23 chapters
3 hour read
Selected Chapters
23 chapters
FOREWORD
FOREWORD
To recount in simple, accurate narratives the early conditions and subsequent development of California is the purpose of this book. In attempting to picture the romantic events embodied in the wonderful history of the state, and to make each sketch clear and concise as well as interesting, the author has avoided many dry details and dates. Several of the stories endeavor to explain the remarkable physical characteristics of California. The work to this end was rendered lighter by the hope that
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CALIFORNIA'S NAME AND EARLY HISTORY
CALIFORNIA'S NAME AND EARLY HISTORY
A Spanish story written four hundred years ago speaks of California as an island rich in pearls and gold. Only black women lived there, the story says, and they had golden spears, and collars and harness of gold for the wild beasts which they had tamed to ride upon. This island was said to be at a ten days' journey from Mexico, and was supposed to lie near Asia and the East Indies. Among those who believed such fairy tales about this wonderful island of California was Cortes, a Spanish soldier a
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE STORY OF THE MISSIONS AND OF FATHER SERRA
THE STORY OF THE MISSIONS AND OF FATHER SERRA
The old Missions of California are landmarks that remind us of Father Serra and his band of faithful workers. There were twenty-one of their beautiful churches, and though some are ruined and neglected, others like the Mission Dolores of San Francisco and the Santa Barbara and Monterey buildings are still in excellent condition. From San Diego to San Francisco these Missions were located, about thirty miles apart, and so well were the sites chosen that the finest cities of the state have grown r
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
BEFORE THE GRINGOS CAME
BEFORE THE GRINGOS CAME
This is the story Señora Sanchez told us children as we sat on the sunny, rose-covered porch of her old adobe house at Monterey one summer afternoon. And as she talked of those early times she worked at her fine linen "drawn-work" with bright, dark eyes that needed no glasses for all her eighty years and snow-white hair. "When I was a girl, California was a Mexican republic," said the Señora, "and Los Gringos, as we called the Americans, came in ships from Boston. They brought us our shoes and d
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE AMERICANS AND THE BEAR-FLAG REPUBLIC
THE AMERICANS AND THE BEAR-FLAG REPUBLIC
While Spain owned Mexico and the two Californias, the Missions were at their best and grew rich in stores of grain and in cattle and horses. Almost all the people were Spanish or Indians, and they lived at the Missions or in ranches near by. But when Mexico in 1822 refused to be ruled by Spain, Alta or Upper California became a Mexican territory, and, later on, a republic with governors sent from Mexico. The Mission Padres did not like the change, and thought that Spain should still own the New
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE DAYS OF GOLD AND THE ARGONAUTS OF 1849
THE DAYS OF GOLD AND THE ARGONAUTS OF 1849
California has well earned her name of "Golden State," for from her rich mines gold to the value of thirteen hundred millions has been taken. Yet every year she adds seventeen millions more to the world's stock of gold. No country has produced more of this precious yellow metal that men work and fight and die for. The "gold belt" of the state still holds great wealth for miners to find in years to come. Long, long ago people knew that gold was here, for in 1510 a Spanish novel speaks of "that is
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
MINING STORIES
MINING STORIES
A large book might be filled with the stories told by the men who found gold in the early days. Their "lucky strikes" in the "dry-diggings" sound like fairy tales. Imagine turning over a big rock and then picking up pieces of gold enough to half fill a man's hat from the little nest that rock had been lying in for years and years! And think of finding forty-three thousand dollars in a yellow lump over a foot long, six inches wide and four inches thick! This was the biggest nugget on record and a
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
HOW POLLY ELLIOTT CAME ACROSS THE PLAINS
HOW POLLY ELLIOTT CAME ACROSS THE PLAINS
This is the story of a little girl who in 1849 rode all the way from Ohio to California in an emigrant wagon. Polly Elliott has grandchildren of her own now, but she remembers very well the spring morning when her father came home and said to her mother, "Lizzie, can you get ready to start for the land of gold next week?" She hears again her mother saying, "Oh, John, with all these little children?" She says her father answered by swinging her, the eleven-year-old Polly, up to his shoulder and c
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE BUILDING OF THE OVERLAND RAILROAD
THE BUILDING OF THE OVERLAND RAILROAD
The army of emigrants and gold-hunters who crossed the plains to California found it was a long and tiresome trip by wagon-train or on horseback. The oxen or mules would sometimes get so tired that they could go no farther; and because the food often ran short, there was much suffering from hunger. The longest way of all to California was by sailing vessel from New York round Cape Horn, nearly nineteen thousand miles to San Francisco. The passengers paid high prices and were six months on the wa
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
STORY OF THE WHEAT FIELDS
STORY OF THE WHEAT FIELDS
The Spanish Padres, as the Mission priests were called, taught the Indians to plough and seed with wheat the lands belonging to the church or Mission. They used a simple wooden plough, which oxen pulled. When the warm brown earth was turned up, the Indians broke the clods by dragging great tree branches over them. After the fall rains they scattered tiny wheat kernels and covered them snugly for their nap in the dark ground. More rain fell, and soon the soaked seeds waked, and started in slender
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ORCHARD, FARM, AND VINEYARD
ORCHARD, FARM, AND VINEYARD
Long ago the Mission Fathers taught the Indians to plant and to take care of vines and fruit-trees. They built water-works to bring life to the thirsty trees in the dry summers, and to grow oranges, limes, and figs, as well as peaches, apricots, and apples. They trained grape-vines over arbors and trellises round the Mission buildings, and from the small, black grapes made wine. Olive trees and date-palms did well at the southern settlements. But most of these orchards died when the Mission Fath
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE STORY OF THE NAVEL ORANGE
THE STORY OF THE NAVEL ORANGE
