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Biddy Mason

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Portrait of Biddy Mason (date unknown)
Public Domain

Bridget Biddy Mason (1818-1891) is an American Hero. Born enslaved, Mason became one of the first prominent citizens and landowners in Los Angeles in the 1850s and 1860s. She also founded the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles in 1872.

Mason was born in Mississippi in 1818. She was given the name Bridget without a surname, and was later nicknamed Biddy. She was owned by slaveholders in Georgia and South Carolina before being returned to Mississippi. Robert Marion Smith, her last owner, was a Mississippi Mormon convert. He decided to follow the call of the church and moved his family and enslaved persons to the West. There he would help establish a Mormon community in what would become Salt Lake City, Utah. At this time Utah was still a part of Mexico.

In 1848, Mason, then 30, walked 1,700 miles behind a 300-wagon caravan. The caravan eventually arrived in the Holladay-Cottonwood area of the Salt Lake Valley. Along the route, Mason was responsible for setting up and breaking camp; cooking the meals; herding cattle; and serving as a midwife. She also took care of her three young daughters, aged 10, 4, and a newborn.

In 1851, Smith moved his family once again. This time a 150-wagon caravan headed for San Bernardino, California. Ignoring Brigham Young's warning that slavery was illegal in California, Smith brought Mason and other enslaved people to the new Mormon community. Along the way, Mason met Charles H. and Elizabeth Flake Rowan, a free black couple. The Rowan's, and others, urged her to legally contest her slave status once she reached California.

Fearing that he would lose his enslaved persons, Smith decided to move to Texas, a slave state. They were prevented from leaving by the Owens family. One of Robert Owens' sons was romantically involved with Mason's 17 year old daughter. Owens told the L.A. County Sheriff that slaves were being illegally held. The sheriff gathered a posse and apprehended Smith's wagon train in Cajon Pass, California.

After spending five years enslaved in California, Mason challenged Smith for her freedom. On January 21, 1856, L.A. District Judge Benjamin Hayes approved Mason's petition. The ruling freed Mason and thirteen members of her extended family. She took the surname Mason from the middle name of Amason Lyman, who was the mayor of San Bernardino and a Mormon Apostle. Mason moved her family to L.A. where her daughter married had the son of Robert and Minnie Owens. She continued working as a midwife and nurse, saving her money and using it to purchase land in what is now the heart of downtown L.A. There she organized First A.M.E. Church, the oldest African American Church in the city. Mason used her wealth, estimated to be about $3 million, to become a philanthropist to the entire L.A. community. She donated to numerous charities, fed and sheltered the poor, and visited prisoners. Mason was instrumental in founding a traveler's aid center and an elementary school for black children.

Bridget "Biddy" Mason died in L.A. on January 15, 1891. She was buried in an unmarked grave in Evergreen Cemetery. On March 27, 1988, the mayor of L.A. and members of the church she founded held a ceremony, during which her grave was marked with a tombstone.

Bridget "Biddy" Mason is associated with the Historic Resources Associated with African Americans in Los Angeles Multi-Property Submission (MPS). It was approved and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 17, 2009.

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Bridget "Biddy" Mason (U.S. National Park Service)

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Bridget Biddy Mason (1818-1891) is an American Hero. Born enslaved, Mason became one of the first prominent citizens and landowners in Los Angeles in the 1850s and 1860s. She also founded the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles in 1872. Mason was born in Mississippi in 1818.

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Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo

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General Mariano G. Vallejo (1808-1890)

By Zoeth Skinner Eldredge (1846-1915)
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, born in Monterey July 7, 1808; died in Sonoma January 18, 1890; married in San Diego March 6, 1832, Francisca Benicia Carrillo, one of the most beautiful of the handsome daughters of Don Joaquin Carrillo and Maria Ignacía Lopez his wife.

Vallejo entered the military service as cadet of the Monterey company January 8, 1824. He was made Alférez (ensign) July 30, 1827; lieutenant June 22, 1835; captain July 9, 1838; lieutenant-colonel of cavalry May 2, 1842. In 1838 he was made comandante-general of California; and previous to that had been made comandante militar del Frontera del Norte, with headquarters at Sonoma. A commission as colonel of cavalry was sent him September 9, 1846.

The life of young Vallejo at Monterey was not different from other boys of his class. With young Castro, Alvarado, Estrada, and the rest he went to school to the soldier schoolmasters and as he grew older his desire for knowledge craved other works than the lives of the saints and the doctrina Christiana. Governor Sola took much interest in the boys and helped them to obtain a few books of a more secular nature, and as they grew older they made use of their opportunities in procuring from visiting ship-masters such books as could be had which they carefully concealed from the vigilant eyes of the padres ever on guard to confiscate and destroy books of heretical tendency.

In 1830 Vallejo was assigned to the San Francisco company of which he was made comandante in 1831. He made several campaigns against the Indians and in 1834 was sent as comisionado to secularize the mission of San Francisco Solano. He was a member of the territorial diputacion in 1827, and for several years thereafter, and in 1834 was granted the Petaluma rancho.

In 1835 Vallejo was instructed to lay out a pueblo at the Solano mission, was made director of colonization at the north and was authorized to issue grants of land to settlers; the scheme being to prevent, by Spanish colonization, further extension of the Russian establishment of Ross. Vallejo laid out the pueblo and gave it the Indian name of the valley, Sonoma—Valley of the Moon. He labored very earnestly to establish his pueblo and succeeded in attracting a number of families to it. He transferred the San Francisco company to Sonoma and also organized a company of about fifty Indians whom he drilled in the manual of arms. After the neglect of the Mexican government to pay its soldiers had caused the presidial companies to disband, Vallejo supported his military establishment for several years at his own expense. In 1834 he took the preliminary steps for establishing a civil government at San Francisco and on January 1, 1835, turned over to the ayuntamiento the control of civil affairs of that pueblo. He was untiring in his efforts to settle and develop the northern frontier and through his wise management and influence with the Indian chiefs the peace of the frontier was rarely broken. In the rising of Alvarado and Castro against Gutierrez he took no active part, though his sympathies were with his nephew, Alvarado, and he accepted office under the government formed by him. He was now (1837) the foremost man in California as he was one of the richest. Over the hills of his princely estate of Petaluma roamed ten thousand cattle, four to six thousand horses, and many thousand sheep. He occupied a baronial castle on the plaza at Sonoma, where he entertained all who came with most royal hospitality and few travelers of note came to California without visiting him. At Petaluma he had a great ranch house called La Hacienda and on his home farm, Lachryma Montis (Tear of the Mountain), he built, about 1849, a modern frame house where he spent the later years of his life.

Vallejo's attitude towards the Russians at Fort Ross and Bodega was firm and dignified. He maintained that the Russians were on California soil and he notified the Russian manager, Rotchef, that while the use of the port of Bodega by the Russians was tolerated, if he permitted foreigners to land and enter the country in defiance of law he must not be surprised if he found Mexican troops stationed there.

Vallejo also objected to Sutter's establishing an independent principality in the Sacramento valley and his assumption of authority to wage war upon the natives, to grant passports, and to exercise other prerogatives of sovereignty. This made Sutter very angry and he announced that if he were interfered with he would not only defend himself but would declare the independence of California from the Mexican rule.

We have seen... the ineffectual attempts of Vallejo to revive the military establishment of California. He had cause to be dissatisfied with the administration of Alvarado, who, giving himself up to luxurious ease and dissipation had largely left the management of affairs to the politicians that surrounded him. Juan Bautista Alvarado was a young man of excellent ability, fairly well educated for his time, of handsome person and courteous manners, and of great popularity and influence with all classes. He was born in Monterey February 14, 1809, and was son of José Francisco Alvarado and María Josefa Vallejo, and his grandfather, Juan Bautista Alvarado, was a soldier of Portolá's expedition, 1769. Alvarado's marriage to Doña Martina Castro, daughter of Francisco María Castro, at the mission of Santa Clara August 24, 1839, was a notable event and was attended by all the great in social and political life. Alvarado, who was then governor, was ill at Monterey and was represented by his half-brother, José Antonio Estrada, who as his proxy, stood at the altar with the bride. The governor was at this time thirty years of age, and of most distinguished appearance; but already the habit of excessive drinking was upon him and it soon became so confirmed that he was frequently unable, through "illness," to perform his official duties.

