| 1848 | James Marshall discovers gold in the American River at Sutter's Mill, marking the beginning of the end of New Helvetica. (January 24) Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago ends the Mexican-American War. California becomes a territory of the United States. The first three Chinese immigrants arrive. Their number will swell to 35,000 by 1860. Peter Lassen obtains the charter for California's first Masonic Lodge. Sutter and Marshall make a treaty with local Indians, giving them full rights to the gold on their land. The treaty is rejected by Governor Mason on the grounds that Indians did not have the right to rent, sell, or lease their lands. Foundation of Sacramento near Sutter's Fort. Miners in the Agua Fria District of Mariposa County forbid Chinese from mining. First United States Post Office opens in San Francisco. State Library established with books donated by John C. Fremont. President James Polk upholds the right of Californians to decide the slavery question for themselves. (December 5) | .
| 1849 | The Gold Rush begins with the arrival of the steamer Californian, bearing 365 eager prospectors. Farmers, ranch hands, sailors, and many others desert their stations of duty to go to the goldfields. Forty-eight delegates draft the first state constitution at Colton Hall, Monterey. (September 1 to October 13) Voters ratify first state constitution. 12061 vote for the free state, 811 against. (November 13) Peter H. Burnett, Democrat, becomes California's first elected governor. A fire in San Francisco destroys 50 houses. C.S. Perkins arrives with his slaves Robert and Carter Perkins. He will leave them as free men when he returns to Mississippi, but will later change his mind and reclaim them under the Fugitive Slave Act. American squatters begin occupying pieces of the Peralta-owned Rancho San Antonio. Tuleberg renamed Stockton. Birth of Luther Burbank. Chilean War. Chilean miners, reacting against American laws prohibiting the staking of claims by peons, drive Americans out of Chile Gulch, near Mokelumne Hill. The incident sparks a diplomatic dispute between the United States and Chile. San Francisco catches on fire, after Sydney Ducks allegedly burn down the abode of a merchant who refuses to pay them protection money. The Hounds raid San Francisco's "Little Chile". First English language book published in California: California As It Is, And As It May Be by Wierzbicki. |
| 1850 | The Death Valley Party. A group seeking a shortcut to California finds itself crossing Death Valley. The heat and lack of water take their toll on the pioneers. The survivors barely manage to reach racherias at the Tejón Pass. Blue Jeans. German tailor Levi Strauss arrives in San Francisco, intending to make tents for the Argonauts. He discovers, instead, a crying need for durable pants and uses the heavy denim cloth he brought with him to satisfy the demand. California's first 27 counties are created by an act of the Legislature. Three U.S. Commissioners travel to California for the purpose of making treaties with the Indians. Captain Jefferson Hunt leads Mormon pioneers to the San Bernardino Valley where they establish a settlement which they hope will serve as a link between Deseret (Utah) and the Pacific. The town of Rough and Ready (now in Nevada County) secedes from the Union so that the inhabitants will not be subject to any more laws and regulations. The movement fails on the Fourth of July when residents realize that they can no longer celebrate the holiday as noncitizens of the United States. Act for the Governance and Protection of Indians passed by the State Legislature. The act allows for Indian indenture. Riot in Sacramento. John Sutter moves against squatters living on his land, beginning with the demolition of a house on disputed property. (June 21) The new settlers organize a defense. Tensions climax following the arrest of squatter leaders James McClatchy and Michael Moran. (August 13) Rioters take to the streets for two days, killing several city officials and mortally wounding the mayor, and Clear Lake Massacre. U.S. troops under Captain N. Lyon kill over a hundred Indians, including women and children. Discovery of Yosemite by the Mariposa Battalion. Society of California Pioneers founded. California is admitted to the Union. (September 9) L'ingot d'or (Lottery of the Golden Ingots). Louis Napoleon III's cabinet conceives a national lottery in which gold ingots will be given to the winners. The secret purpose of the game is to capitalize the deportation of political opponents, streetwalkers, and criminals. Their destination: San Francisco. A side effect of the lottery is that it stimulates interest of honest Frenchmen in removing to California. (December) A bill to prohibit free Negroes from moving to California fails to pass the State Legislature. A tax on all miners of foreign extraction (twenty dollars per month) is imposed by the state to prevent the loss of capital to Mexico and other countries. Ferries begin transporting passengers between Alameda and San Francisco. A prison hulk anchored near Angel Island serves as California's first prison. |
