HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 69 



tage and from patriotic motives, they were eager to 

 lend their assistance toward that end, until war dem- 

 onstrated its mastery and California was ceded to 

 the United States by Mexico in a treaty of peace, 

 which closed a war between the two countries, in 

 February 1848, the month following the gold dis- 

 covery by Marshall at Coloma, in the Sierra Nevada 

 foothills, about fifty miles from Sacramento. 



The interest which in this connection pertains to 

 the gold discovery centers in the character and volume 

 of the population it brought to California, the crea- 

 tion of its statehood and the foundation thus laid 

 for the development of agriculture and rural life. 

 Of the relations of agriculture and mining as the 

 two greatest industries of the State, some considera- 

 tion will be undertaken later in the chapter. At 

 this time concern is rather with mining as an agency 

 in the peopling of California and as an influence in 

 determining the character of citizenship. 



The first effect of the announcement of the gold 

 discovery was the practical depopulation of the few 

 old Spanish towns in the central part of the State 

 and the several settlements and farms which the 

 Americans had established during the previous 

 decade. However,, this unsettled only a few thousand 

 in the aggregate for they comprised the population 

 then within reach. The world-wide reports that fol- 

 lowed the local exodus to the mines induced a rush 

 to California which is spoken of as the swiftest and 

 greatest movement of people known to history, 

 although California had neither regular sailings on 



