the flag of the United States without firing a shot. The only shots fired were a 21 gun salute to the new U.S. Flag fired by each of the U.S. Navy ships in the harbor. The British ships observed but took no action.
The abandoned Presidio and Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) at San Francisco, then called Yerba Buena, was occupied without firing a shot on 9 July 1846 by U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy sailors from the Sloop USS Portsmouth (1843). Militia Captain Thomas Fallon led a small force of about 22 men from Santa Cruz, California and captured the small town of Pueblo de San Jose without bloodshed on 11 July 1846. Fallon received an American flag from Commodore John D. Sloat, and raised it over the pueblo on July 14. On 15 July 1846, Commodore (Rear Admiral) John D. Sloat transferred his command of the Pacific Squadron to Commodore Robert F. Stockton when Stockton's ship, the Frigate USS Congress (1841), arrived from the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). Stockton, a much more aggressive leader, asked Fremont to form a joint force of Fremont’s soldiers, scouts, guides etc. and a volunteer militia--many former Bear Flag Revolters. This unit called the California Battalion was mustered into U.S. service and were paid regular army wages. On July 19, Frémont's newly formed "California Battalion" swelled to about 160 men. These men included Fremont's 30 topographical men and their 30 scouts and hunters, U.S. Marine Lieutenant Archibald H. Gillespie, a U.S. Navy officer to handle their two cannons, a company of Indians trained by Sutter and many other permanent California settlers from several different countries as well as American settlers. The California Battalion members were used mainly to garrison and keep order in the rapidly surrendering California towns. The Navy went down the coast from San Francisco, occupying ports without resistance as they went. The small pueblo (town) of San Diego surrendered 29 July 1846 without a shot being fired. The small pueblo (town) of Santa Barbara surrendered without a shot being fired in August 1846. On 13 August 1846 a joint force of U.S. Marines, bluejacket sailors and parts of Fremont’s California Battalion carried by the USS Cyane (1837) entered Los Angeles, California with flags flying and band playing. Captain Archibald H. Gillespie, (Fremont's second in command), with a inadequate force of 40 to 50 men were left to occupy and keep order in the largest town (about 3,500) in Alta California—Los Angeles.
A minor Californio revolt broke out in Los Angeles and the United States force there of 40–50 men evacuated the city for a time. Later, U.S.forces fought minor scrimmages in the Battle of San Pasqual, the Battle of Dominguez Rancho, and the Battle of Rio San Gabriel. After the Los Angeles revolt started the California Battalion was expanded to a force of about 400 men. In early January 1847 a 600 man joint force of U.S. Marine, U.S. Navy bluejacket sailors, General Stephen W. Kearny's 80 U.S. Army dragoons (cavalrymen) and about two companies of Fremont's California Battalion re-occupied Los Angeles after some minor skirmishes—after four months the same U.S. Flag again flew over Los Angeles. The minor armed resistance in California ceased when the Californios signed the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847. About 150 Californios who were worried about possible punishment from the Americans rounded up about 300 horses and retreated into Sonora Mexico over the Yuma Crossing Gila River trail. The Californios who had wrested control of California from Mexico in 1845 now had a new government.
The ship Isabella sailed from Philadelphia on 16 August 1847, with a detachment of one hundred soldiers, and arrived in California on 18 February 1848, the following year, at about the same time that the ship Sweden arrived with another detachment of soldiers. These soldiers were added to the existing companies of Stevenson's 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers. Stevenson's troops were recruited with the understanding they would discharged in California. When gold was discovered in late January 1848, many of Stevenson's troops deserted.
The exclusive land ownership in California by the approximate 9,000 Californios in California would soon end. After some minor skirmishes, California was under U.S. control by January 1847 and formally annexed and paid for by the U.S. in 1848. Twenty-seven years of ineffective Mexican rule ended as 163 years (as of 2011) of rapid and continued advancement under U.S. Federal, State and local government and private development proceeded. After 1847 California was controlled (with much difficulty due to desertions) by a U.S. Army appointed military governor and an inadequate force of a little over 600 troops. Due to the California gold rush, by 1850 California had grown to have a non Indian, non-Californio population of over 100,000 Despite a major conflict in the U.S. Congress on the number of slave versus non-slave states the large, rapid and continuing California population gains and the large amount of gold being exported east gave California enough clout to choose its own boundaries, select its representatives, write its Constitution and be admitted to the Union as a free state in 1850 without going through territorial status as required for most other states.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo formally ended the Mexican-American War in February 1848. For $15,000,000 and the assumption of U.S. debt claims against Mexico, the new state of Texas's boundary claims were settled and New Mexico, California, and the unsettled territory of several future states of the American Southwest were added to U.S. control.
