Pacific Eldorado A History of Greater California

The fully-revised second edition of the bestselling textbook—an original interpretation of the entire span of California history

The rich history of California can best be told through its connection with the Pacific Basin. From the geological origins of the land and its earliest seafaring inhabitants, to current economic trade relationships and remarkably diverse cultural influences, the factors that continue to shape the Golden State are inseparably linked to the vast ocean to its west. Pacific Eldorado is a comprehensive exploration of the entire sweep of California’s past in relation to the maritime world of the Pacific Basin. Offering a bold and original interpretation of the history of the region, prominent historian Thomas J. Osborne enables readers to view the state’s development through a Pacific-focused lens.

Now in its second edition, this acclaimed textbook reflects new scholarship, places greater emphasis on environmental topics, and examines recent California history. Designed to help students think critically about commonly-held ideas, the author challenges conventional views, such as those of pre-Gold Rush California, confronts the traditional Atlantic-centric approach to American history, and presents a new analytic framework for studying the state’s past. The text enables students to understand the evolution of California, from the time of prehistoric Asian seafarers to the state’s present-day position as the nation’s wealthiest and most populous state. Rigorous yet accessible, this text:

• Explores a “Greater California” history that extends beyond geographic borders
• Offers new, expanded, and revised coverage of plate tectonics, the citriculture boom of the late 1800s, the environmental history of California, and more
• Features “Pacific Profiles,” brief chronicles of notable figures who have made an impact on the state’s history
• Has a new feature, “Transpacific Connections” that illustrates further the fascinating ties between California and the Pacific World; for example, comparing the California gold rush to the contemporaneous New Zealand gold rush and indicating the connections between the two
• Supports a Pacific-centric approach with compelling examples, such as the building of the transcontinental railroad to increase the China trade
• Includes new and updated photographs, illustrations, maps, references, and reading suggestions

Already adopted by a wide range of institutions, the new edition of Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California continues to be an essential resource for students and instructors in California history courses, as well as those required to pass exams on California history and government to obtain California teaching credentials.

THOMAS J. OSBORNE is a specialist and noted historian in California and Pacific History. He is Emeritus Professor of History at Santa Ana College, where he received the inaugural Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award. He is author and co-author of several scholarly books, articles and reviews, including Coastal Sage: Peter Douglas and the Fight to Save California's Shore, Paths to the Present: Thoughts on the Contemporary Relevance of America's Past, and Empire Can Wait: American Opposition to Hawaiian Annexation, 1893-1898.

