SERIES: Pictorial History of the United States and Territories
SCENES: The Old Mission; Sir Francis Drake on the Coast in 1579; The Big Trees; The Early Miners.
SIZE: 5" x 3"
DATE: 1892
LITHOGRAPHER: Donaldson Brothers, N.Y.
CONDITION: Just good, I'd say. This card is lightly soiled with slightly worn edges and rounded corners. There's a small crease at the upper right corner, and a larger one across the lower left. There are two small tears (about 1/8" each) near the center of the bottom edge, and the piece between them is sharply creased. There's a mild thumb bend at the right center, with a tiny tear in the right margin. (Please see scans.)
MULTIPLE ITEM SHIPPING DISCOUNT: I will ship up to 4 cards for the single base shipping charge shown. For purchases of more than 4 cards, the shipping charge will increase by just a small increment for every 4 additional cards.
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REVERSE TEXT: CALIFORNIA.
IN 1513 Vasco Nuñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and discovered the Pacific Ocean. In 1534 Mendoza and Grijalva, two Spanish officers, discovered Lower California. The Gulf of California was explored by Cortez. Sir Francis Drake in 1579 sailed along the Pacific Coast on one of his plundering and devastating expeditions.
Missions were established in 1697 by the Jesuit padres, but they were replaced by King Charles III. with Franciscans, and they in turn were supplanted by the Dominicans; then they withdrew to Upper California and there erected more than a score of missions among the Indians. The founder of these was Father Junipero Serra, who established the mission of San Diego in 1769.
California was ceded to the United States in 1848 after two years' war, and on January 24th of the same year a piece of native gold was found in a mill race by a workman named Marshall on the property of Colonel Sutter, a Swiss settler, at Coloma. Dreamy pastoral life was over, and by the close of the year miners in search of gold were at work on the foothills from the Tuolumne to Feather River. Next year, 100,000 men crossed the plains or the Isthmus of Panama, or rounded Cape Horn, for the Eldorado.
California was admitted into the Union in 1850. The yield of gold has gradually declined of late years, but in its place has arisen great industries in wheat, wool, wine and fruit. The State is next in extent to Texas.
