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  #  Entered Union  Year Settled 31st       Sept. 9, 1850      1769  Nickname Golden State  Rank     Population 1st          36,756,666  Rank     Square Miles 3rd         163,696  State Bird  State Flower  State Tree  State Motto Eureka I have found it  Nicknamed the "Golden State," California is the third largest state in area after Alaska and Texas. The discovery of gold and the immigration in 1849 of thousands of "forty-niners" in search of the precious metal helped California's admission into the Union in 1850.  Today, California, land of the giant redwoods, has the highest population of any state in the nation and is America's principal agricultural state. It is also the home of Hollywood, the center of America's movie and television industry. Its capital is Sacramento and the state flower is the golden poppy.  Many people in California figured gold was there, but it was James W. Marshall on January 24, 1848, who saw something shiny in Sutter Creek near Coloma, California. He had discovered gold unexpectedly while overseeing construction of a sawmill on the American River.  Another builder, James S. Brown, heard Marshall say, "Boys, I have got her now." Brown stepped over to Marshall, who held his hat in his hand. There in the hat were 10 or 12 pieces of gold.  People had made false claims before that they had discovered gold, so it wasn't until December of 1848, when President James Polk backed up the discovery that the Gold Rush began.  The thought of becoming rich from picking up gold nuggets from the ground was like hoping to win the lottery! In 1849, prospectors came from everywhere to try to make their fortunes. They became known as the "forty-niners."  More than 100,000 people arrived in California, but the gold was harder to find than people realized. A few made a small fortune. Others left for home penniless. Many made a living instead, running stores, saloons, laundries, and boarding houses, creating towns and cities that still exist in California.  Would you have been a "forty-niner?" And if you had discovered gold in a river or under the ground, what would you have done?  What's the first thing you see when you wake up? What would you see if you slept outside? Would you wake up when the sun rises? For John Muir, a naturalist who traveled the country and observed his surroundings, sleeping outside was one of life's great pleasures. He kept track of his experiences by recording them in a journal. Here's what he wrote on July 19, 1869, when he woke up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California:  "Watching the daybreak and sunrise. The pale rose and purple sky changing softly to daffodil yellow and white, sunbeams pouring through the passes between the peaks and over the Yosemite domes, making their edges burn; the silver firs in the middle ground catching the glow on their spiry tops, and our camp grove fills and thrills with the glorious light."  From the start, Muir was an early defender of the environment. In 1876 he supported the adoption of a federal forest conservation program. From 1892 to 1914 he was the Sierra Club's first president. The Sierra Club is an environmental organization. His articles and books describing Yosemite's natural wonders inspired public support for establishment of Yosemite National Park in 1890 and expansion of the park in 1905. Next time you visit a park, take a good look around. How do you think someone who was seeing it for the first time would feel? How would you describe it?  What would happen if land were not preserved? People would probably develop it and build on it, right? Fortunately, President Abraham Lincoln saw to it that no one would develop Yosemite when he signed the Yosemite Land Grant on June 30, 1864.  This land grant, or piece of legislation, provided California with 39,000 acres of the Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove "upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation." Do you know what has happened to Yosemite since then?  Because of the Yosemite Land Grant the incredible landscape of Yosemite, with its impressive cliffs, massive trees, and breathtaking waterfalls, has been preserved and open to the public. Have you been to a national park? Was it crowded?  The problem of tourism soon overwhelmed Yosemite Valley and the Big Tree Grove as they quickly became "must see" vacation destinations. In 1890, the public wanted the park returned to the federal government and, as a result, Yosemite National Park was established. Today, Yosemite includes nearly 1,200 square miles of the central Sierra Nevada mountain range. With mountains as high as 13,000 feet above sea level, the park preserves alpine wilderness, groves of Giant Sequoias, and the Yosemite Valley's cliffs, waterfalls, wildflowers, and impressive rock formations.  Can you think of an issue in your community where people feel so strongly that they take sides and protest? In northern California, there is a big timber industry, and the people who work in that industry often conflict with the people who want to keep the trees from being cut down -- the environmentalists.  