Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

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Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

Sept 9, 2006

September 9 -- Admission Day (California)

On September 9, 1850, California entered the union as its 31st state. Today, give someone a poppy -- the state flower of California.

With the Gold Rush came a huge increase in population and a pressing need for civil government. In 1849, Californians sought statehood and, after heated debate in the U.S. Congress arising out of the slavery issue, California entered the Union as a free, no slavery state by the Compromise of 1850. San Jose became the capital. Monterey, Vallejo, and Benicia each served as the capital before it was moved to Sacramento in 1854.
 
In 1853, Congress authorized the survey of a railroad route to link California with the eastern seaboard, but the transcontinental railroad was not completed until 1869. In the meantime communication and transportation depended upon ships, the stagecoach, the pony express, and the telegraph.


California officially became a state on September 9, 1850, and situated its first capital in San Jose. The city did not have facilities ready for a proper capital, and the winter of 1850 - 1851 was unusually wet, causing the dirt roads to become muddy streams. The legislature was unsatisfied with the location, so former General and State Senator Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo donated land in the future city of Vallejo for a new capital; the legislature convened there for one week in 1852 and again for a month in 1853.

Again, the facilities available were unsuitable to house a state government, and the capital was soon moved three miles away to the little town of Benicia, inland from the San Francisco Bay. The strait links San Pablo Bay to Grizzly and Suisun Bays deep in the interior. A lovely brick statehouse was built in old American style complete with white cupola. Although strategically sited between the Gold Rush territory of the Sierra Foothills and the financial port of San Francisco, the site was too small for expansion, and so the capital was moved further inland past the Sacramento River Delta to the riverside port of Sacramento.

Sacramento was the site of John Sutter's large farm and his fort. In 1846, during the midst of the Bear Flag Revolt, the fort was an oasis. A war was being fought between American and Californian soldiers in the southern part of the province for control of California. But at Sutter's Fort, life on the frontier continued with rhythm of the seasons and arrival of new soldiers.

The town was founded by John Sutter, Jr. while the elder Sutter was away, at the river's edge and downhill from the fort. Sutter Sr. was indignant since this place, shaded by water-needy Cottonwood trees, was often under water.

Indeed, every hundred years or so,  the whole Great Valley from Chico to Bakersfield, was one great freshwater sea. However, lots were already sold, so there the town of Sacramento stayed. At the end of the century, the streets were raised a full story, so buildings in Old Town Sacramento are now entered through what were once doors to the balconies shading the sidewalks below.

The Greek word "Eureka" has appeared on the state seal since 1849, when California sought statehood, and means " I Have Found It ."

The words were probably intended to refer to the discovery of gold in California.

Archimedes, the famed Greek mathematician, is said to have exclaimed "Eureka!" when, after long study, he discovered a method of determining the purity of gold. 

In 1957, attempts were made to establish "In God We Trust" as the state motto,  but "Eureka" was made the official state motto in 1963.

Hartson Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net