A CENTURY OF ASTRONOMY AND GEODESY 



IN CALIFORNIA 



By ERWIN G. GUDDE 



University of California 



Until 1769 California remained a geographical conception. Navigators — with 

 the exception of Francis Drake, all Spanish or in Spanish service — had sailed 

 up and down the coast, but they had come, not for scientific observation, but in 

 search of fabulous rich lands, of booty on the high sea, of harbors in which the 

 Manila galleon could find safety. Their observations of latitude and longitude 

 were completely inadequate and caused cartographers for two centuries to indulge 

 in imaginary geography of the somewhat mythical land, "California." 



In 1769 the land route to California was opened up by the Portola expedi- 

 tion and during the next half-century the Spaniards made California into a 

 Spanish colony. The representatives of Spanish imperialism who created the 

 new province were the officers of the military detachments and the Franciscan 

 fathers. There were among the latter some personalities — Crespi, Garces, Palou 

 — who left their mark upon California history because in the vastness and new- 

 ness of the territory they were the only ones who could read, write, and observe. 

 They lacked, however, the scientific fervor which, in addition to the religious 

 fervor, had distinguished their predecessors on the American continent — the 

 Jesuits. Hence the few astronomical and geodetic data left by these padres are 

 negligible and unimportant. After California became a Mexican province and 

 until the occupation by the United States not even a trace of scientific activity 

 existed in California. 



Whatever scientific work was done before United States scientists began 

 their task was accomplished, not by the Spaniards or Mexicans, but by the for- 

 eign navigators and explorers: La Perouse, Vancouver, Kotzebue, Belcher, 

 Beechey, Wilkes, Fremont. Indeed, Beechey's geodetic and hydrographic work 

 of San Francisco Bay was so accurate that the United States Coast Survey, when 

 it started its work in 1850, allowed the resurvey of the harbor to wait and under- 

 took other tasks which seemed more pressing. 



Real astronomic and geodetic work began with the end of the Mexican War, 

 It was mainly army engineers who began the great task of establishing the 

 boundaries, surveying the land, and examining and evaluating its resources and 

 possibilities. Greatly accelerated was the progress of these tasks when California 

 suddenly moved into the center of world interest after the discovery of gold. 

 Next to gold-seekers, traders, and lawyers (who reaped a rich harvest in con- 

 nection with the disposal of the land grants), the engineers formed the largest 

 contingent of professions that descended upon California. The coast had to be 

 made safe for navigation, base lines had to be established, land grants measured, 



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