 During
the years California was ruled by
Mexico, visitors and settlers from the United
States (and elsewhere) arrived in ever greater
numbers.



Sea-otter hunters
Beaver hunters
Families looking for a new life
for families
Even
beforeas
itsafounding
place to start
as a nation,
a new life.
the So
American
California in a
colonies
It
sense
too was
was
were
seen
an extension
seen
as a as
place
a of
land
of
the
opportunity
ofAmerican
opportunity,
dream
for the
and. traders
. . and
California
and
there's
thethat
trappers
likewise
word.aslater
a place
on became
to makepart
money.
of that vision.
Yankee traders--fur market in China
Overland routes opened up by the
beaver trappers
 Jedediah Smith
 James Beckwourth
 African American frontiersman
who discovered one of the more
accessible routes over the Sierra
Nevada
 Early settlers
James Beckwourth
 Thomas Larkin
 John Sutter
The next
slide will cover Jedediah Smith, but also
Others
This notes
noteworthy
who
found
becomes
aas
number
more
very
far as
accessible
influential
of
thethe
frontiersman
people
route
later who
on,
over
isascame
James
the
wellSierra
to
asCalifornia
doing
 John a
C.
Fremont


for various
Beckwourth
Nevada.
financially
Thomas
well
reasons
inLarkin
the
and
state.
is
had
ansome
early influence.
settler,
The Hudson’s Bay Company was already making
incursions into California in the 1820s
 Smith was the first American to arrive in California
from the east via land (1827)



“Smith’s heroic journey – the double encirclement of the Far
West – was the physical, moral, and geopolitical equivalent
of the great voyages of exploration off the California coast
in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The
Spaniards linked California to the sea; Smith linked
California to the interior of the North American continent”
(Starr 57).
In Colton is a plaque commemorating Smith’s encampment
here in the Inland Empire:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=51027
 William
Wolfskill party (1831): an early trapping
party that included Jedediah Smith, Abel Stearns
(developer of the Valencia orange), and Kit Carson
 Bartleson-Bidwell Party (1841): the first
permanent settlement party
 Donner Party (1846/7): a tragic case

Indicative of “a fixed and recurring statement of California as
betrayed hope and dystopian tragedy” (Starr 63). On this, note,
e.g., The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West , the essays of
Joan Didion, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Californication”
ThisI isnote
a theme
we will look
at from
time towho
time view
And then
Those
seeking
a some
better
other
life
inlater
California
included
California
the in
 FYI: Americans have always been moving west
Wolfskill
The
Ithat
Even
Colonial
And
A
have
nd
very
Bartleson-Bidwell
tragic
it's
[negative]
so
before
noted
difficult
they
amazing
Americans
party,
case
the
in
kept
place
light,
one
of
my
Revolutionary
tomoving
the
own
me
of
were
and
toDonner
the
Party,
how
get
genealogical
we
moving
west,
earliest
to,
many
will
which
Party
as
War
into
get
chapter
into
trapping
people
iswas
.the
into
studies
.the
the
. [Starr's
fought,
Plains,
that
first
3Kentucky
just
parties
ofthat
later,
to
Starr
kept
quote
over
in
have
the
to
as
makes
the
is
as
come
its
then
those
Americans
1770s
region.
moving
Rockies,
clear.
goal
read]
to
are
and
permanent
west,
and
California
all
1780s,
have
later
then
into
always
reflections.
Americans
eventually
the
settlement.
Ohio
beenTerritory
were
to
moving
California.
onwest.
the move.

 The party
was organized in Springfield, Illinois, in
early spring of 1846, and followed the California
Trail
 Began ascent of the Sierra Nevada in October


=Bad idea (too late in the year)
On November 2, just short of the summit, the party
became snowed in until February (the snow was 20 feet
high)
 Major
issues:

Death and cannibalism


For more information, see:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/do
nner/
slideabout
looks about
at
the Royce
tragic
case
the Donner
Party who
This
took
place
three years
before
Sarah
Royce
You read
Sarah
in lastof
week's
readings.
tried to cross
the Sierra Nevada. Many perished.
crossed
it successfully.
Connected Santa Fe to Los Angeles
 Avoided the Sierra Nevada, but not the desert
 Many of the early settlers of the Inland Empire area came via this
route (e.g., Louis Rubidoux and Lorenzo Trujillo)
 The largest settlement between the two cities was on the north
side of what is today Riverside (the twin villages of La Placita and
Agua Mansa, led by Lorenzo Trujillo). Substantial remains of the
Trujillo adobe are near the
corner of Orange Street
and Center Street