| 1851 | California Methodists establish The College of the Pacific in San Jose. Santa Clara University founded. Governor Burnett promises that "a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct". The United States Land Commission is formed to evaluate Spanish Land Grant claims. (March 3) Major James Savage discovers the Yosemite Valley while in pursuit of Indians. U.S. Commissioners send troops after three San Joaquin Valley tribes who refuse to enter into treaty negotiations. First Committee of Vigilance is formed in San Francisco. Sam Brannan is its leader. Two Massachusetts men are killed when they encroach on Chilean holdings near Mokelumne Hill (July 18). Yankee clipper Flying Cloud sails from New York to San Francisco in 81 days, 21 hours. The California Legislature instructs its Senators to oppose the Indian treaties negotiated by U.S. Commissioners. Indians and Negroes are prohibited against serving as witnesses in cases involving white men. Provision is made for the collection of a three dollar poll tax from all male citizens who are entitled to vote. Garrá Revolt. Antonio Garrá, chief of the Cupeño Indians, attempts to form a great union of tribes to drive the Americans out of California. He is betrayed by the Cahuillas who will not join the allies. The miners' tax is repealed after merchants feel a loss of business from foreign miners who decide to leave the state. French War. American miners drive Frenchmen from their claim at French Hill, near Mokelumne Hill. Colusa and Placer Counties organized. |
| 1852 | State government removes to Vallejo from San Jose (January 2) Dissatisfied with local conditions, the Legislature removes to Sacramento (January 12). The first of the French undesireables or "ingots" arrive in San Francisco. As expected, many are prostitutes. (February) The legislature provides for the return of runaway slave. (April 15) Hayfork Massacre. Following the killing of a white settler near Weaverville, vigilantes track and kill 150 Indians, taking only three survivors (a woman and two children) as prisoners. The U.S. Senate secretly rejects the California treaties. Their contents remain classified until 1905. Columbia Mining District regulations (north of Sonora) forbid "Asiatics and South-Sea Islanders" from mining. Anyone who sells a claim to one of these will not be allowed to work another claim in the district for six months. The Legislatures committee on mines calls for a resolution against importation of labor from China, Japan, and the South Seas. Indian agent R. McKee asks for troops to keep the peace between settlers and Indians following the massacre of forty or fifty Indians at the upper crossing of the Klamath River. Attempts by Indians to seek justice and made amends for their mistakes are rejected by the settlers who choose genocide as their solution for the conflict. Carter and Robert Perkins lose their bid for freedom when the California State Supreme Court votes to return them to their master. (October) A fire wipes out two thirds of Sacramento. Muscat grape production begins near Malaga, Fresno County. Fresno Massacre. White settlers invade the Fresno reservation and kill an unspecified number of Indians. Attempts to bring perpetrators to justice fail. Nevada, Sierra, Siskiyou, and Tulare Counties organized. The Legislature requires a $500 bond for each foreign national brought by sea to California. The act is not enforced and later found unconstitutional. Foundation of Oakland. Horace Carpentier, who bought the townsite from the Peraltas, becomes the first mayor. Discovery of the Calaveras Big Trees. The Young Ladies Seminary (later Mills College) is founded in Benecia. State Senator James W. Denver and U.S. Representative and Alta California publisher Edward C. Gilbert row out to Angel Island to settle a dispute over Gilbert's attacks against Governor James Bigler on the field of honor. Only Denver returns alive. Contra Costa Steam Navigation Company begins ferry service. Wells Fargo established. |