California Statehood
From 1847 to 1850 California had military governors appointed by the senior military commander in California. This arrangement was distinctly unsettling to the military as they had no inclination, precedent or training for setting up and running a government. President James K. Polk in office from March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849, tried to get the 1848 Congress to make California a territory with a territorial government and again in 1849 but was unsuccessful in getting Congress to agree on the specifics of how this was to be done—the number of free states vs. slave state problem. General Bennett C. Riley who had fought in the Siege of Veracruz and Chapultepec during the Mexican-American War and considered an able military commander was the last military governor of California in 1849-1850. In response to popular demand for a better more representative government, General Riley issued an official proclamation dated June 3, 1849 calling for a Constitutional Convention and an election of representatives on August 1, 1849.
Convention delegates were chosen by secret ballot but lacking any census data as to California’s population and where they lived its representatives only roughly approximated the rapidly changing state population as later shown in the 1850 U.S. California Census taken a year later. The 48 delegates chosen were mostly pre-1846 American settlers; eight were native born Californios who had to use interpreters. The new miners in El Dorado County were grossly under represented as they had no representatives at the convention despite being the most populated county in California then. After the election the California Constitution Convention met in the small town and former Californio Capital of Monterey, California on September 1849 to write a state constitution.
Like all U.S. State's constitutions the California constitution adhered closely to the format and government roles set up in the original 1789 U.S. Constitution--differing mainly in details. The Constitutional Convention met for 43 days debating and writing the first California Constitution. The 1849 constitution copied (with revisions) a lot out of the Ohio and New York constitutions but had parts that were originally several different state constitutions as well as original material.
The twenty one Declaration of Rights in the California Constitution (Article I: Sec.1 to Sec.-21) was broader than the original U.S. Constitution's ten Bill of Rights. There were four other significant differences from the U.S. Constitution. The convention chose the boundaries for the state—unlike most other territories whose boundaries were set by Congress (Article XII). Article IX encouraged statewide education and provided for a system of common schools partially funded by the state and provided for the establishment of a University (University of California). They unanimously outlawed slavery except as punishment (Article I Sec. 18) and dueling (Article XI Sec.2). They gave women and wives the right to own and control their own property (Article XI Sec. 14).
The debt limit for the state was set at $300,000 (Article VIII). Like all other states they guaranteed the rights of citizens to sue in Civil court to uphold the rights of contracts and property (Article I Sec. 16). They created a court system with a supreme court with judges who had to be confirmed every 12 years.(Article VI) They set up the states original 29 counties (Article I Sec. 4), created a legislature of two houses, set up polling places to vote, set up uniform taxation rules. The 1849 Constitution guaranteed the right to vote to "Every citizen of California, declared a legal voter by this Constitution, and every citizen of the United States, a resident of this State on the day of election, shall be entitled to vote at the first general election under this Constitution, and on the question of the adoption thereof (Article XII Sec. 5)". The California Constitution was ratified by popular vote at an election held on a rainy November 13, 1849 (as specified in Article 12 Sec. 8). The small town of Pueblo de San Jose was chosen as the first state capitol (Article XI Sec. 1). Soon after the election they set up a provisional state government that set up the counties, elected a governor, senators and representatives and operated for 10 months setting up a state government before California was given official statehood by Congress on September 9, 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850.
California Gold Rush
The first to hear confirmed information of the California Gold Rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), Mexico, Peru and Chile and they were the first to start flocking to the state in late 1848. By the end of 1848, some 6,000 Argonauts had come to California. Americans and foreigners of many different countries, statuses, classes, and races rushed to California for gold. Almost all (~96%) were young men. Women in the California Gold Rush were few and had many opportunities to do new things and take on new tasks in women poor California. Argonauts, as they were often called, walked over the California Trail or came by sea. About 80,000 Argonauts arrived in 1849 alone—about 40,000 over the California trail and 40,000 by sea.
San Francisco was designated the official Port of entry for all California ports where U.S. customs (also called tariffs and Ad valorem taxs) (averaging about 25%) were collected by the Collector of customs from all ships bearing foreign goods. The first Collector of customs was Edward H. Harrison appointed by General Kearny. Shipping boomed from the average of about 25 vessels from 1825 to 1847 to about 793 ships in 1849 and 803 ships in 1850. All ships were inspected for what goods they carried. Passengers disembarking in San Francisco had one of the easier accesses to the gold country since they could from there take another ship to get to Sacramento and several other towns.