In order to learn about both sides of the conflict, 90 high school students from Humboldt County interviewed loggers, a small landowner, timber company executives, a biologist, and environmental activists. Their project documents the logging boom and the environmental movement of the California north coast, how this conflict affects the local community, and what the future holds for timber and forests.  The timber industry has had a great influence on the economy and ecology of the northern California coast, so this was a good project for these students to study. They learned firsthand about the timber and logging industry and how the federal government manages the national forests. They also learned how environmental activism changed the way national forests are managed and the events that led to the preservation of the Headwaters Forest in 1999  On April 18, 1906, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded in North America struck San Francisco, California. The shaking of the earth was felt all the way from southern Oregon to Los Angeles and as far east as central Nevada.  The quake formed a crack in the earth's surface around 290 miles long. The earthquake and the great fire that followed destroyed much of the city of San Francisco. An estimated 28,000 buildings were lost, about half the city's population was left homeless, and more than 3,000 people perished.  There was not another huge earthquake in San Francisco until October 17, 1989. Have you heard about that one? The damage in 1989 was not as severe, because the 1906 quake caused engineers to learn more about making buildings "earthquake-proof."  Cesar Chavez Gains Grounds for Farmers Cesar Chavez is best known for his efforts to gain better working conditions for the thousands of workers who labored on farms for low wages and under severe conditions. Chavez and his United Farm Workers union battled California grape growers by holding nonviolent protests.  Cesar Chavez was born March 31, 1927 in North Gila Valley, near Yuma, Arizona. He was one of six children. His parents owned a ranch and a small grocery store, but during the Great Depression in the 1930s they lost everything. In order to survive, Cesar Chavez and his family became migrant farm workers, traveling around California to find work. It was hard work, and they did not live in the same place for long. The Chavez family would pick peas and lettuce in the winter, cherries and beans in the spring, corn and grapes in the summer, and cotton in the fall. What kind of a life do you think this was for Cesar's family?  Working conditions for migrant workers were harsh and often unsafe. Their wages were low, and it was difficult to support a family. Cesar's family frequently did not have access to basic needs such as clean water or toilets. Because a large number of migrant workers were Mexican American, they also often faced prejudice, and their children had to skip school to earn wages to help support the family.  Cesar Chavez attended about 30 schools in California as his family moved from place to place to find work. After the eighth grade Cesar had to quit school to support his ailing parents. Have you ever had to change schools because your family moved? Can you imagine what it would be like to have to do this 30 times?  Cesar's life growing up had a big impact on what he did with the rest of his life. In 1948, he married a woman who also was from a family of migrant farm workers. By 1959, the couple had eight children, and Chavez, who had little education and training, was forced to return to farm work. As before, life in the fields was harsh. Chavez decided he had to do something about it. He started to unite farm workers into a labor union. As a group they would try to get higher wages and better working conditions.  Chavez got the idea for nonviolent actions from Martin Luther King Jr., who was a leader in the struggle for civil rights for African Americans. Chavez also went on hunger strikes, protesting by refusing to eat for long periods of time. In 1968 he fasted for 25 days in support of the UFW (United Farm Workers) commitment to non-violence. He was inspired to fast by M.K. Gandhi of India.  Because of Chavez's peaceful tactics and public support for the union, he and the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee were able to negotiate contracts for higher wages and better treatment of agricultural workers with California grape producers.  Like his protests, Cesar Chavez died peacefully. In 1993, he died in his sleep in San Luis, Arizona, where he had gone to testify against vegetable growers. An estimated 50,000 mourners attended his funeral service. In recognition of Chavez's importance as a leader of the Mexican American community and a champion of social justice, President Bill Clinton awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to his widow, Helen Chavez, in 1994.  |