| 1853 | The California Legislature returns to Vallejo, but votes to make Sacramento the state capital. It leaves on February 4. The U.S. Navy purchases Mare Island. Filisbuster William Walker seizes La Paz, Baja California and proclaims Lower California as an independent republic, with himself as its president. U.S. Government officials cut off his supplies from San Francisco. Upon Walker's return to California, he and his followers are tried for violating neutrality laws, but acquitted. Contra Costa County's District Attorney exposes a Napa ring led by the Beryessa, Briones, Mesa and Beryessa families given over to kidnapping Indian children for sale to settlers. David Powers and allies barricade themselves near Santa Barbara, as a defense against their eviction by the Sheriff. Three men are killed in the battle. (May) Congress calls for a railroad route to be surveyed from the Mississippi River to the Pacific. Sectional squabbling prevents the construction of any route until the Civil War. Captain Harry Love leaves San Jose in search of bandit Joaquin Murrietta. (July) They kill and decapitate a man said to be Murrietta for the $5,000 reward. San Francisco squatters fight a pitched battle near Third and Mission Streets. Two men are killed and five are wounded. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis orders the Military Commander of the Pacific to establish Indian reservations. The first is set up at Tejon. Speculators acquire Rancho San Antonio from the Peralta family for $82,000. Later the land will become the site of Berkeley. Henry Durant opens the Contra Costa Academy in Oakland, which will evolve into the University of California. The Carrier Pigeon wrecks near the San Mateo County point which now bears its name. California Academy of Sciences founded. William Hollister drives 5,000 sheep from St. Louis, Missouri to San Diego. Birth of David Belasco. Black citizens of San Francisco found the Athenaeum Debating Society and Library. Alameda, Humboldt, and San Bernardino Counties organized. |
| 1854 | Governor John Bigler describes the state's squatters as "bona-fide settlers" and calls for legislation affirming their rights. (January 4) Sacramento becomes the capital of California. Mare Island Shipyard opened under the command of David Farragut. The United States Mint opens a branch in San Francisco. This means an end to private gold coin used as legal tender in the West. A young Indian boy is killed in Klamath County when he attempts to defend his mother from a white rapist. Indians kill an ox owned by the man, only to discover that it has been sold. Settlers ignore their attempts to pay for the butchered animal. Klamath County citizens resolve to kill all Indians carrying guns. The People vs. Hall. A murder conviction is reversed by the State Supreme Court because the only witnesses against the white accused are Chinese. Though there is no specific law against Chinese testimony against whites, the court says of a related act banning Indians from testifying: "the evident intention of the act was to throw around the citizen a protection for life and property, which could only be secured by raising him above the corrupting influences of degraded castes." Nome Lackee Reservation established. (September) First ascent of Mount Shasta by E.D. Pearce. (September) Alcatraz Light, the first such aid to navigation on the Pacific Coast, begins operation. Construction of Old St. Mary's Church in San Francisco. San Quentin Prison completed. Ulysses Grant spends a miserable year at Fort Humboldt. He quits the Army and returns home to his wife. Fort Tejón established. A sequoia cross section is sent to New York where it is deemed a "California hoax". Across the Plains and Among the Diggings by Alonzo Delano. Alpine, Plumas and Stanislaus Counties organized. |
| 1855 | St. Ignatius College (later University of San Francisco) founded. St. Mary's College founded. Battle of Red Caps. Three white men are killed when settlers raid this Indian rancheria. (@January 9) The Army persuades many of the Indians in Klamath County to lay down their arms. They also act to prevent any massacres by white settlers. (February 3) White settlers attempt to reignite Klamath County problems by assassinating two Indian leaders near the mouth of the Salmon River. Collapse of Adams and Company sparks a statewide panic. Congress authorizes the creation of more Indian reservations in California. The Mendocino, Fresno and Klamath Reservations are established as a consequence of the Act. Scott's Bar Massacre. Indians resistance to white settlers intensifies. Ten white men are killed on the banks of the Klamath near Scott's Bar. Twelve more are killed in other raids. Two of the raiders are apprehended and hung in Yreka, along with the black settlers who furnished them with weapons. (July 31) The State Legislature allows that Indians may testify against white men. The Legislature instructs its Congressional delegation to seek the passage of a "head tax" on every Chinese and Japanese disembarked. The anti-Catholic Know-Nothings organize and hold a state convention in Sacramento. The "Greaser" Act. A anti-vagrancy act by the State Legislature excludes "Diggers" (Indians), but includes persons of mixed Spanish and Indian blood