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In This Section... Before the World Rushed In Juan Bautista de Anza Jedidiah Smith John Sutter buys Fort Ross John Bidwell John C. Fremont Kit Carson, Fremont's Guide Donner Party Ranch and Mission Days Ranch and Mission Days, part 2 Joaquin Miller Mexican Period 1821-1846 Rancho Era Experience 1820-1848 Mission Era 1769-1820

Before the World Rushed In

Life in Alta California before the Gold Rush was centered on large ranchos and in the few small towns at San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco. Spain had claimed California in the 1500s, and small Spanish settlements began in this remote colony in 1769 when the first of the Missions were established. By 1820, Mexican patriots were rebelling against Spanish rule in the south, and when Mexico became an independent nation in 1821 the new country also became the owner of Alta California. Before Mexican rule began, Spanish lands were divided up among the 'Californios', the first settlers in California. These families witnessed the transition from Spanish to Mexican rule. In this transition, the Missions system lost its support from Spain, and the wealthy Rancheros became the ruling force in California. As the Missions crumbled, the ranchos gained much of the Mission lands in addition to those previously granted them by Spain, and California became a land of sprawling ranches, small towns, and slightly larger pueblos. In this time before the Gold Rush, California did not have a central government. The Mexican military and territorial leaders appointed to rule California received barely enough funding to keep their men fed and lacked the weaponry that would have been needed to defend themselves from any foreign attacks. There was little developed industry, and the horse or two-wheeled ox cart were the only forms of transportation. Although plenty of raw materials were available, skilled manufacturing did not take place in California. In fact, the hides from California cattle were shipped around the Horn to be made into shoes that were then shipped back to California … a costly and lengthy manufacturing process. California found itself a remote colony that was as neglected under Mexican rule as it had been under Spanish rule. In both cases, California was just too far away to attract very many settlers, and was also too far way to gain any sizeable financial investment from its mother countries, who themselves were involved in difficult civil uprisings or battles with other countries.

The California Dream Takes Root

In this neglect as a remote colony, an independent California spirit took root that still influences the state today. With out a strong mother country to rule it, Californios learned to develop a fierce independence and the idea easily took root that a locally-operated government would best suit the needs of this remote colony. Another factor influencing the early spirit of California is that the majority of early settlers from Mexico were poor people who had little opportunity in their homeland, and were less fearful of emigrating to a new territory. These people came looking for a land of promised opportunities.

In the period of 1825 - 1846, there were several efforts made by different Californio alliances to take over California as an independent republic, but none were ultimately successful. Sailors who visited California on foreign ships from the United States, Russia, and France wrote reports of the land's fertile soil, potential for abundant crops, mild weather, and the lack of Mexican development of this promising potential paradise. Each writer dreamed of their own country taking over California and gaining control of the excellent ports that could become a center for Pacific trade. Their dreams included ideal cities that improved on their European or American counterparts, a land where individual liberty and wealth could be obtained by all. Foreign visitors, wealthy ranchero owners, and poor Mexican settlers alike saw California as a blessed land of great opportunity.

It was these early foreign visitor's visions of California's potential that first alerted the world to the remote land's promise of a better life - a life that they suggested could be had by any man willing to work for it. The rancho lands actually comprised a small part of the region, and there was ample land freely available for settlement, for building cities, and for starting profitable businesses. But still, California was too far away for most people to imagine reaching - a golden dream on the far side of the American continent. The Camp is making Henry Richard Dana's work, Two Years Before the Mast, available for online reading as an example of an American sailor's impressions of Alta California. We also have Guadalupe Vallejo's account of rancho life available online.

American and Foreign Settlements Begin

In the late 1820s the first visitors who came overland were trappers and mountain men. These rugged outdoorsmen, such as Jedidiah Smith, soon returned, bringing with them families of settlers. They came to California from the western American territories, rounding the Sierras to the south, or dropping down from the north off the Oregon Trail. Others came by sea. One, John Sutter, built a now-famous fort in 1841 as the first large settlement in the inland area and this fort drew people to the interior of California for work and for commerce. At this same time, a trail through the Sierras was blazed, and wagon trains with settlers, including John Bidwell, began to arrive in the central valley to farm the land. These were the first non-native Americans to pass through the California Backcountry. In our Alta California reading section, the Camp has biographies and actual writings from these early mountain men and settlers who crossed the California Backcountry.

The United States Government encouraged this settlement in the hopes of taking over California as its own territory. In fact, the US Government tried several times to buy California from the Mexican Government, but was not successful. Finally, the Mexican-American war broke out over the battle for Texas, and its outcome was the annexation of the southwest from Texas to California as American holdings. After the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846 (an effort of a small group of Americans, including John Fremont and Kit Carson, to take over California), the American Navy sailed into San Francisco Bay and claimed California for the United States. By the time the Mexican/American peace treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in January of 1848, and the United States gained legal possession of California, several interesting things had already happened that would change California's destiny, and magnify its image as a promised land.

In fact, the gold discovery that lead to the California Gold Rush actually took place nine days BEFORE the treaty with Mexico was signed, but public knowledge of the discovery would not take place until a few months later.

We will now take a look at the political and social climate in California that created a setting that made the California Gold Rush the most unique mining bonanza in the world.