Wild West

The new 'West' in 1850 means California, where gold had just been discovered. The lure of instant wealth attracts fortune-hunters by the tens of thousands.

San Francisco is the center of activity. The transcontinental railroad does not yet connect it to the existing frontier in Kansas and Nebraska, but soon will.


	San Francisco, 1850 San Francisco at the start of the Gold Rush, before the hills become crowded with houses.



	San Francisco Before and after the Rush


	Southern California Far from the gold fields, southern California is still sleeping.



→ Even as most settlers continue to develop America's Midwestern heartland, the Pacific coast is acquiring its own distinctive character, effectively cut off from the rest of the country