or "Greasers". Hempfield Massacre. White settlers kill ten Indians following the slaughter by the Indians of five head of cattle. The selling of firearms and ammunition to Indians is made illegal by the State Legislature. Gambling is outlawed. Bull and bear fights are outlawed. Peter Lassen and Isaac Roop declare the creation of the Territory of Nataqua in northeastern California. The Legislature refuses to provide funds for translation of state laws into Spanish despite the fact that the majority of the State's inhabitants are of Mexican extraction. Whaling station for Portuguese sailors constructed in Monterey. Point Loma Lighthouse begins operation, using bricks and tiles originally made for Fort Guijarros. The Farallons Light is also established. James King of William establishes the Bulletin in San Francisco. Sebastopol named by the winner of a bet. A 195 pound gold nugget -- the largest ever found in the United States -- is extracted from the Morgan Mine, near Albany Flat (November 22). Annals of San Francisco published. Merced County organized. |
| 1856 | California's first railroad begins operation between Sacramento and Folsom. Theodore Judah has planned the route. Second Committee of Vigilance. Angered by the shooting of gadfly James King of William, San Franciscans organized a second Committee of Vigilance under the leadership of William Tell Coleman. Kangaroo courts become the order of the day until the Vigilantes disband in August. Conflicts over the boundary end the existence of the Nome Lackee Indian Reservation. Opening of first trans-Sierra Nevada wagon road. State voters approve the division of the state into northern and southern sections (which pleases slaveholders who want to make Southern California into a new slave state), but the State Legislature blocks the move. California's first known "Tong War" occurs at Chinese Camp, when 900 men of the Yan Wo Tong and 1200 men of the Sam Tu Tong battle. Hubert Howe Bancroft opens a book and stationery store in San Francisco. Antonio Coronel, a half-black Mexican, fails in his bid for mayor of Los Angeles. An attempt by the legislature to levy a fifty dollar "capitation" tax on arriving Chinese and Japanese is ruled unconstitutional. Discovery of Borax. First eucalyptus seedlings sold in San Francisco. The Farallons become part of the City and County of San Francisco. Fresno, San Mateo and Tehama Counties organized. |
| 1857 | Tejón Pass Earthquake. Theodore Judah publishes a pamphlet proposing a transcontinental railroad. Former delegate to the State Constitutional Convention Manuel Dominguez is barred from testifying for the defense in The People vs. Elyea because he is a mestizo. Theodore Judah envisions the transcontinental railroad. Overland stage service between San Antonio, Texas and San Diego begins. Lt. Horatio Gates Gibson establishes Fort Bragg on the new Mendocino Indian Reservation. The burlesque fraternal order E. Clampus Vitus appears in Sierra City. Bret Harte writes his first newspaper article as compositor and assistant to the editor of Arcata's Northern Californian. Edward F. Beale brings camels to Fort Tejón, where the Army uses them as beasts of burden. |
| 1858 | San Francisco blacks and abolitionists set up a waterfront patrol to rescue Archy Lee, a slave whose master has attempted to retain possession of him even after settling in California. Lee is ultimately freed by a decision of the United States Commissioner. The Legislature tries to ban further Chinese immigration. The act is declared unconstitutional. Francis Cutting establishes the state's first cannery for fruits and vegetables. First Cliff House built at Land's End, San Francisco. Cooper Medical School founded in San Francisco. This will later become the Stanford University Medical School. Johnson-Ferguson Duel. U.S. Circuit Court clerk and Southern "chivalrist" George P. Johnson shoots and kills Abolitionist State Senator William I. Ferguson on Angel Island. |
| 1859 | A subscription is taken up in Red Bluff, allowing for the payment of bounties for Indian scalps. Abolitionist Senator David Broderick is killed in a duel with former Supreme Court Justice David S. Terry. Broderick's supporters aver that the duel was rigged A young Indian boy, indentured to one Colonel Stevenson at Tehama, is lynched for allegedly burning down Stevenson's house. The People vs. Elyea. After much public criticism of The People vs. Hall decision (see 1854), the California Supreme Court reverses itself and declares that race is not a reliable measure of witness competency. Daly City "squatters" build a fortress (with one cannon) to protect themselves from the depredations of "plug-uglies" set on them by land speculators. Del Norte County organized. Bancroft begins collecting books on California history with the aim of sponsoring an encyclopedia. |