Disappointed in his expectation of reform in the government and in 'the failure of what he considered necessary measures for the national defence, Vallejo wrote the supreme government in 1841 giving his opinion of Alvarado's rule, stating his belief that the country was going to ruin, and asking to be relieved of his command. He recommended that the offices of governor and comandante-general be united in one person. Later in December of that year he pointed out to the minister of war the illness of California and suggested the remedy that should be applied. California as a country was nowhere excelled in natural advantages of climate, soil, and harbors, and it had all the elements of a grand prosperity, needing only an energetic population and wise regulations. The land was capable of every product for the welfare of a happy and prosperous people yet they imported most of the articles they consumed. A man free from ties of relationship with the people should be placed at the head of affairs and invested with both civil and military authority; a force of at least two hundred men should be sent in charge of competent officers; the fort at San Francisco should be rebuilt and, a custom-house established there; a colony of Mexican artisans and farmers should be sent to the country to counterbalance the influx of foreigners; and many other recommendations were made.

The result of Vallejo's dispatches was the appointment of Micheltorena to the offices of governor and comandante-general. Having been instrumental in bringing Micheltorena into California Vallejo stood his friend and fed his army, and also loaned him several thousand dollars in money. For this assistance Micheltorena, having no funds with which to pay Vallejo, granted him, in June 1844, the Rancho Nacional Soscol, in what is now part of Solano County.

In the rising against Micheltorena Vallejo took no part, but he made an indignant protest against Sutter's arming foreigners and Indians against his country. He advised Micheltorena that he was well esteemed by the Californians and would be still more highly thought of if he would send his cholos away. He would not take an active part against the governor, but to avoid sending him reinforcements and defend a band of convicts whose presence he deemed a curse to California, he disbanded his Sonoma forces November 28, 1844, and so notified the governor, saying he could no longer support them at his own expense as he had been doing.

Always friendly to the immigrants Vallejo exceeded his authority in protecting them, and in this and in openly advocating the cause of the United States, his great influence was always used for the American cause notwithstanding the treatment he received. One can hardly conceive a more ungrateful return for the kindness to immigrants and help to Americans than to be seized and confined in a dismal prison by these same immigrants and kept there long after the United States authorities had taken possession and the United States flag was flying over his prison house. On September 15, 1846, he wrote Larkin: "I left the Sacramento half dead and arrived here (Sonoma) almost without life, but am now much better. *** The political change has cost a great deal to my person and mind and likewise to my property. I have lost more than one thousand live horned cattle, six hundred tame horses, and many other things of value which were taken from my house here and at Petaluma., My wheat crops are entirely lost for the cattle ate them up in the field and I assure you that two hundred fanegas [about 25,000 bushels] of sowing, in good condition as mine was is a considerable loss. All is lost and the a only hope for making it up is to work again."

That Vallejo's services to the American cause were appreciated by some of the officers is shown by a letter from Captain Montgomery of the Portsmouth dated, September 25, 1846.
The Captain sends hearty thanks for the service you have rendered as well as for the prompt and sincere manner in which you were pleased to tender your assistance to the government of the United States in the recent emergency, and to your associates whose ready obedience to your call has done much towards allaying natural prejudices and unfriendly suspicions among the various classes comprising the society of California, and for hastening arrangements for the establishment of peace, order, and good government in the country.

I quote these letters because they represent the character of the man far better than any words of mine can, and how did the United States requite the services of this man? By passing laws which by their action deprived him of all his property and changed his condition from that of the richest man in California to one of comparative poverty. The land commission confirmed his grant of Rancho Nacional Soscol. The government carried it to the district-court which confirmed the action of the land commission. The government appealed the case to the supreme court which rejected the claim on the ground that the Mexican government gave away its land in California but could not sell government land for food furnished its soldiers. A most astounding decision. In 1863 Congress by special act permitted the holders of Vallejo titles to buy their land at a dollar and a quarter an acre. His great rancho of Petaluma, ten leagues, to which he added five leagues more by purchase—sixty-six thousand acres—nothing remains but the little home farm and residence, Lachryma Montis. This is the possession and home of his two youngest daughters and the spring which gives it its name supplies the town of Sonoma with water, and the daughters with a small income. The claim to the Petaluma rancho was not confirmed until 1875, after General Vallejo tired of fighting squatters and lawyers had given up his right to the land.

On December 22, 1846, Vallejo deeded to Robert Semple an undivided half of a tract of five square miles of the Soscol rancho, on the straits of Carquines, for a new city to be built which was to be the great seaport and commercial city of the bay of San Francisco. The town was to be, named Francisca, in honor of Vallejo's wife, Doña Francisca Benicia Carrillo. Thomas O. Larkin became interested in the venture and took over the greater part of Vallejo's interest. The attempt to appropriate the name as well as the commercial supremacy of San Francisco was frustrated by an order of Alcalde Washington A. Bartlett requiring the name San Francisco substituted for Yerba Buena on all public documents. Doctor Semple was very indignant at this action and spluttered over it in the Californian which he had removed from Monterey to San Francisco. To prevent confusion the name of Francisca was changed to Benicia, the second name of Señora Vallejo. The site for the city was a beautiful one, but trade did not leave San Francisco, though General Persifer F. Smith removed the army headquarters to the city on the strait. The attempt was made to have Benicia named capital of California and General Vallejo made most generous offers to the legislature of land and money if they would move the capital thither.

Vallejo was a member of the constitutional convention and he applied himself to the work of creating a state with energy and diligence. In common with the other Californians in the convention he endeavored to protect the interests of the natives of the country. The seal of California caused much discussion. Major R. S. Garnett made a design which was accepted, but the members insisted upon the addition of various features. At last when all was agreed the bear emblem was brought forward. Some of the California members were very angry and protested against the bear being used. General Vallejo said that if the bear was put on the seal it should be represented as under the control of a vaquero with a lasso around its neck.

Bayard Taylor says, writing of the convention:

"One of the most intelligent and influential of the Californians is General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, whom I had the pleasure of meeting several times during my stay in Monterey. As military commandant during the governorship of Alvarado, he exercised almost supreme sway over the country. He is a man of forty-five years of age, tall and of a commanding presence; his head is large, forehead high and ample, and eyes dark, with a grave, dignified expression. He is better acquainted with our institutions and laws than any other native Californian."
Thomes says: (1843) "The next morning, when all hands were called I was again dispatched to Señora Abarono's (Briones) rancho for milk, as General M. G. Vallejo was on board and it was necessary to give him a feast, he owning half a million acres of land, and fifty thousand head of cattle, so it was reported. He was a very gentlemanly Mexican, and quite affable to us boys, often giving us a silver dollar for pulling him on board the ship and on shore." William Kelly says: I waited on the general, (at his Sonoma house in 1850) who is an enormously rich man, and was received with the greatest courtesy and hospitality. He is a fine, handsome man, in the prime of life, of superior attainments and great natural talent: the only native Californian in the senate. His lady is also possessed of unusual personal attractions and of that easy dignity and cordiality of manner so peculiarly characteristic of Spanish ladies. His house is a fine one superbly furnished and wanting in nothing that comfort or luxury requires.