Map from:
http://museumtrail.org/OldSp
anishTrail.asp
to protect
But
peopleitwere
fromalso
any coming
further to
decay.
southern
It wasCalifornia.
built in the
This
Historians
and
Islide
1860s,
went
that
then
notes
by
and
isto
the
tend
understandable,
aTrujillo
the
couple
Trujillo
to
east
focus
was
of
-Adobe
Sacramento
things
aon
notable
the
from
recently
concerning
northern
leader
Monterey
and
andthe
of
parts
noted
that
the
Gold
to San
of
two
that
Rush
they
California
Francisco
foothills
phenomenon.
now
communities
haveofand
for
itthe
completely
the
noted
up
Sierra
to
time
Sonoma
onNevada.
period
this
covered
slide.
we're
by acovering
wood shell
right now
 Gold
was discovered at Sutter’s mill on
January 24, 1848

This was merely days before the Mexican
government surrendered to the United States
to end the Mexican-American War, and in the
process surrendered California to the United
States.
The remaining slides cover aspects of the Gold Rush,
which is covered well in Starr's book.
 The worldwide
rush to the California goldfields
began in earnest during the winter and early
spring of 1849.
 Sea Routes


Panamanian isthmus (3-5 months)
Cape Horn (5-8 months)
 Overland
Trail
 California:


The Great Exception
One of the things that separates California from the
other 49 states is the way that it has grown: rocketfashion in a series of chain-reaction explosions
One of these major chain reactions was the gold
rush.
We have been noting up to this point just how sparsely
populated
But
and
with
tragically
so
the
the
California
Gold
California
even
Rush
the
isisas
Gold
Native
really
farRush,
asan
American
the
important
California's
non-Native
population
event
population
American
in isthe
population
declining
greatly
history
increases,
ofdue
California.
to disease.
and increases very quickly

It coincided with a revolution in the means of transportation and
communication


It was the first poor man’s gold rush in history



Open to all = Equal opportunity (and self-employment)
 Private ownership of mine a possibility
Equal opportunity aided by the gold being found over a large area (= no
monopolies)
Location of the gold



Reliable ocean-going travel was available
On government lands (public property)
 The gold was accessible (near the surface)
The Federal government’s right to the gold was not pressed (remember,
California was a US possession already in a state of semi-anarchy)
Law and order established through local “mining districts”


Locally agreed establishment of social rules
Water rights law established
Vigilance committees to handle crimes
The
IThis
Well,
and
want
information
so

slide
itto
the
was
temper
covers
statement
for afor
notable
lot
onethis
ofof
about
people,
can
the
characteristics
statements
the
be but
found
Gold
California
Rush
onof
here,
pp.
California's
being
86-87
enacted
andopen
that
of to
is
Gold
that
or
taxes
and
all
Starr's
an
needs
there
itRush.
on
equal
was
book.
foreigners
to
was
open
opportunity
be aqualified
lot
to all,
who
of racism
venture.
came
significantly
and
to mine
ethnic
the
descrimination
fields

California’s population grew quickly


1848: 15,000 non-Native Americans
1852: 223,000 non-Native Americans
At first, businesses closed, including agricultural businesses,
because no one was around to work them (off to mining),
and the inflation rate in mining areas became astronomical
 However, other businesses were established and began to
prosper as they contributed to the mining cause (lumber,
urban construction, wheat production, iron, wheel and
wagon manufacturing, banking)
 The environment was impacted negatively and significantly
 “The gold rush was the product of mass hysteria, and it set
a tone for California and created a state of mind in which
greed predominated and disorder and violence were all too
frequent”
(R&B 115)
to the
This
One
slide
of
environment
thecovers
readings
theof
in
impact
California,
Merchant
of California's
is
with
by Rowe
its destruction
Gold
discussing
Rush on
of

California
in
and
how
vegetation.
population,
in
devastating
its impact
. . . in economics
hydraulic
on the environment
mining was