HIST 141
May 14, 2014
This paper requires us to discuss the book California: A History by author Kevin Starr as well as McPherson’s “TheFight for Salvery in California”, among other selected films. These texts and films chronicle the history of California, the changes, the advancements, and the history behind where we are today as a state. In this paper I plan to highlight he importance California played in the United States as a whole and the socio-economic alliances of the advancements in Californias history. Please enjoy reading, as this paper is “one of the wildest reads in the wilderness.” During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the gold rush had a great deal to do with the influx of immigrants and transplants coming from other states into the state and calling California their home. Prior to this, Native Americans and Mexican Americans had a heavy influence on the entire state. By 1850, the U.S. Navy started making plans for a west coast navy base at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The greatly increased population, along with the new wealth of gold, caused: roads, bridges, farms, mines, steamship lines, businesses, saloons, gambling houses, boarding houses, churches, schools, towns, mercury mines, and other components of a rich modern (1850) U.S. culture to be built. The sudden growth in population caused many more towns to be built throughout Northern, and later Southern, California and the few existing towns to be greatly expanded. The first cities started showing up as San Francisco and Sacramento exploded in population. San Francisco was a hub and continues to be through the entire history of our state in reards to the architecture. Between 1906 and 1909 leading architects from “Paris”1 using Mediteranian style. College and Universities were updgraded. The population due to this revival at the time grew from 1910 to 2.3 million, half of which were located in and around the very popular Bay Area. In San