Few Californians today would recognize their state one hundred and fifty years ago. In fact, in the summer of 1850, California was still, technically, not a state. Californians had drafted and approved a constitution, and a civil government had been put in place. Congress, however, still debated the compromise between slave and free states that would admit California to the Union. Meanwhile, the explosive growth that had begun with James Marshall's discovery of gold at Coloma on January 24, 1848, continued unabated.
In the years immediately following the American seizure of California from Mexico, nothing much had changed. While army officers governed, alcaldes and other offices from the Spanish/Mexican period continued in existence at the local level. California remained largely rural, with the large ranchos dominating the countryside. The discovery of gold altered everything and brought the days of pastoral California to an end. As word of the find spread, immigrants by the thousands from the eastern United States, as well as from Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia, Hawaii and Australia poured in, turning remote California into a new land of cities, towns, mines and farms.
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