San Francisco shipping boomed and wharves and piers had to be developed to handle the onslaught of cargo--Long Wharf was probably the most prominent. To meet the demands of the Gold Rush, ships bearing food, liquors of many types, tools, hardware, clothing, complete houses, lumber, building materials, etc. as well as farmers, business men, prospective miners, gamblers, entertainers and prostitutes, etc. from around the world came to San Francisco. Initially the large supplies of food needed were imported from close ports in Hawaii, Mexico, Chile, Peru and the future state of Oregon. The Californios initially prospered as there was a sudden increase in the demand for livestock. These food shipments changed mainly to shipments from Oregon and internal shipments in California as agriculture was developed in both states.
Starting in 1849 many of the ship crews jumped ship and headed for the gold fields when they reached port. Soon San Francisco Bay had many hundreds of abandoned ships anchored off shore. The better ships were re-crewed and put back in the shipping and passenger business. Others were bought cheap and hauled up on the mud flats and used as store ships, saloons, temporary stores, floating warehouses, homes and a number of other uses. Many of these re-purposed ships were partially destroyed in one of San Francisco's many fires and ended up as landfill to expand the available land. The population of San Francisco exploded from about 200 in 1846 to 36,000 in the 1852 California Census.
In San Francisco initially many people were housed in wooden houses, ships hauled up on the mud flats to serve as homes or businesses, wood framed canvas tents used for saloons, hotels and boarding houses as well as other flammable structures. All these canvas and wood structures combined with a lot of drunken gamblers and miners led almost inevitably to many fires. Most of San Francisco burned down six times in six Great Fires between 1849 and 1852.
Californios who lived in California who had finally had enough of the Mexican government and seized control of the territory of Alta California in 1846. At the time gold was discovered in 1848 California had about 9,000 former Californios and about 3,000 United States citizens including members of Colonel Jonathan D. Stevenson's 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers and discharged members of the California Battalion and Mormon Battalions. The Pacific Squadron secured San Francisco Bay. The state was formally under the military governor Colonel Richard Barnes Mason who only had about 600 troops to govern California—many of these troops deserted to go to the gold fields. Before the Gold Rush almost no infrastructure existed in California except a few small Pueblos (towns), secularized and abandoned Missions and about 500 large (averaging over 18,000 acres (73 km2)) ranchos owned the Californios who had mostly taken over the Missions land and livestock. The largest town in California prior to the Gold Rush was the Pueblo de Los Angeles with about 3,500 residents.
In the early years of the California Gold Rush, placer mining methods were used, from panning to "cradles" and "rockers" or "long-toms", to diverting the water from an entire river into a sluice alongside the river, and then dig for gold in the newly-exposed river bottom. This placer gold had been freed by the slow disintegration, over geological time, that freed the gold from its ore. This free gold was typical found in the cracks in the rocks found at the bottom of rivers or creeks as the gold typically worked down through the gravel or collected in stream bends. Some 12-million ounces (370 t) of gold were removed in the first five years of the Gold Rush. This gold greatly increased the available money in the United States which was on the gold standard at that time—the more gold you had the richer you were.
As the easier gold was recovered the mining became much more capital and labor intensive as the hard rock quartz mining, 'hydraulic" and dredging mining evolved. By the mid-1880s it is estimated that 11-million ounces (340 t) of gold (worth approximately US$6.6 billion at November 2006 prices) had been recovered via "hydraulicking," a style of hydraulic mining that later spread around the world despite its drastic environmental consequences. By the late 1890s dredging technology had become economical, and it is estimated that more than 20 million ounces (620 t) were recovered by dredging (worth approximately US$12 billion at November 2006 prices). Both during the Gold Rush and in the decades that followed, hard-rock mining wound up being the single largest source of gold produced in the Gold Country.
By 1850 the U.S. Navy started making plans for a west coast navy base at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The greatly increased population along with the new wealth of gold caused: roads, bridges, farms, mines, steamship lines, businesses, saloons, gambling houses, boarding houses, churches, schools, towns mercury mines, and other components of a rich modern (1850) I.S. culture to be built. The sudden growth in population caused many more towns to be built throughout Northern and later Southern California and the few existing towns to be greatly expanded. The first cities started showing up as San Francisco and Sacramento exploded in population.
Maritime history of California
Maritime history of California is a term used to describe significant past events connected to the ships and boats in the Pacific Ocean in what became the U.S. state of California. These include Native American dugouts, tule canoes and sewn canoes (Tomols); early European explorers; Colonial Spanish and Mexican California maritime history; Russians and Aleut Eskimo kayaks in the Maritime Fur Trade. U.S. Naval Activity including: Pacific Squadron, Mexican-American War. California Gold Rush shipping includes paddle steamers, Clippers, sailing ships, passage via Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico and Cape Horn and the growth of the Port of San Francisco. Also included are sections on California naval installations, California Shipbuilding, California shipwrecks, and California lighthouses.