In common with most Californians General Vallejo was most careless and improvident when money was plenty, and while he realized large sums from the sale of lands and cattle, his later years were passed in comparative poverty. The town of Vallejo was named for him and a street in San Francisco bears his name. He, had sixteen children, of whom ten lived to maturity. One daughter married John B. Frisbie, captain of company H, Stevenson's regiment, and another married his brother Levi. One married Arpad Harasthy and the two younger daughters married Don Ricardo de Empáron and James H. Cutter. In: The Beginnings of San Francisco : From the Expedition of Anza, 1774, to the City Charter of April 15, 1850 : with Biographical and Other Notes, by Zoeth Skinner Eldredge. San Francisco : Z.S. Eldredge, 1912. pp. 348-357
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General Mariano G. Vallejo (1808-1890) By Zoeth Skinner Eldredge (1846-1915) Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, born in Monterey July 7, 1808; died in Sonoma January 18, 1890; married in San Diego March 6, 1832, Francisca Benicia Carrillo, one of the most beautiful of the handsome daughters of Don Joaquin Carrillo and Maria Ignacía Lopez his wife.

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Bear Flag Revolt

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The Bear Flag Revolt (June-July 1846) was a short-lived independence rebellion precipitated by American settlers in California's Sacramento Valley against Mexican authorities. In 1846 approximately 500 Americans were living in California, then a province of Mexico, compared with between 8,000 and 12,000 Mexicans. Nonetheless, early in June a group of about a dozen Americans seized a large herd of horses from a Mexican military commandant. On June 14 another group captured Sonoma, California, the chief settlement north of San Francisco, California. Led by William B. Ide, the Americans issued a declaration of independence and hoisted a flag-its white ground emblazoned with a grizzly bear facing a red star. On June 25 Captain John Charles Frémont arrived at Sonoma and gave his support to the Bear Flag Revolt. And on July 5 the insurrectionists elected Frémont to head the "Republic of California."

However, the republic was quick to fall. On July 9, 1845, U.S. forces under Commodore John D. Sloat occupied San Francisco and Sonoma, claimed California for the United States, and replaced the bear flag with the American flag.

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The Bear Flag Revolt (June-July 1846) was a short-lived independence rebellion precipitated by American settlers in California's Sacramento Valley against Mexican authorities. In 1846 approximately 500 Americans were living in California, then a province of Mexico, compared with between 8,000 and 12,000 Mexicans.

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Alta California

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A couple of decades after arriving in Mexico, Spanish explorers began to sail northward along the Pacific Coast. The first group was led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo. Setting out in three ships in June 1542, the men became the first Europeans to see San Diego Bay. The expedition continued beyond San Francisco without noticing its bay before turning around. They claimed the land that they had seen for the Spanish Empire. They called it California.

Other nations also explored the western coast of North America. In 1579, while sailing around the world, Sir Francis Drake resupplied his ship near Point Reyes in present-day Northern California. He named the land New Albion and claimed it for England. Neither the Spanish nor the English established a colony right away, however.

Two hundred years later, Europeans recognized that the Pacific Coast of North America was important for trade. Spain's King Charles III ordered Spain's Alta (Upper) California to be explored and settled. In 1769, ships carried an expedition to San Diego. There the Spanish founded the first permanent European settlement in California. Some members of that expedition, led by Gaspar de Portolá, continued their journey overland through California. They claimed present-day San Francisco for Spain.

Spain built a network of 21 missions along the coast to back up its claims to the land. Headed by Roman Catholic priests, the missions aided Spanish colonization and converted the Native Americans to Catholicism. The Spanish also divided the land into four military sections and constructed presidios to oversee and defend them. But the Spanish settlements were few in number and spread out over large distances.

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A couple of decades after arriving in Mexico, Spanish explorers began to sail northward along the Pacific Coast. The first group was led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo. Setting out in three ships in June 1542, the men became the first Europeans to see San Diego Bay.

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Domingo Ghiradelli

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Making Chocolate History | San Francisco History | Guidelines Newsletter

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It was sometime in November 1977; I was starting a volunteer program for people with day jobs who loved San Francisco, revered our history, and wanted an active role in showing it off. I had a powerful group of advisors including Knox Mellon the State Historic Preservation Officer, Beverly Bubar from the California Historical Society, John Langelier from the Presidio M.....

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El Camino Real

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El Camino Real - "the Royal Road" - is inextricably linked to the history of California's missions. The 600-mile trail, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, was created by the Spanish to link the 21 California missions and the associated settlements and presidios. Missions were located approximately 30 miles apart - a long day's ride on horseback.

The route was a continuation of the Baja California mission trail, and expanded Northward as the Spanish colonized California (or as it was then known, Alta California).

The "royal road" was in fact a modest dirt footpath. As the mission system grew and traffic increased, the simple trail became a dirt road wide enough to accommodate carts and wagons.

The first portion was not paved until 1912, when a small section in the San Francisco Bay Area became the first paved highway in California.

Technically, any road that came under the jurisdiction of the Spanish viceroys was designated a "Camino Real," and so today there are roads throughout Mexico and the southwestern United States, including California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, known as El Camino Real.

However, in 1959 the California State Assembly recognized the historic importance of the mission trail, and designated several sections of state highway and connecting roads as the official route of El Camino Real.

In 2001, the State Assembly modified the officially recognized route (Assembly Bill 1707, Chapter 739). The official definition, from the California Streets and Highways Code, Chapter 2, Article 3, Section 635, states:
State highway routes embracing portions of Routes 280, 82, 238, 101, 5, 72, 12, 37, 121, 87, 162, 185, 92, and 123 and connecting city streets and county roads thereto, and extending in a continuous route from Sonoma southerly to the international border and near the route historically known as El Camino Real shall be known and designated as "El Camino Real."
Long before its official recognition, the road was unofficially commemorated by a private group, El Camino Real Association, with a series of bronze bells placed along the route. The cast bells we suspended from 11-foot high posts designed to resemble a shepherd's crook. The first of the bells was unveiled August 15, 1906 at the Plaza Church in the Pueblo near Olvera Street in Los Angeles.

Without official support, and only sporadic maintenance, the bells fell in disrepair; many were vandalized or stolen.

In 2000, a federal grant was obtained for the restoration of the bell markers. Between 2000 and 2006 (the 100th anniversary of the original marker bell), 555 bells were installed. The new bells are cast from a mold of the original marker bells, and are officially maintained by the California Department of Transportation, Caltrans.

Walk El Camino Real

The California Mission Walkers are a group of people who have walked (or plan to walk) El Camino Real - the route connecting the 21 California missions.
California Mission Walkers
El Camino Real de los Tejas

"The Royal Road" actually referred to many routes that were used for official Spanish government business. Even before California's El Camino Real was established, there was a route that connected Mexico with missions and presidios in Texas and Louisiana. The trail, El Camino Real de Los Tejas, was designated a National Historic Trail in 2004.

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El Camino Real - California Mission Guide

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El Camino Real - "the Royal Road" - is inextricably linked to the history of California's missions. The 600-mile trail, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, was created by the Spanish to link the 21 California missions and the associated settlements and presidios.

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Helen Hunt Jackson

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Helen Hunt Jackson: Helen Hunt Jackson, American poet and novelist best known for her novel Ramona. She was the daughter of Nathan Fiske, a professor at Amherst (Mass.) College.

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Levi Strauss

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Levi Strauss - Biography and His Inventions

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Levi Strauss, businessman and entrepreneur is a one of two men that gave us blue jeans. Read about life of Levi Strauss and his role in creation of one of the fashion items that are older than hundred years but still "alive and well".

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Sam Brannan

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John Sutter/Sutter's Mill

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John Sutter (born February 15, 1803, Kandern, Baden [Germany]-died June 18, 1880, Washington, D.C.) German-born Swiss pioneer settler and colonizer in California. Discovery of gold on his land in 1848 precipitated the California Gold Rush.

Sutter spent much of his early life in Switzerland; he was a Swiss citizen and served in the Swiss army. Fleeing from bankruptcy and financial failures and leaving his wife and children in Switzerland, he reached California in 1839 and persuaded the Mexican governor to grant him lands on the Sacramento River. There, at its junction with the American River, he established the colony of Nueva Helvetia (New Switzerland), later to become Sacramento. He built "Sutter's Fort" (1841), set up frontier industries, and, in spite of his enormous debts, provided lavish hospitality, and often employment, to traders, trappers, and immigrants who came to his fort. Sutter was much less accommodating to the local Native Americans whose labour he exploited.