Who has not enjoyed a juicy navel orange, while wondering at its peculiar shape and lack of troublesome seeds? Yet few people know that this particular variety has brought millions of dollars into our state and made orange growing our third greatest industry. Read this story of the seedless orange, this "golden apple of California," which was first cultivated by Luther Tibbets, of Riverside, and learn how Southern California has profited by its navel orange crops. Nearly thirty years ago Mr. Tib
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE LEMON
THE LEMON
For many years people who use that sour but necessary fruit, the lemon, thought that only the little yellow ones which came from the far-away island of Sicily were good. The men who import foreign fruits always said so; and in spite of the fact that the larger California lemon was more acid, of as good flavor, smooth skinned, and golden, people believed the Mediterranean groves produced the best. But, at last, our warm, dry air, good soil, and plenty of water, together with care and skill while
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
FLOWERS AND PLANTS
FLOWERS AND PLANTS
"When California was wild," says John Muir, "it was one sweet bee-garden throughout its entire length, and from the snowy Sierra to the ocean." There were so many yellow poppies in this great unfenced garden, that the Spanish sailing along the coast called it the "Land of Fire" from the golden flowers covering the hills. Near Pasadena, in Southern California, these poppy fields may still be seen glowing so brightly in the sun that you do not wonder at the name "Cape Las Flores," or Flower Cape,
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE BIG TREES AND LUMBERING
THE BIG TREES AND LUMBERING
The largest trees in the world are those forest giants of California which grow on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevadas, and nowhere else on the globe. People carelessly call these grand trees "redwoods" or "big trees," but their family name is Sequoia, an Indian chief's name. When the trees were first discovered, in 1853, accounts of their height and size were sent to England. Supposing this giant to be a new tree, it was there christened Wellingtonia , and also gigantea for its immense mea
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
OUR BIRDS
OUR BIRDS
More than three hundred kinds of these dear feathered friends and visitors live in California. Along the sea-shore, in the great valleys and the mountain-forests and meadows, even in the dry, hot desert, the birds, our shy and merry neighbors, are at home. In many parts of the state they find sunshine and green trees the year round, and food always at hand. Yet sparrows, robins, and woodpeckers will stay in the snowed-in groves of the Sierras all winter, contentedly chirping or singing in spite
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
OUR WILD ANIMALS
OUR WILD ANIMALS
Once upon a time, when the Spanish owned this state and called it their province of Alta California, there were great herds of antelope feeding on the grassy plains, and at every little stream elk and deer and big grizzly bears came down to drink. No fences had been built, and the wild animals had never heard a rifle-shot. Free and fearless they ranged valley and hillside, or made their dens in the thick brush, or "chaparral," as the Spanish called it. Indian hunters watched the paths over which
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IN SALT WATER AND FRESH
IN SALT WATER AND FRESH
Tom and Retta Ransom were two of the happiest children in the state, I believe, when told that their summer vacation was to be spent at Catalina Island. To see the wonderful fish that swim in those warm, Southern waters, to watch them through the glass-bottomed boat, to dip out funny sea-flowers with a net, or catch the pretty kingfish and perhaps a "yellowtail,"—why, they could talk of nothing else! How they skipped and danced and chattered about the trip! At last Mamma said, "Well, everything
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ABOUT CALIFORNIA'S INDIANS
ABOUT CALIFORNIA'S INDIANS
When the Spanish and English first landed on this part of the New World's coast, they found the Indians who dwelt inland almost naked, and living like wild animals on roots and seeds and acorns. The tribes along the seashore, however, were good hunters and fishermen, and those Indians along the Santa Barbara Channel and the islands near by were a tall, fine-looking people, and the most intelligent of the race. They had large houses and canoes, and clothed themselves in sealskins. The Indians Dra
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE STORY OF SAN FRANCISCO
THE STORY OF SAN FRANCISCO
The Mission and Presidio of San Francisco were founded in 1776 by Father Palou, and two little settlements grew up around the fort and at the church. The Presidio was built where it is now, and ships used to anchor in the bay in front of it, though the whalers usually went to Sausalito to get wood from the hills and to fill their water-casks at a large spring. From early Mission times the Spanish name of Yerba Buena was given to that part of San Francisco's peninsula between Black Point and Rinc
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
MEN CALIFORNIA REMEMBERS
MEN CALIFORNIA REMEMBERS
Many pages of this book might be filled with California's roll of honor,—with that long list of men whose names are remembered whenever the state's history is recalled. Explorers, Mission-builders, Argonauts, and pioneers were the men who helped to make California the fair state you know and live in. From the first day of the Spanish discoveries on this shore of the Pacific Ocean, we find brave and great men who gave their best efforts, and sometimes their lives, for California. Let us head our
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
OUR GLORIOUS CLIMATE
OUR GLORIOUS CLIMATE
Not only a glorious but in many ways a wonderful climate is enjoyed by the people of California's sea-coast and mountains, her valleys and foot-hills. In no other state can one find so many kinds of weather in such short distances. For instance, in Southern California you may pick flowers and oranges in almost tropical gardens, and in an hour find winter and throw snowballs on the high mountains overlooking the roses and orange groves you so lately left. Only in the mountains, along that granite
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
SOME WONDERFUL SIGHTS
SOME WONDERFUL SIGHTS
California is a wonderland where snowy mountains, mighty and ancient forests, glaciers and geysers, lakes and waterfalls, foaming rivers and the cliffs and rolling surf down her long sea-coast give new and beautiful pictures at every place. Through the whole state stretches the granite backbone of the Sierra Nevadas with its highest crest or ridge at the head-waters of the Kings and Kern rivers near Fresno. Here Mount Whitney and a dozen other great peaks of the High Sierras or California Alps l
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter