Question: What is the relevance of the section "Island of California?" This section is really about Mexican California, ie, "Baja." Upper California -- the modern American state -- was never part of the myth. This does explain where the name came from, but it conflates two different and distinct regions. American California borrows its name from Mexican California, to which this myth refers, and indeed Baja almost is in island...
There were so many factual errors in the paragraphs about water history, I just deleted them. I'll try to do careful research and write something more sane.
Errors:
- Best farming country in California was not flooded by Colorado River. Hoover Dam did not fix this.
- Yosemite National Park founded in 1890, Hetch Hetchy dammed in 1923. The latter did not cause the Sierra Club to agitate for the former. The Sierra Club's major activity was not trail building.
- I believe the Sierra Club did lobby against the Hetch-Hetchy. Strongly. --Wighson 04:40, 2004 Feb 28 (UTC)
- The California Aqueduct runs from the Sacramento River Delta, not from the Colorado River. The water wars were over Owens Valley water, not Mono Lake. LADWAP stole the water from the creeks that flowed into Mono Lake, not from the Lake itself.
In general, this article looks like it needs some TLC. It's a big mess. -- hike395 06:53, 22 Aug 2003 (UTC)
compromise of 1850
During the negotiations of the Compromise of 1850, was it ever proposed that California be cut in half, along the Missouri Compromise 36'30" line? That would have allowed another northern (free) state and another southern (slave) state to be admitted. Kingturtle 20:59, 1 Dec 2003 (UTC)
- I don't know for sure, but before Henry Clay suggested the Compromise, Californians had already drawn up an anti-slavery constitution. Check out http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist5/caladmit.html] for an article written about this in 1900.
- Cutting a state in half would be a clear violation of the Constitution, since states are not provinces of a central Supreme Government. This would have been an incredibly touchy issue in 1850. It is doubtful that California would have gone for that, had it been negotiated.
- Granted, both Texas and California had modifications made to their territories before admission. But, these only affected borders already in dispute. For this reason, the drawing of California's eastern border away from New Mexico did not bring any controversy; however the reduction of Texas' borders came after considerable protest and was made by Congress in its deal with Texas as a condition to its admission.
- That said, somebody should research the proposed state of Colorado (not the current state), which some settlers of southern California had proposed to create about the time of admission.
- --Wighson 04:40, 2004 Feb 28 (UTC)
Legend has it... A prominent marriage between a leading californio family and an imperial noble almost caused Russian trade to advance into Southern California. The scion from Russia died of disease while crossing Siberia to get a dispensation to marry a Catholic from the Eastern Orthodox Elders. His would-be bride entered a convent after his death. No names of course... but I especially enjoy the use here of 'almost:' 'Almost' history. A good opera libretto? Wetman 07:52, 9 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- This article is a big pile of junk that got moved from the main California article.. It really needs attention, I just don't have the time to spare. -- hike395 23:05, 11 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- I've moved the contents of this page to History of California/Temp, where it will get a major rewrite in the next few days/weeks. Any help would be appriciated. Gentgeen 08:58, 15 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- I didn't know about the Temp, so I just rewrote it -- but I kept some of the blurb on Russia for color. (In fact, Russians did venture far south in trade.) Anyway I had to rewrite it, it was just such a mess. I have incorporated my emendations with the existing changes in the /Temp
- --Wighson 04:40, 2004 Feb 28 (UTC)
Suez Canal?
The article talks about increased links between East and West Coast using the Transcontinental Railroad (correct) and the Suez Canal (incorrent). I think it means the Panama Canal. This should probably be edited...
- It's probibly right, as before the Suez Canal opened it took 9 months to get from New York to San Francisco by boat (compaired to 3 from Canton) through the Drake Passage or the Straight of Magellan, which could only be used during the summer; going through the Suez Canal probibly reduced this to about 5, and the voyage could be undertaken at any time. The Panama Canal wasn't opened until much later than the time the paragraph is talking about. Still, the railroad was a much bigger contributer to California being "atached" to the east than the Suez canal was, so it could be removed. Gentgeen 00:59, 24 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- Oh, forgot to mention that we're rewriting the article on the temp page anyway, so feel free to jump in there. Gentgeen 00:59, 24 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- There is no way it's the Suez Canal. Look on a map -- on a map of Africa. --Wighson 04:40, 2004 Feb 28 (UTC)
- I know precisely where the Suez Canal is. A trip from New York to San Francisco around Cape Horn (South America) took 9 -12 months by sailing ship. Around the Cape of Good Hope (Africa) took 12-15 months. Going through the Suez Canal and all the way around the world took only about 5 months, so the Suez Canal (between Africa and Asia) greatly shortened the time it took to go from one side of the US to the other by sea. Gentgeen
- The circumference of the earth (perfectly straight around, over land and water) is about 25,000 mi, the distance around Cape Horn is about 10,000 mi. I'm not sure I understand.
- --Wighson 10:28, 2004 Feb 28 (UTC)
Moved this paragaph to Talk. Central valley is not "wet". It's not a tropical place.
- Actually it was. Left to nature, the whole thing would flood every hundred years and stay that way for months or a couple of years. As recently as a thousand years ago (or sooner) it was always under water, and some Indian legends recall this. Until the 1970's, there was Lake Tulare, which had been year-round the largest freshwater lake in any state. It was known for malaria. This paragraph was so bad as to be misleading, though. I incorporated this all in my total re-write. --Wighson 04:40, 2004 Feb 28 (UTC)
During this time, the low-lying, wet, and hot Great Central Valley of California remained relatively unpopulated. The lack of frost fostered reservoirs of mosquito-borne disease, notably yellow fever and malaria. The discovery of vector control strategies made large settlements possible in the 20th century. Control of disease vectors such as mosquitos and fleas remains a major duty of local public health organizations.
When looking at a map of California, the southern border does not run straight east to west, as other borders in the western U.S. do. Rather, it runs at an angle from Arizona to just south of San Diego Bay. American claims dating to colonial times and back to Sir Francis Drake, only went as far as south Point Loma — just north of the Bay's mouth. San Diego Bay is the only natural harbor in California south of San Francisco, 500 miles to the north. To claim all of this strategic Bay, the border was slanted to include it. Likewise, New Mexico was never part of any American claim. However, it lay sandwiched strategically between the republics of California and Texas, so it too was included. In an unusual step, the U.S. diplomatic team offered to pay Mexico a handsome sum for the lands already theirs by prior claim and conquest.
- I included the map to show that the southern border runs east-west.
- The Gadsden purchase was for lands west of the Rio Grande, and could have included Baja California but did not to save money. Mexican Cession has a nice map of the Gadsden purchase.
Bravo on the update. jengod 21:53, Mar 3, 2004 (UTC)