List of Illustrations xiii

Foreword xviii
Janet Fireman

Preface xx

Acknowledgments xxiii

1 Beginnings: From Fire and Ice to Indian Homeland 1

Timeline 1

Landforms 2

Climates 6

Plants and Animals 7

First Peoples and Their New Homeland 9

Tribal and Linguistic Groupings 12

Material Culture 12

Religion and Social Practices 16

Pacific Profile: Anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber 18

The Chumash: Pacific Coast Mariners and Traders 19

Other Possible Early Voyagers to California 20

Transpacific Connections: Canoeing from Hawai’i to California 22

Summary 22

Review Questions 23

Further Reading 23

2 Spain’s Greater California Coast 26

Timeline 26

A Name, a Dream, a Land 27

Cabrillo’s Coastal Reconnaissance 28

Globalization Begins: The Manila Galleon Trade 31

Drake, Nova Albion, and Cermeno 33

The Spanish Pacific, Vizcaino, and Monterey 34

Colonizing California: Missions, Indians, and the Sea 36

Ranchos, Presidios, and Pueblos 42

Gender and Sexuality in a Frontier Society 44

Pacific Profile: Alejandro Malaspina, Mariner–Explorer 46

The Transpacific Fur Trade 47

Hippolyte de Bouchard’s Pirate Raids 49

Summary 50

Review Questions 51

Further Reading 51

3 A Pacific‐Oriented Mexican Province 53

Timeline 53

Mexico’s Misrule of California 54

Secularization of the Missions 56

Hides, Tallow, and Rancho Society 59

Fur Trappers 64

Early Settlers and Overland Emigrants 66

Pacific Profile: Alpheus B. Thompson, China Trader 70

“Thar She Blows”: New England Whalers 71

The Charles Wilkes Pacific Expedition 72

Summary 75

Review Questions 75

Further Reading 76

4 War and Gold: America’s West Coast Eldorado 78

Timeline 78

California and the Pacific Squadron 80

Jumping the Gun at Monterey 81

Polk, the Pacific, and the Outbreak of War 84

California and the Mexican War 88

Gold, Ships, and Wagon Trains 91

Pacific Profile: William H. Aspinwall, President of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company 95

The World Rushed In 96

Transpacific Connections: Gold Rushes in California and New Zealand 97

Life in the Diggings 98

The Gold Rush’s International Economic Impacts 101

Summary 102

Review Questions 102

Further Reading 103

5 National Crisis, Statehood, and Social Change 105

Timeline 105

A Constitution, a Legislature, a State 107

Land Disputes and Independence Movements 110

Vigilance Committees and Untamed Politicians 112

Pacific Filibusterers 116

California, the Pacific, and the Civil War 118

Ocean Crossings: The Chinese on Sea and Land 120

Pacific Profile: Norman Asing, Chinese American Restaurateur 123

Californios and Other Spanish‐Speakers 124

Indians: A People under Siege 125

African Americans: Up from Bondage 127

Summary 128

Review Questions 130

Further Reading 130

6 Pacific‐Bound Rails, Hard Times, and Chinese Exclusion 132

Timeline 132

A Transcontinental Railroad, California, and Pacific Commerce 133

Theodore Judah, the Big Four, and the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 135

Chinese Laborers and the Push Eastward 140

The Southern Pacific Railroad and the American West 142

Pacific Profile: Seafaring Journalist Charles Nordhoff 146

Transpacific Steamers 147

Depression and the Anti‐Chinese Movement 148

The Constitution of 1879 152

Halting Chinese Immigration 152

Summary 153

Review Questions 154

Further Reading 155

7 Eldorado’s Economic and Cultural Growth 157

Timeline 157

Water, Land, and Rural Development 159

Commercial Agriculture 161

Transpacific Connections: Planting California Trees in New Zealand 162

Black and White Gold 165

Interurban Railways and Southern California’s Rise 167

California’s Maritime Economy 170

Pacific Profile: David Laamea Kalakaua, King of Hawai’i and Visitor 175

California and the Spanish–American–Cuban–Filipino War 175

A Cosmopolitan Culture 177

Summary 182

Review Questions 183

Further Reading 183

8 Anti‐Railroad Politics, Municipal Graft, and Labor Struggles 186

Timeline 186

The Battle of Mussel Slough 187

An Angry Widow Sues: The Colton Letters 189

Pacific Gateway: Locating a Harbor in Los Angeles 190

Pacific Profile: Phineas Banning, Port of Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Promoter 192

Debt Dodging Denounced 192

The Southern Pacific Political Machine 194

The “Queen City of the Pacific:” Boss Ruef ’s San Francisco 195

Foiled Reform: The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Graft Trials 197

