2. California

During the 1840's, more Americans began to make the long journey to the Pacific Northwest. They went by thousands, travel­ing in covered wagons. The supporters of the westward expan­sion got the name of expansionists. Both the United States and Great Britain wanted to own the Oregon Country. Since 1818, they had agreed to share the territory.

South of Oregon was the area called California, which was owned by Mexico. President James K. Polk was in favor of ex­panding the borders of the United States wherever possible and believed California should become American territory. He offered to buy it from Mexico, but the Mexican government refused. In 1846 the war began over some local border problem, and Polk and Congress declared war against Mexico. American troops, led by General Zachary Taylor, won some battles, and Mexico was forced to surrender.

There was also fighting in California, and people there rang up a flag with a picture of a grizzly bear on it and called Califor­nia the Bear Flag Republic. Soon American troops arrived, and the Bear Flag was lowered and the American flag was raised, thus making California part of the United States, but still it was not a state.

Mexico and the United States signed a peace treaty in 1848. The Mexican government had to give up a huge piece of land, called the Mexican Cession. Thousands of Spanish-speaking peo­ple became citizens of the United States. The growth was immense, and this was shown in the new maps of the nation.

One day in 1848, James Marshal, who worked for John Sutter, a land-owner, found something glittering in the water of a stream near the site where he was building a sawmill. It proved to be gold. The news spread like wildfire. By early 1849, the gold rush was on. Thousands of people dropped what they were doing and joined the rush. Sometimes a whole family would go together, but most gold-seekers were men who left their families behind. The people who joined the gold rush became known as the forty-nin­ers. Even people from Europe and China arrived.

Small mining towns grew, with names like Dry Gulch, Hang-town, and Red Dog. People with food, clothes, or tools to sell could charge high prices. There was little or no law in the mining towns, fights arid raids by outlaws were common. People formed groups called vigilantes to keep order, and they would arrest, try, and hang a person (sometimes innocent) on the place.

Slowly, life settled down. Big mining companies moved in and took over the gold fields. Sheriffs and marshals enforced the law, tents and shacks were replaced by houses and stores made of wood and brick. Some people left not having found the treasure they dreamed of. Some people worked on cattle ranches, others found jobs and business opportunities in towns. Stagecoach companies were started to speed up travel and mail delivery.

Because of the gold rush in 1849, California had enough peo­ple to form a state that year. Californians held a convention and wrote a constitution. Then California asked to join the Union as a new state.