Slavery
Tribes in northwest California practiced slavery long before the arrival of Europeans. There were never black slaves owned by Europeans, and many free men of African ancestry joined the California Gold Rush (1848–1855). Some returned east with enough gold to purchase their relatives. The California Constitution of 1849 outlawed any form of slavery in the state, and later the Compromise of 1850 allowed California to be admitted into the Union, undivided, as a free state.
California in the American Civil War
The possibility of splitting off Southern California as a territory or a state was rejected by the national government, and the idea was dead by 1861 when patriotic fervor swept California after the attack on Fort Sumter.
California's involvement in the American Civil War included sending gold east, recruiting or funding a limited number of combat units, maintaining numerous fortifications and sending troops east, some of whom became famous. Following the split in the Democratic Party in 1860, Republican supporters of Lincoln took control of the state in 1861, minimizing the influence of the large southern population. Their great success was in obtaining a Pacific railroad land grant and authorization to build the Central Pacific as the western half of the transcontinental railroad.
California was settled primarily by Midwestern and Southern farmers, miners and businessmen. Though the southerners and some Californios tended to favor the Confederacy, the state did not have slavery, and they were generally powerless during the war itself. They were prevented from organizing and their newspapers were closed down by denying them the use of the mail. Former Sen. William M. Gwin, a Confederate sympathizer, was arrested and fled to Europe.
Nearly all the men who volunteered as Union soldiers stayed in the West, within the Department of the Pacific to guard forts and other facilities, occupy secessionist regions, and fight Indians in the state and the western territories. Some 2,350 men in the California Column marched east across Arizona in 1862 to expel the Confederates from Arizona and New Mexico. The California Column then spent most of the remainder of the war fighting hostile Indians in the area.
Transportation
Ships provided easy, cheap, slow links among the coastal towns within California and on routes leading there. The Panama route provided a shortcut for getting from the East Coast to California and a brisk maritime trade developed, featuring fast clipper ships.
Steamboats (which needed fresh water and wood every day) plied the Bay Area and the rivers that flowed from the goldfields, moving passengers and supplies. With few roads, pack trains brought supplies to the miners. Soon a system of wagon roads, bridges, and ferries was set up. Large freight wagons replaced pack trains, and crude roads made it easier to get to the mining camps, enabling express companies to deliver mail and packages to the miners. Stagecoach lines eventually created routes connecting Missouri to California.
Before the 1870s, stagecoaches provided the primary form of local transportation between inland towns, with sailing ships connecting port cities. Even when railroads arrived, stages were essential to link more remote areas to the railheads. Top of the line in quality, with least discomfort was the nine-passenger Concord, but the cheaper, rougher “mud wagons” were also in general use. The Wells Fargo company contracted with independent lines to deliver its express packages and transport gold bullion and coins. Stagecoach travel was usually uncomfortable as passengers shared limited space. Drivers were famous for their skill in driving six horses down winding roads at top speed, rarely overturning. Competition reduced fares to as little a two cents per mile on some routes. Bandits found robbing coaches a profitable if risky venture. U.S. government mail subsidies provided essential base income, but running a stage line was a financially unstable business enterprise.
California and the railroads
Prior to the railroad, travel between California and the East Coast usually involved a hazardous, six-month-long sea voyage or overland journey from the East. Most 49ers joined groups that walked overland across the plains, deserts and mountains; 17,000 to 25,000 took the southern route from Texas through Arizona, and 25,000 to 30,000 walked the better-known northern route from Kansas.
When the Central Pacific (built east from San Francisco using Chinese laborers) reached Utah in 1869, it linked with the Union Pacific Railroad, built west from Omaha using Irish labor. The transcontinental route meant it was no longer necessary to travel for six or more months by ship or on foot to reach the golden state; travel from Chicago to San Francisco took less than six days. The plunge in the cost and time of travel ended the state's isolation, and brought in cheap manufactured goods, along with more migrants. The establishment of America's transcontinental rail lines in 1869 securely linked California to the rest of the country, and the far-reaching transportation systems that grew out of them during the century that followed contributed to the state’s social, political and economic development. In recent years, passenger railroad building has picked up steam, with the introduction of services such as Metrolink, Caltrain, Amtrak California, and others. This is expected to continue, thanks to the passing of various rail-construction measures on November 4, 2008, including Proposition 1a.
All about California:
- California
- Ecology of California
- Demographics of California
- Languages in California
- Religion in California
- California Racial and ancestral makeup
- Economy of California
- Transportation of California
- Energy use in California
- State finances of California
- Sports in California
- Cities towns and counties in California
- Government of California
- Education in California
- Politics of California
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