Maritime and Factory Labor 200

Field Work and the Wheatland Riot 205

Summary 207

Review Questions 208

Further Reading 209

9 Governor Hiram Johnson and Pacific‐Oriented Progressivism 211

Timeline 212

The Beginnings of Reform 213

An “Aggressive Advocate” and the 1910 Election 215

Regulating the Economy 217

Democratizing Politics, Subsidizing Education 219

Women’s Suffrage and Public Morals 220

Water: Cities in a State of Thirst 223

Pacific Profile: George Freeth, Southern California Surfer Extraordinaire 226

San Francisco, Transpacific Racial Tensions, and Angel Island 227

African Americans, Hispanics and Filipinos, Sikhs, and Indians 230

Maritime Trade and the Panama Pacific Exposition 233

The Twilight of Progressivism 234

Summary 236

Review Questions 237

Further Reading 237

10 Good Times and Bad in a Pacific Rim Super State 239

Timeline 239

Mass Entertainment: Hollywood Movies, Pacific Fun Zones, and the Olympics 240

Extending California’s Water Infrastructure 243

Agribusiness and Banking 246

The 1920s Oil Boom 248

Maritime Enterprises 249

Transportation: Automobiles and Airplanes 251

Pacific Profile: Charles Kingsford‐Smith’s Transpacific Flight 253

Conservatism Restored 253

Religious Awakenings and Developments 255

Freedom‐Minded and Other Women 256

The Great Depression: Strikes and Panaceas 257

Cultural Expression of a High Order 261

Summary 264

Review Questions 265

Further Reading 265

11 America’s Pacific Bulwark: World War II and Its Aftermath 268

Timeline 268

Military Installations: Forts, Naval Bases, and Airfields 270

The Wages of War: Shipyards, Aircraft Plants, and Universities 271

Opportunities and Prejudice: Women and Minorities 275

Japanese Imprisonment 279

Pacific Profile: Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Manzanar Inmate and Writer 282

Tinsel Town Goes to War 283

The Postwar Military‐Industrial Complex and International Relations 285

Population Growth, Housing, and Discrimination 287

Green Gold: Agribusiness and Labor 289

Governor Earl Warren: Progressive Republican 291

Richard Nixon and the Anti‐Communist Crusade 292

Summary 294

Review Questions 295

Further Reading 295

12 Pacific‐Edge Liberalism at High Tide 297

Timeline 298

Prosperity, Suburbanization, and Consumerism 299

Entertainment Media, Sports, and Amusement Parks 302

The San Francisco Renaissance and the Arts 305

Politics: Goodwin Knight, Pat Brown, and Reforming Government Operations 307

Enhancing the Pacific Super State: Water, Transit, and Universities 309

Students in Dissent, Campuses in Revolt 312

Pacific Profile: S.I. Hayakawa, San Francisco State College President 315

Minorities and Women 316

Coastal Counterculture in the 1960s 320

Summary 322

Review Questions 323

Further Reading 324

13 “Gold Coast” Conservatism and the Politics of Limits 326

Timeline 327

From Ultra‐Right‐Wingers to Mainstream Suburban Warriors 329

Ronald Reagan: The “Cowboy” Governor 331

Governor Jerry Brown: The Zen of Politics and Frugality 334

Crime and Racial Tensions 337

Business and Labor 340

Pacific Profile: Jerry Yang, Co‐founder and Former CEO, Yahoo! Inc. 344

Protecting the Environment and Supplying Energy 344

Governor George Deukmejian’s Right Turn 349

Voter Resentment, Term Limits, and Wedge Politics 350

Governor Pete Wilson and a Roller‐Coaster Economy 352

Architecture and Fine Arts, Sports, and Entertainment 354

Summary 357

Review Questions 358

Further Reading 358

14 The Ongoing Pacific Shift 361

Timeline 362

Immigration, Diversity, and the Politics of Multiculturalism 364

Transpacific Connections: California and Vietnam 366

Pacific Profile: Novelist Isabel Allende 371

Governor Gray Davis: An Able Moderate under Fire 372

The “Governator”: Arnold Schwarzenegger 373

Infrastructure Matters: Schools, Transportation, Health Care, and Prisons 376

The High‐Stakes Gubernatorial Election of 2010 379

Governor Brown 2.0 and California’s Comeback 380

An Economic and Political Colossus 382

The Environment and Energy: Challenges and Responses 391

The Pacific, the U.S. Military, and California 396

California’s 2018 Blue Wave Election and 2019 Promise 397

Still the Pacific Eldorado 399

Summary 399

Review Questions 401

Further Reading 401

Appendix: Governors of California, 1768–2019 404

Index 407