Discovery of gold on his land brought disaster to Sutter. In the process of building a water-powered sawmill, a carpenter named James W. Marshall found flakes of gold in a streambed (January 24, 1848). The two men tried to keep the find a secret, but the news leaked out. Workers deserted the colony. Gold seekers and squatters overran Sutter's land, stealing and destroying his goods and livestock. When the U.S. courts denied title to his Mexican grants, his ruin was complete. By 1852 he was bankrupt.

In the early 1850s Sutter moved to Hock Farm, his estate on the Feather River, and in 1864 he was awarded a monthly pension by the California legislature. The following year, however, arsonists destroyed his home, and by 1871 Sutter had settled in Lititz, Pennsylvania. He frequently traveled to Washington, D.C., continuing his attempt to gain redress through the U.S. Congress. Sutter Street, in San Francisco, and Sutter County commemorate his name.

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John Sutter |, Role in Gold Rush, Sutter's Mill, & Facts

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John Sutter, German-born Swiss pioneer settler and colonizer in California. Discovery of gold on his land at the junction of the Sacramento and American rivers in 1848 precipitated the California Gold Rush. While building a water-powered sawmill, James W. Marshall, a carpenter, found flakes of gold.

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September 9th, 1850

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Grand Admission Celebration, Portsmouth Square, October 29, 1850

California Historical Society

In our high-speed information age, celebrations are instantaneous. But the celebrants in the image above were 50 days late to the party. Only 11 days earlier, on October 18, 1850, news of California's admission to the Union had arrived in San Francisco with the Pacific Mail steamship Oregon. It had taken 40 days for the news to travel from Washington, D.C., where, on September 9, 1850, President Millard Fillmore signed a bill into law proclaiming California the Union's 31st state.

View of San Francisco, 1850

Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

The celebrations on October 29 formalized those held earlier. As the 1855 Annals of San Francisco described:

When, on the 18th instant, the mail steamer "Oregon" was entering the bay, she fired repeated preconcerted signal guns which warned the citizens of the glorious news. Immediately the whole of the inhabitants were afoot, and grew half wild with excitement until they heard definitely that the tidings were as they had expected. Business of almost every description was instantly suspended, the courts adjourned in the midst of their work, and men rushed from every house into the streets and towards the wharves, to hail the harbinger of the welcome news. When the steamer rounded Clark's Point and came in front of the city, her masts literally covered with flags and signals, a universal shout arose from ten thousand voices on the wharves, in the streets, upon the hills, house-tops, and the world of shipping in the bay. . . . Flags of every nation were run up on a thousand masts and peaks and staffs, and a couple of large guns placed upon the plaza [Portsmouth Square] were constantly discharged. At night every public thoroughfare was crowded with the rejoicing populace. Almost every large building, all the public saloons and places of amusement were brilliantly illuminated-music from a hundred bands assisted the excitement-numerous balls and parties were hastily got up-bonfires blazed upon the hills, and rockets were incessantly thrown into the air, until the dawn of the following day.

California Learns It's the 31st State, October 18, 1850

Courtesy of Friends of the California Archives

The official celebration of statehood followed two weeks later. As the Annals reported:

For the past fifteen days the papers have been full of announcements and notices and the walls have been plastered with enormous posters. . . . No effort has been spared to make it a success and two thousand persons have subscribed for the dinner and ball at one hundred francs each. At sunrise the cannon was fired off, and the celebration inaugurated. Shouts and noises were heard from every quarter of the city, interspersed with shots from guns and pistols. While this was going on the various organizations assembled, banners in hand, and formed a large procession which was to parade the streets.

At the end of the procession rode a chariot, drawn by six horses, with 30 children wearing bonnets, including 6-year-old Mary Eliza Davis (1845-1929), the "Queen of the 1850 Admission Day Parade," the first Anglo-American child born in San Francisco.

Francis Marryatt (artist), Admission Day in San Francisco, 1850

Courtesy of Library of Congress

Child's Cap Worn by Mary Eliza Davis on October 29, 1850

California Historical Society

At the celebration, the historian Hubert Howe Bancroft wrote, "a new star was added to the flag which floated from the mast in the center of the plaza, and every species of amusement and parade was made to attest the satisfaction of the citizens of the first American state on the Pacific coast." There were a number of designs for the 31-star flag, which became the official United States flag on July 4, 1851.

U.S. 31 Stars Flag Commemorating California's Admission into the Union, September 9, 1850

Courtesy of Zaricor Flag Collection

Of special note at the celebration was an ode written for the occasion by Elizabeth Maria Bonney Wills, whose family came from New England to San Francisco earlier that year. Distributed among other printed pieces to the crowds from a typographical press mounted on a float, it was sung in Portsmouth Square as part of the ceremonies.

Ode Sung at San Francisco October 29, 1850, at the Celebration on Hearing of the Admission of California into the Union as a State, 1850

California Historical Society; photo by Cheryl Maslin

Wills's inspiring ode closed with her sentiment:

In the Band of the Union, oh, long may it be

The hope of th' oppressed, and the shield of the free.

Hers was a sentiment that remained contested for hundreds of year. As the black journalist Delilah Beasely chronicled:

Was this to be a free State in every sense of the word? . . . . At first, it was not, for a good many slaves were brought in to the State. On April 1, 1850, an advertisement appeared in the Jackson Mississippian referring to California, the Southern Slave Colony and inviting citizens of slave-holding States, wishing to go to California, to send their names, number of slaves, time of contemplate departure, etc., to the Southern Slave Colony, of Jackson, Mississippi. The design was to settle in the richest parts of the State and to secure an uninterrupted enjoyment of slave property. The colony was to comprise about 5,000 white persons and 10,000 slaves.

In 1852 Peachy of San Joaquin introduced a resolution to allow fifty southern families to immigrate in to California with their slaves. Some of them came without permission but on finding that they could not legally hold their slaves, they sent a part of them back while others became free.

Nevertheless, admittance to the Union was undeniably a cornerstone in the state's growth and prosperity. Today Admission Day is a legal state holiday.

California Counties Maps, c. 1850 and c. 1880

Courtesy of California State Association of Counties

Publications and Strategic Projects Manager

Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of the Pacific States of North America, vol. VI, California, 1848-1859 (San Francisco: The History Company, 1888)

Delilah L. Beasley, The Journal of Negro History 3, no. 1 (Jan., 1918)

Katherine H. Chandler, "San Francisco at Statehood," San Francisco Chronicle, September 9, 1900

Ernest de Massey, A Frenchman in the Gold Rush; the Journal of Ernest de Massey, Argonaut of 1849, trans. Marguerite Eyer Wilbur (San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1927)

H. R. 5419, "State Admission Day Recognition Act of 2006," The Lincoln Highway

Frank Soulé, John H. Gihon, M.D., and James Nisbet,The Annals of San Francisco (New York/San Francisco/London:D. Appleton & Company, 1855)

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This Day on September 9, 1850: California Joins the Union

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Grand Admission Celebration, Portsmouth Square, October 29, 1850 California Historical Society In our high-speed information age, celebrations are instantaneous. But the celebrants in the image above were 50 days late to the party. Only 11 days earlier, on October 18, 1850, news of California's admission to the Union had arrived in San Francisco with the Pacific Mail steamship Oregon.

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James Beckwourth

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Jim Beckwourth was an African American who played a major role in the early exploration and settlement of the American West. Although there were people of many races and nationalities on the frontier, Beckwourth was the only African American who recorded his life story, and his adventures took him from the everglades of Florida to the Pacific Ocean and from southern Canada to northern Mexico.

