We now have introduced the land and the people: the mountains, deserts,
and prairies; the Indians, trappers, and settlers. This is the cast of
characters, so to speak, who played out the drama of winning the West.
The next group of selections will illustrate the ways by which the land
was tamed and the wilderness brought under the yoke of civilization. We
will visit California by ship, travel with the covered wagons, starve
with the Donner party in the Sierras, and ride the Overland Stage with
Mark Twain. Finally we will look at the building of the railroad, the
event that spelled the end of the Old West.
The coast of California was first explored by Juan Cabrillo in 1542, but
it was not until the time of the American Revolution that the Spanish
established effective political control as far north as San Francisco.
Then, for the next three quarters of a century, until the Mexican War,
Spanish culture flourished. By the time California was annexed to the
United States, a great deal of commerce was being carried on between
eastern United States ports and the West Coast, and when the gold rush
took place thousands of fortune seekers came to California via sea.