| 1860 | Humboldt Bay Massacres. Local white settlers, without any apparent provocation, attack four Indian villages, slaying 188. (February 26) G.H. Woodman of Mendocino publishes an appeal in the San Francisco newspapers asking for assistance against Indians who he claims have been murdering and thieving cattle in his area. Woodman is later tried for enslaving thirteen Indian orphans, but is acquitted. Francis Bret Harte is forced to leave Arcata (Uniontown) after he condemns the Humboldt Bay Massacres in the Northern Californian. Pony Express service inagurated. A gold nugget weighing 100 pounds is recovered from the Monumental Mine near Sierra City. Gold discovered in Big Bear Valley. Following an investigation, the State Legislature issues its reports on the Mendocino War. The Majority Report declares "We are unwilling to dignify, by the term "war", a slaughter of beings, who at least possess the human form, and who make no resistance, and make no attacks, either on the person or on the residence of the citizen." The Minority Report suggests that Indians be turned over to settlers for peonage. A new act of the legislature provides for Indian "indenture" and inaugarates a period of trading in peons by white slave dealers. Indian slaves, many of whom have been kidnapped, sell from thirty to fifty dollars a piece. The age of majority for Indian men is raised from eighteen to twenty four years of age; for women from fifteen to twenty one years of age. The City of Los Angeles passes an ordinance allowing the Recorder to sell off prison labor when the municipality has no work for them. It becomes illegal for brothels to employ girls under seventeen years of age. Contra Costa Academy renamed the College of California. The legislature makes clear that it will not grant funds to any school district which is not segregated. Completion of Fort Point. Death of James Capen "Grizzly" Adams, exhibitor of California grizzlies. |
| 1861 | The state's wine industry is born following the shipment of 1,400 varieties from Europe. The Civil War breaks out in the East. California remains with the Union, providing 15,725 volunteers who serve for California, Pennsylvania, Washington Territory, and Massachusetts. Colonel Edward Baker organizes Pennsylvania's California Volunteers (71st Pennsylvania Infantry), consisting of gold rush returnees. Baker is killed later in the year at Balls Bluff, Virginia. The Committee of Thirty unsuccessfully petitions General Albert Sidney Johnston to turn over all the forts and weapons in the West to the South. Though Johnston resigns his command to join the Southern cause, he refuses to join in the conspiracy. Theodore Judah convinces four Sacramento businessmen to organize the Central Pacific Railroad. The four are Colis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and Charles Crocker. Pony Express service ends as the first transcontinental telegraph line reaches California. The U.S. Army investigates kidnapping of Indian children in Humboldt County. Laurie Johnson, James Wood and James Freak are arrested on charges of kidnapping Indian children for enslavement. The three slavers are first released on a technicality and then rearrested, only to make bail and disappear. The children are "adopted" by Marysville families following the revelation that the slavers have killed their parents. Battle of Waterloo. Squatter John Balkwill turns his house into a fortress and fights off the land's owner who attacks with a nine pound cannon. (November 9) Chapman College founded. Lake and Mono Counties organized. |
| 1862 | 485 Californios (native born Californians of Mexican extraction) enlist in the First Battalion of Native Cavalry. The unit distinguishes itself in combat against Confederate forces The village of Agua Mansa (Sp. "peaceful water") is erased from the San Bernardino County map when runoff from record snowfalls in the mountains innudates the community. General Henry H. Sibley's invasion New Mexico force suffers major losses at Valverde and Glorieta Pass, New Mexico. The defeat of the Texas confederates secures California for the Union. Colonel E.R.S. Canby, who will later figure in the state's Modoc War, leads U.S. Forces at Valverde. San Jose State College, California's first public educational institution, opened. (July 18) California volunteers who form the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry fight at Antietam. Captain Keatchum at Fort Baker discovers that Indian slave traders have made as much as $15,000 a year. San Franciscans found an "Anti-Coolie Club" which promotes anti-Chinese feeling and lobbies for restrictive immigration quotas. An anti-Chinese book published at this time uses the phrase "Yellow Peril" for the first time. First scientific ascent of Mount Shasta by Josiah Dwight Whitney. The climbers discover a fresh garbage heap at the summit. The Chinese Police Tax. The state levies a $2.50 per month tax on all Chinese not engaged in agriculture. The State Supreme Court blocks its enforcement on the grounds that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress alone the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations. Direct transcontinental telegraph completed. |
| 1863 | Indians, Chinese, and "Mongolians" are again prohibited from giving witness for or against any white man. Californians serving in the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry help defeat the Confederacy at Gettysburg. (July 1-3) Special, segregated schools for children of Chinese, Indians, and Negroes are made possible by the Legislature. The Army sells off its camels in San Francisco. Samuel Clemen's sobriquet "Mark Twain" appears for the first time. First Cliff House opens. Catalina Island gold rush. The Chapman Incident. San Francisco Confederate sympathizers, led by Asbury Harpending, outfit a sloop which they intend to use as a commerce raider. The Army learns of the plot and captures the ship and its crew before it can embark. The prisoners are taken to Alcatraz, where they quickly fill up the available cells, forcing the Army to build an additional, "temporary" cellblock. Sagebrush War. Citizens of what will become Lassen County demand that they be allowed to join Nevada. Isaac Roop (who had earlier proclaimed the Territory of Nataqua) renames his Susanville cabin "Fort Defiance". Battle ensues between the rebels and the Sheriff of Plumas County. Settlers are placated when Lassen County is created. |
| 1864 | Klamath-Modoc Treaty. (October) Mechanic's Institute Fair in San Francisco's Union Square. The Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove become California's first State Park. Citizens of Red Bluff raise a subscription to help the widow and daughter of abolitionist John Brown who live in the town. Lassen County organized. |
| 1865 | Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation established. Sagebrush War ends. Southern Pacific Railroad established. A competitive race between three San Francisco volunteer fire companies turns to violence as members of each company try to prevent the others from arriving first to a fire. Several dozen men suffer gunshots, bruises, wounds, and broken bones. The incident prompts the State Legislature to authorize paid fire departments. Confederate sympathizers who have celebrated too publically at the death of Abraham Lincoln are arrested and held on Alcatraz. Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" appears. San Francisco Chronicle founded. San Francisco earthquake. |
| 1866 | The Calaveras Skull. A human skull is "discovered" in the Mattison Mine near Altaville. (February) State Geologist J.D. Whitney declares that the skull is an authentic fossil from the Pliocene Era. The skull proves to be a hoax, planted by local miners. Congress authorizes construction of a railroad connecting Sacramento with Portland, Oregon. (July 25) Two days later, it authorizes a line between Missouri and California by way of Albuqueque. Congress agrees to recognize mining claims made under the rules of local mining districts so long as they do not conflict with other U.S. laws. (July 26) Local school boards are empowered to admit students of any race. A state law directed against Chinese "houses of ill-fame" abridges the right of suspected brothel owners and workers to a fair trial. "Don Juan" Temple sells his Signal Hill property for 74 cents an acre. The Supreme Court rules in favor of Daly City "squatters". Charlotte Parkhurst (born 1806), who has been disguised as a man, registers to vote in Santa Cruz County. Her actual sex will not be discovered until her death in 1879. Pacific School of Religion founded. Inyo and Kern Counties organized. |
| 1867 | Federal commissioners arbitrate a treaty between the Chemehuevi and Mojave Indians. San Francisco workers demand a eight hour day. Anti-Chinese demonstrations in San Francisco. The Mendocino Indian Reservation is abandoned and the land sold. |
| 1868 | The University of California, provided for under the 1849 Constitution, is founded. The College of California is absorbed into it. The Burlingame Treaty with China guarantees to Chinese citizens resident in the United States the same "privileges, immunities, and exemptions as citizens" (except, of course, the right to vote). The Big Four acquire the Southern Pacific Railroad. Hayward Earthquake. John Muir arrives in California. |
| 1869 | The Central Pacific meets the Union Pacific at Promontory Point, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. Leland Stanford drives in a golden spike, marking the connection of the lines. |