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Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. The war had begun almost two years earlier, in May 1846, over a territorial dispute involving Texas. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Mexico also gave up all claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande River as America's southern boundary.
WATCH: The Mexican Revolution on HISTORY Vault
Mexican-American War: 1846-1848

On May 13, 1846, the U.S. Congress voted in favor of President James Polk's request to declare war on Mexico in a dispute over Texas. Under the threat of war, the United States had refrained from annexing Texas after the latter won independence from Mexico in 1836.

But in 1844, President John Tyler restarted negotiations with the Republic of Texas, culminating with a treaty of annexation.

Did you know? During his presidency, James Polk managed another important land acquisition, this time without a war, when his administration diplomatically settled a border dispute with the British and gained control of the present-day states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho, plus parts of Montana and Wyoming.

The treaty was defeated by a wide margin in the U.S. Senate because it would upset the slave state-free state balance between North and South and risked war with Mexico, which had broken off relations with the United States.

But shortly before leaving office and with the support of President-elect Polk, Tyler managed to get a congressional resolution passed and then, on March 1, 1845, signed into law. Texas was admitted to the union on December 29 of that year.

While Mexico didn't follow through with its threat to declare war, relations between the two nations remained tense over border disputes, and in July 1845, President Polk ordered troops into disputed lands that lay between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers.

In November, Polk sent the diplomat John Slidell to Mexico to seek boundary adjustments in return for the U.S. government's settlement of the claims of American citizens against Mexico and to make an offer to purchase California and New Mexico.

After the mission failed, the U.S. Army under General Zachary Taylor advanced to the mouth of the Rio Grande, the river that the state of Texas claimed as its southern boundary.

Mexico, claiming that the boundary was the Nueces River to the north of the Rio Grande, considered the advance of Taylor's army an act of aggression and in April 1846 sent troops across the Rio Grande. Polk, in turn, declared the Mexican advance to be an invasion of U.S. soil, and on May 11, 1846, asked Congress to declare war on Mexico, which it did two days later, starting the Mexican-American War.
WATCH: The Struggle for Mexican Independence
Mexico Surrenders

Following the defeat of the Mexican army and the fall of Mexico City in September 1847, the Mexican government surrendered and peace negotiations began. The war officially ended with the February 2, 1848, signing in Mexico of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Mexico also gave up all claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande as America's southern boundary. In return, the United States paid Mexico $15 million and agreed to settle all claims of U.S. citizens against Mexico.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Aftermath

Although Polk's war was successful, he lost public support after nearly two bloody and costly years of fighting. Additionally, the controversial war reignited the slavery extension debate that would ultimately result in the Civil War in the 1860s.

Polk did not seek re-election after his first term, and died at age 53 in June 1849, three months after leaving office. Zachary Taylor, who became a national hero during the Mexican-American War, ran for president in the 1848 election and won. However, 16 months after his inauguration, Taylor became ill and died.

Sources

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848). National Archives.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Library of Congress: Hispanic Reading Room.
On this day, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed. National Constitution Center.

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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. The war had begun almost two years earlier, in May 1846, over a territorial dispute involving Texas.

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Cinon Dura Mataweer

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CINON MATAWEER KUMEYAAY CHIEF Manzanita Tribal Shaman Southern California American Indian Spiritual Leader

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KUMEYAAY INDIAN HISTORY research essay facts about Native American precontact prehistoric historical San Diego County in Southwestewrn Southern California Mexico indigenous tribal peoples US Mexico Border issues

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Fort Ross established

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Fort Ross is a California State Historic Park showcasing a historic Russian-era fort compound designated a National Historic Landmark. Russians settled on the ancestral Kashia Pomo lands called Metini and the Kashia are still very much a part of the community today. Located 11 miles north of Jenner on scenic California Highway One, Fort Ross is surrounded by sandy beaches, panoramic coves, and redwood forests, with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. Salt Point State Park, 8 miles north of Fort Ross, covers 6,000 acres on the coast of Northern California, with two campgrounds, 20 miles of hiking trails, and over 6 miles of rocky coastline. These destinations offer pristine landscapes, recreation and camping, fascinating history, underwater parks with fishing, shipwrecks, and scuba diving, and more. Fort Ross Conservancy is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit and California cooperating association that supports both parks.

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Connecting people to the history + beauty of Fort Ross + Salt Point State Parks

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Fort Ross Historic State Park is located in Sonoma County, California. In one location you have: Colony of Russian Empire and the list goes on.

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The "Big Four"

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The Big Four of transcontinental railroad-building fame-Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker and Leland Stanford-initially made their fortunes during the Gold Rush. Huntington, "Mr. Shovel" of the Gold Rush, operated a thriving hardware and mining supply store in Sacramento.

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Juniperro Serra

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Spanish missionary Juniper Serra established his first U.S. mission in 1769. He built eight more California missions over the next thirteen years. He was granted sainthood in 2015.

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Juan Crespi

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▼ Primary Sources ▼

Juan Crespi was born in Majorca, Spain on 1st March, 1721. He entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen.

Junipero Serra desired to become a missionary in New Spain. He told Palóu: "The rumour is true. I am the one who intends to make this long journey, and I have been sorrowful because I would have no companion for so long a journey; but I would not on that account turn back from my purpose... In my heart I felt that inclination to speak to you as I was led to believe you would be interested." Palóu agreed and they both decided to volunteer to become missionaries. Juan Crespi also agreed to join them.

On 13th April 1749 the three men left the Convent of San Francisco and began their journey to Cádiz. The Board of Trade decided to document the physical characteristics of the missionaries. Crespi was described as: "twenty-eight years old, short of stature, sallow skin but somewhat florid complexion, blue eyes and dark hair."

Juan Crespi arrived at Vera Cruz in New Spain on 6th December, 1749. The voyage took ninety-nine days. Junipero Serra noted that he had not been seasick once. On arrival, Francisco Palóu recalls that Serra "delivered a sermon that eloquently spiritualized the entire voyage, emphasizing the protecting mantle of God's providence".

Carlos Francisco de Croix suggested to Carlos III that the Franciscans should attend to the people of Baja California. It was also agreed that the missionaries should push on quickly into Alta California in order to build a chain of missions that would stop other countries to try and colonise this territory. When asked to organise this campaign, the College of San Fernando de Mexico unanimously selected Junipero Serra, to carry out this task. Serra became president of these missions and Francisco Palóu was appointed as his deputy.

On 14th March, 1768, Serra, Crespi, and 14 missionaries left the port of San Blas on the small ship, Concepcion. The missionaries reached Loreto, two hundred miles up the east coast of Baja California on 1st April. They received a warm welcome from Gaspar de Portolà, who had been told to work closely with the missionaries.

Rivera, Crespi, and the rest of his party reached San Diego on 14th May. They built a camp and waited for the others to arrive. The San Antonio, reached its destination in fifty-four days. The San Carlos took twice that time and the San José was lost with all aboard. The seaman on the ships suffered from scurvy and large numbers had died on the journey.

On 28th June, the overland party, that included Gaspar de Portolà and Junipero Serra arrived in San Diego. Serra later recalled: "It was a day of great rejoicing and merriment for all, because although each one in his respective journey had undergone the same hardships, their meeting through their mutual alleviation from hardship now became the material for mutual accounts of their experiences. And although this sort of consolation appears to be the solace of the miserable, for us it was the source of happiness. Thus was our arrival in health and happiness and contentment at the famous and desired Port of San Diego."

The following month Crespi joined an expedition that included Gaspar de Portolà, Fernando Rivera Moncada, José Francisco Ortega, Pedro Fages, sixty-three soldiers and a hundred mules loaded down with provisions, headed north on 14th July, 1769. Portolà reached the site of present day Los Angeles on 2nd August. The following day, they marched to what is now known as Santa Monica. Later that month they arrived at what became Santa Barbara, Portolà's party walked across the Santa Lucia Mountains to reach the mouth of the Salinas River. The fog obscured the shore and they therefore missed reaching Monterey Bay. The men had walked over a thousand miles from Misión San Fernando Rey de España de Velicatá.

On 8th July, 1771 Serra and Crespi left Monterey with seven soldiers, three sailors and a few Baju Christian Indians, for the Sierra de Santa Lucia. Five days later he found a site for Mission San Antonio de Padua. The local Indians showed friendship by bringing seeds and acorns. Serra reciprocated with strings of beads and food made from corn and beans. Serra left Miguel Pieras and Buenaventura Sitjar in charge of the mission and returned to Monterey.

After making a full investigation of the area Crespi reported back that without finding a good overland route to San Francisco it would be difficult to establish a mission in the area: "From all that has been seen and learned, it follows that if the new mission should be established at the harbour itself or in its near vicinity, its animals and supplies could not come to it or be brought to it by land; nor, once it were founded, could there be any communication between it and this mission of Monterey or any others that may be founded in this direction, unless a pair of good longboats are supplied, with sailors, for getting persons from one side to the other."

Serra also asked for the removal of Pedro Fages. Bucareli granted the request. He later commented: "The dispute with Don Pedro Fages... compelled Father Fray Junipero Serra almost in a dying condition to come to this capital to present his requests and to inform me personally a thing which rarely can be presented with such persuasion in writing. On his arrival I listened to him with the greatest pleasure and I realized the apostolic zeal that animated him while I accepted from his ideas those measures which appeared proper to me to carry out."

Don Denevi, the author of Junipero Serra (1985), has argued: Serra could reflect on a number of achievements: the promise of expeditions to explore and open up overland routes from Sonora and new Mexico; the separate marking of mission and military goods; the removal of immoral soldiers from the missions at the padres' request; the regulation of prices and standardization of weights; the recruiting of Mexicans on sailors' pay to the missions' fields; the protection of the padres' mail from tampering by military commanders; the provision of a doctor, blacksmiths, and carpenters, and of bells and vestments for the new missions; serious consideration of the shortage of mules; and pardons for all deserters."

On 24th January 1774, Junipero Serra took 97 people from San Blas on the Santiago to Monterey. This included two doctors, three blacksmiths, and two carpenters, some with wives and children. This was as a result of the arrangement reached with . Serra believed this would enable him to build a permanent Spanish community in this part of California. Serra left at San Diego and walked the rest of the journey to Monterey so that he could see for himself the progress that his missions were making. This included visits to the missions at San Diego de Alcalá, San Gabriel Arcangel, San Luis Obispo de Tolosa and San Antonio de Padua.

Serra arrived back at Mission San Carlos de Borromeo on 11th May, 1774. He was greeted warmly by Crespi and Francisco Palóu who were now both stationed in Monterey. When he left, there had been twenty-two baptisms since the founding of the mission; on his return, the total was one hundred seventy four. Serra was extremely happy about the progress that had been made in his absence.

Junipero Serra explained that: "Every day Indians are coming in from distant homes in the Sierra... They tell the padres they would like them to come to their territory. They see our church which stands before their eyes so neatly; they see the milpas with corn which are pretty to behold; they see so many children as well as people like themselves going about clothed who sing and eat well and work." Serra wrote that he was especially pleased with the impact the missionaries were having on the children: "The spectacle of seeing about a hundred young children of about the same age praying and answering individually all the questions asked on Christian doctrine, hearing them sing, seeing them going about clothed in cotton and woolen garments, playing happily and who deal with the padres so intimately as if they had always known them."

According to Herbert E. Bolton, the editor of Francisco Palóu: Historical Memoirs of New California (1926): "Gentle character, devout Christian, zealous missionary, faithful companion, his peculiar fame will be that of diarist. Of all the men... so prolific in frontier extension up the Pacific Coast... Crespi alone participated in all the major path-breaking expeditions: from Velicatá to San Diego; from San Diego to San Francisco Bay; from Monterey to the San Joaquin Valley; from Monterey by sea to Alaska."

Juan Bautista de Anza arrived in San Francisco on 28th March, 1776. Anza returned to Mexico and left behind José Joaquín Moraga to establish the Spanish settlement in the area. The Mission San Francisco de Asís, a log and thatch church was completed on 29th June, 1776. The mission was composed of adobe and redwood and was 144 feet long and 22 feet wide. Francisco Palóu was placed in charge of the mission that had been dedicated to San Francisco de Asis. The following year they established Mission Santa Clara de Asis.

In the summer of 1777 Crespi and Serra visited the two new missions. Afterwards Serra wrote: "Thanks be to God. Now Our Father Saint Francis, the crossbearer in the procession of missions, has come to the final point of the mainland of California; for in order to go farther, ships will be necessary."

In November 1781, Crespi was with Serra on a journey to Carmel. Serra was badly injured when his mule threw him to the ground. Crespi brought a doctor from San Jose, but despite the pain, it appeared that he had not broken any bones.

Juan Crespi was taken ill when he arrived back in Monterey. Serra described "his infirmities as chest trouble and a swelling of the legs that began in the lower extremities and gradually rose higher". The missionaries consulted their medical books but the remedies were ineffective and he died on 1st January, 1782.

(1) Juan Crespi, account of the Pedro Fages expedition (28th March, 1772)

When we arrived at this place (San Pablo Bay) there came to us eight Indians bringing as gifts wild seeds, as the others had done; in front, an Indian dancing, with a great bunch of feathers on his head, a pipe in

his mouth, in one hand a banner of feathers, and a net. These things they presented to the captain. We gave them glass beads. They stayed with us quite a while and went back well content. They are very peaceable and agreeable, and it pleased us greatly that with their beards and light colouring they looked like Spaniards. We traveled about five leagues this day.

(2) Juan Crespi, account of the Pedro Fages expedition (30th March 1772)

From all that has been seen and learned, it follows that if the new mission should be established at the harbour itself or in its near vicinity, its animals and supplies could not come to it or be brought to it by land; nor, once it were founded, could there be any communication between it and this mission of Monterey or any others that may be founded in this direction, unless a pair of good longboats are supplied, with sailors, for getting persons from one side to the other.

May God our Lord give light to the gentlemen to whose lot it may fall to deliberate in order to reach the decision most contributive to His honour and glory and the benefit of all. Amen.

All our way from the River of St. Delfina (the Salinas River, at one day's march from the Monterey presidio) to this last place was, for me, virgin territory.

Gentle character, devout Christian, zealous missionary, faithful companion, his peculiar fame will be that of diarist. Of all the men... so prolific in frontier extension up the Pacific Coast... Crespi alone participated in all the major path-breaking expeditions: from Velicatá to San Diego; from San Diego to San Francisco Bay; from Monterey to the San Joaquin Valley; from Monterey by sea to Alaska. In distance, he out-traveled Coronado. Missionary, globe-trotter, and diarist he was; breviary, pack mule, caravel, and quill might decorate his coat of arms or his book plate.

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▼ Primary Sources ▼ Juan Crespi was born in Majorca, Spain on 1st March, 1721. He entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. Junipero Serra desired to become a missionary in New Spain. He told Palóu: "The rumour is true.

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James Marshall

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James Marshall's discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in California in 1848, started the California Gold Rush.

Born in 1810, Marshall followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a skilled carpenter and wheelwright. When his father died in 1834, he headed westward, spending some time in Illinois and Indiana before settling in Missouri. There, he contracted malaria and at the advice of his doctor, he moved westward again.

In July 1845, he arrived in the Sacramento Valley and began to work for John Sutter as a carpenter. Fairing well there, he improved his economic prospects, purchasing a ranch, and began to raise cattle. In 1846, he joined John C. Fremont's California Battalion, and participated in the Bear Flag Revolt, a bid to seize control of California from Mexican control.

