1. The Mexican-American War & CA The establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836 Disputes regarding the border of Texas: Mexico = Nueces River, U.S. = Rio Grande Congress declared war on Mexico May 13, 1846 California Governor Pio Pico’s response to the war “California Battalion of Mounted Riflemen”

2. Political cartoons published during the Mexican-American War

3. War with Mexico

4. General Stephen Watts Kearny received instructions from the secretary of war to occupy New Mexico and then proceed to California to organize a military and civil government there The surrender at Cahuenga ended organized resistance to the American occupation The war with Mexico was concluded on February 2, 1848, with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in which Mexico ceded CA and other territories to the U.S.

5. “The armed conflict occurred for many reasons,” historian Manuel Gonzales has concluded, “but mostly because Americans wanted war, or rather what war would provide. The naked truth remains that Mexico had what its northern neighbor craved – land”

6. Discovery of Gold James Wilson Marshall discovered gold 1848 while inspecting the construction of a sawmill in Coloma, CA First newspaper reports about the discovery of gold in March were not effective – gold fever began in May 1848 Mormon Elder Samuel Brannan – leader of the California Mormons

7. The Forty-Niners The mania for sudden wealth pervaded all classes, and the urge to be off to the goldfields stimulated many related industries There were three main routes to the goldfields: by way of the Isthmus of Panama, around Cape Horn, or overland A major epidemic of Asiatic cholera caused the death of countless forty-niners

8. Overland routes to California, 1849 A majority of the forty-niners traveled overland. Several arteries were available, including branches of the Santa Fe and Old Spanish trails which led into southern California The main route was the California Trail, by way of the Platte, South Pass, and Humboldt

9. The Diggings - the foothill region between the Yuba River in the north and Mariposa in the south = the mother lode, or principal deposit Early mining methods – panning for gold with a flat-bottomed pan made of iron or tin A primary concern of the early California miners was the regulation of mining claims Mining Camp Laws - many of them included restrictive covenants barring Mexicans, Asians, or other foreigners

10. “A Sunday’s Amusement in the Mines,” 1848-1849, from a contemporary print

11. Hope and grim determination are in evidence in this rare daguerreotype showing a woman in the diggings at Auburn Ravine in 1852

12. From Adventure to Profession Mining deeper required the use of engineering techniques that demanded heavy equipment and substantial amounts of capital The Tertiary geologic era - major source of gold lay in Tertiary gravels Introduction of hydraulic mining, in which an entire hillside could be washed loose by directing powerful streams of water against it

13. The multiplier effect of the gold rush was more clearly evident in the development of early California manufacturing Wells Fargo, founded in 1852 to transport freight and passengers but soon was also offering banking services Significance of the Gold Rush – rapid influx of population, environmental degradation, female proprietors