When he returned to his land, he found his cattle had been stolen and he was forced to sell his land. He then formed a partnership with John Sutter to build a sawmill. It was at the sawmill that, on January 24, 1848, he discovered gold in the water flow through the mill's tailrace. He immediately advised Sutter, who swore all his employees to secrecy. But, the "news" was just too big, and in no time it leaked out.

As word quickly spread, some 80,000 miners flooded the area, extending up and down the length of the Sacramento Valley, and overrunning Sutter's domain. Ironically, neither Sutter nor Marshall ever profited from the discovery that should have made them independently wealthy. Though Marshall tried to secure his own claims in the gold fields, he was unsuccessful. His sawmill also failed, as every able-bodied man took off in search of gold. Soon, the area surrounding Sutter's Mill became the first mining boom town in California - Coloma.

Embittered, Marshall left the area, drifting from place to place in California, looking for yet another rich strike. In 1857, he returned to Coloma and started a vineyard in the early 1860s. Initially profitable, his endeavors as a vintner would also fail when, by the end of the decade, increased competition and less demand put him out of business once again.

Marshall then returned to prospecting and wandering about the state. He soon partnered up with another miner in a gold mine near Kelsey, California. However, the development of the mine proved expensive and yielded nothing, leaving the unlucky Marshall once again close to bankruptcy.

In 1872, Marshall had a turn of luck when the California State Legislature awarded him a two-year pension in recognition of his role in an important era in California history.

The pension was renewed in 1874 and 1876 but lapsed in 1878. According to the legend, Marshall then went to visit the legislative assembly in person to get the pension renewed again. However, when a brandy bottle dropped from his pocket and rolled on the floor, no additional pension was awarded.

Marshall continued to live in Kelsey, in a spartan homesteader's cabin, earning money from a small garden until his death on August 10, 1885. His body was then taken to Coloma and buried on the property where he had owned his vineyard. Overlooking the south fork of the American River, a monument was erected over the grave site in 1890. Atop the monument is a bronze statue of Marshall, pointing to the spot where he changed California history.

© Kathy Weiser/ Legends of America, updated November 2018.
Also See: The California Gold Rush Coloma - Gold Town to Ghost Town John A. Sutter - Boom & Bust in California Sutter's Own Story

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James Marshall - Discovering Gold in California

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James Marshall's discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in California in 1848, started the California Gold Rush. Born in 1810, Marshall followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a skilled carpenter and wheelwright. When his father died in 1834, he headed westward, spending some time in Illinois and Indiana before settling in Missouri.

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Dame Shirley

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Jose Manuel Hatam

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These Kumeyaay villages are often dismissed, then and now, due to cultural perceptions of acceptable habitat. Most notably is the sharp contrast of 'gingerbread' Victorian style to the traditional summer habitat of willow and other natural materials, the Kumeyaay Awa. From about 1860, possibly earlier, the Capitan or spokesman of this Florida canyon Kumeyaay village is Manuel Hatam.

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Joaquin Murrieta

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Joaquín Murrieta: Joaquín Murrieta, legendary bandit who became a hero of the Mexican-Americans in California. Facts of his life are few and elusive, and much of what is widely known about him is derived from evolving and enduring myth.

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Jedidiah Strong Smith

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Jedediah Smith, in full Jedediah Strong Smith, (born January 6, 1799, Bainbridge, New York, U.S.-died May 27, 1831, near the Cimarron River), trader and explorer who was the first American to enter California from the east and return from it using an overland route.

Smith probably made his first trip west while still in his teens. In 1822 he joined a fur-trading expedition to the Rocky Mountains and continued in the Rocky Mountain trade for the remainder of the decade.

In 1824 Smith belonged to the party that rediscovered the South Pass, a passage to the Northwest through Wyoming. Two years later he and a trading party (Smith now owned his own trading company) left the Great Salt Lake and crossed the Mojave Desert to southern California, becoming the first Americans to enter California from the east.

Blocked by the suspicious Mexican governor of California, Smith altered his plan to go north into Oregon. Instead, in 1827, he journeyed to the American River near Sacramento, California, and then crossed the Sierra Nevada and the desert to return to the Great Salt Lake. He thus became the first American to return from California on an overland route.

Later, in 1827, he retraced his steps from the Great Salt Lake to southern California, but this time Mojave people attacked his party and killed 10 of his 18 men. He and the other survivors made it to California and then in 1828 proceeded north up the coast to Oregon. An attack by the Umpqua Indians slew all but two of the expedition, and Smith retired from the Rocky Mountain trade in 1830. He had succeeded, however, in opening up the coastal route from California to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.

In 1831 Smith turned to the Santa Fe trade. In May of that year, however, he was surrounded and killed by Comanche people at a water hole near the Cimarron River while en route to Santa Fe.

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Jedediah Smith, trader and explorer who was the first American to enter California from the east and return from it by an overland route. In 1827 Smith journeyed to the American River near Sacramento, California, and then crossed the Sierra Nevada and the desert to return to the Great Salt Lake.

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Lone Woman of San Nicolas

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The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island | California Missions Resource Center

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The last island to be evacuated was San Nicholas. The Peores Nada, captained by Charles Hubbard, landed on the island in 1835 and began to load the Indians on board. A child was found missing and his mother pleaded to be left on the island to find him.

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Gaspar Di Portola

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Gaspar de Portolá | Spanish military officer

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Gaspar de Portolá: Gaspar de Portolá, Spanish military officer, the first governor of Upper California, and founder of Monterey and San Diego. The son of a noble family, Portolá entered the Spanish army in 1734. After 30 years of service in Europe, he rose to the rank of captain.

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Juan Cabrillo

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese João Rodrigues Cabrilho, (died January 3, 1543?, off the coast of northern California), soldier and explorer in the service of Spain, chiefly known as the discoverer of California.

Virtually nothing definitive is known of Cabrillo's early life. Although more than one village in Portugal has claimed to be his birthplace, scholars have long debated whether he was of Spanish or Portuguese origin. As a young man, he appears to have accompanied the Spanish soldier Pánfilo de Narváez (1520) in his unsuccessful punitive expedition against Hernán Cortés, conqueror of the Aztecs of Mexico. He was evidently one of the conquerors of the region now comprising Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. He also may have served for a time as governor of Guatemala. It is thought that Cabrillo embarked from the Mexican port of Navidad in June 1542, explored most of the coast of what is now the state of California, entered San Diego and Monterey bays, and landed on several of the islands near the California coast. He apparently died of complications from a broken leg suffered on one such landing.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Amy Tikkanen.

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Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo | Biography & Facts

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Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, soldier and explorer in the service of Spain, chiefly known as the discoverer of California. Virtually nothing definitive is known of Cabrillo's early life. Although more than one village in Portugal has claimed to be his birthplace, scholars have long debated whether he

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Francisco de Ulloa

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James Cook

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James Cook, (born October 27, 1728, Marton-in-Cleveland, Yorkshire, England-died February 14, 1779, Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii), British naval captain, navigator, and explorer who sailed the seaways and coasts of Canada (1759 and 1763-67) and conducted three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean (1768-71, 1772-75, and1776-79), ranging from the Antarctic ice fields to the Bering Strait and from the coasts of North America to Australia and New Zealand.

Early life

James Cook was the son of a farmhand migrant from Scotland. While Cook was still a child, his father became the foreman on a farm in a neighbouring village. Young James early showed signs of an inquiring and able mind, and his father's employer paid for his schooling in the village until he was 12 years old. His early teens were spent on the farm where his father worked, but a brief apprenticeship in a general store in a coastal village north of Whitby brought him into contact with ships and the sea.

At the age of 18, in 1746, he was apprenticed to a well-known Quaker shipowner, John Walker of Whitby, and at 21 was rated able seaman in the Walker collier-barks-stout, seaworthy, slow 300- and 400-tonners mainly in the North Sea trade. When the ships were laid up for refitting (done by the apprentices and crews) at Whitby during the worst months of winter, Cook lived ashore and studied mathematics by night. The Whitby barks, constantly working North Sea waters off a dangerous and ill-marked lee shore, offered Cook splendid practical training: the young man who learned his seamanship there had little to fear from any other sea.

Promoted to mate in 1752, Cook was offered command of a bark three years later, after eight years at sea. Advancement of this nature opened up a career that would have satisfied most working seamen, but instead Cook volunteered as able seaman in the Royal Navy. The navy, he was sure, offered a more interesting career for the competent professional seaman, and greater opportunity than in the North Sea barks. Tall, of striking appearance, Cook almost immediately caught the attention of his superiors, and with excellent power of command, he was marked for rapid advancement.

After advancing to master's mate and boatswain, both noncommissioned ranks, he was made master of HMS Pembroke at the age of 29. During the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France (1756-63), he saw action in the Bay of Biscay, was given command of a captured ship, and took part in the siege of Louisbourg, Île Royale (now in Nova Scotia), and in the successful amphibious assault against Quebec. His charting and marking of the more difficult reaches of the St. Lawrence River contributed to the success of Maj. Gen. James Wolfe's landing there. Based at Halifax during the winters, he mastered surveying with the plane table. Between 1763 and 1768, after the war had ended, he commanded the schooner Grenville while surveying the coasts of Newfoundland, sailing most of the year and working on his charts at his base in England during the winters. In 1766 he observed an eclipse of the Sun and sent the details to the Royal Society in London-an unusual activity for a noncommissioned officer, for Cook still rated only as master.

Voyages and discoveries

In 1768 the Royal Society, in conjunction with the Admiralty, was organizing the first scientific expedition to the Pacific, and the rather obscure 40-year-old James Cook was appointed commander of the expedition. Hurriedly commissioned as lieutenant, he was given a homely looking but extremely sturdy Whitby coal-hauling bark renamed HMS Endeavour, then four years old, of just 368 tons and less than 98 feet (30 metres) long. Cook's orders were to convey gentlemen of the Royal Society and their assistants to Tahiti to observe the transit of the planet Venus across the Sun. That done, on June 3, 1769, he was to find the southern continent, the so-called Terra Australis, which philosophers argued must exist to balance the landmasses of the Northern Hemisphere. The leader of the scientists was the rich and able Joseph Banks, aged 26, who was assisted by Daniel Solander, a Swedish botanist, as well as astronomers (Cook rating as one) and artists. Cook carried an early nautical almanac and brass sextants but no chronometer on the first voyage.

Striking south and southwest from Tahiti, where his predecessors had sailed west and west-northwest with the favouring trade winds, Cook found and charted all of New Zealand, a difficult job that took six months. After that, instead of turning before the west winds for the homeward run around Cape Horn, he crossed the Tasman Sea westward and, on April 19, 1770, came upon the southeast coast of Australia. Running north along its 2,000-mile (3,200 km) eastern coast, surveying as he went, Cook successfully navigated Queensland's Great Barrier Reef-since reckoned as one of the greatest navigational hazards in the world-taking the Coral Sea and the Torres Strait in his stride. Once the bark touched on a coral spur by night, but it withstood the impact and was refloated. After the Endeavour was grounded on the nearby Queensland coast and repaired, Cook sailed it back to England. He stopped briefly at Batavia (modern Jakarta) for supplies, and, although the crew had been remarkably healthy until then, 30 died of fever and dysentery contracted while on land. None of the crew, however, died of scurvy (a dietary disease, caused by a lack of ascorbic acid, that notoriously decimated the crews of ships on lengthy voyages in the 18th century). This was because, in addition to ensuring cleanliness and ventilation in the crew's quarters, Cook insisted on an appropriate diet that included cress, sauerkraut, and a kind of orange extract. The health in which he maintained his sailors in consequence made his name a naval byword.

Back in England, he was promoted to commander and presented to King George III, and soon he began to organize another and even more ambitious voyage. The success of the expedition of Joseph Banks and his scientists (which established the useful principle of sending scientists on naval voyages-e.g., Charles Darwin in the Beagle, T.H. Huxley in the Rattlesnake, and J.D. Hooker with Sir James Ross to the Ross Sea in the Antarctic) stimulated interest not only in the discovery of new lands but in the new knowledge in many other scientific subjects. The wealth of scientifically collected material from the Endeavour voyage was unique. Cook was now sent out with two ships to make the first circumnavigation of and penetration into the Antarctic.

Between July 1772 and July 1775 Cook made what ranks as one of the greatest sailing ship voyages, again with a small former Whitby ship, the Resolution, and a consort ship, the Adventure. He found no trace of Terra Australis, though he sailed beyond latitude 70° S in the Antarctic, but he successfully completed the first west-east circumnavigation in high latitudes, charted Tonga and Easter Island during the winters, and discovered New Caledonia in the Pacific and the South Sandwich Islands and South Georgia island in the Atlantic. He showed that a real Terra Australis existed only in the landmasses of Australia, New Zealand, and whatever land might remain frozen beyond the ice rim of Antarctica. And, once again, not one of his crew died of scurvy. Back in England, he was promoted to captain at last, elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and awarded one of its highest honours, the gold Copley Medal, for a paper that he prepared on his work against scurvy.

There was yet one secret of the Pacific to be discovered: whether there existed a northwest passage around Canada and Alaska or a northeast one around Siberia, between the Atlantic and Pacific. Although the passages had long been sought in vain from Europe, it was thought that the search from the North Pacific might be successful. The man to undertake the search obviously was Cook, and in July 1776 he went off again on the Resolution, with another Whitby ship, the Discovery. This search was unsuccessful, for neither a northwest nor a northeast passage usable by sailing ships existed, and the voyage led to Cook's death. In a brief fracas with Hawaiians over the stealing of a cutter, Cook was slain on the beach at Kealakekua by the Polynesians.

Cook's voyaging left him comparatively little time for family life. Although Cook had married Elizabeth Batts in 1762, when he was 34 years old, he was at sea for more than half of their married life. The couple had six children, three of whom died in infancy. The three surviving sons, two of whom entered the navy, had all died by 1794.

Cook had set new standards of thoroughness in discovery and seamanship, in navigation, cartography, and the care of men at sea, in relations with indigenous peoples both friendly and hostile, and in the application of science at sea. And he had peacefully changed the map of the world more than any other single man in history.
Alan John Villiers

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James Cook | Biography, Accomplishments, Ship, Voyage Route, Family, Death, & Facts

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James Cook, British naval captain, navigator, and explorer who sailed the seaways and coasts of Canada and the Pacific Ocean. Cook set new standards in navigation, cartography, the care of crew at sea, and in the application of science at sea. Read more about Cook here.

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Chief Marin

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Marin was highly intelligent, had navigational and maritime skills, spoke Spanish, had knowledge of Catholicism, and came to be highly regarded by the missionaries. .Marin however, had on again off again relationship with the missionaries because he was often troubled by the slave like conditions that Indians were forced to live under. At times he would disappear and become an irritant to the Spaniards and missionaries. In response the Spaniards would send expeditions to capture him. There are many conflicting accounts of the dates of his disappearances, dates of recapture, dates of escape, etc., but it appears that he was finally captured living on one of the small Marin Islands east of San Rafael around 1824. Marin was spared death and went back to work with the missionaries at Mission San Rafael and lived peacefully until his death in 1839. He is buried in the unmarked Indian graveyard at the Mission Church.

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How Did Marin County Get Its Name? - Life in Marin County

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Do you know how Marin County got its name? Legend has it that this was the name of a well-known Indian chief of a tribe of Coastal Miwok Indians who was born in what is now Mill Valley in 1781.

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John C. Fremont

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John C. Fremont - New World Encyclopedia

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John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813 - July 13, 1890), was an American military officer and explorer. Fremont mapped most of the Oregon Trail and climbed the second highest peak in the Wind River Mountains. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the epithet "The Pathfinder," which remains in use, sometimes as "The Great Pathfinder."