From the 1880-1990's, even now, California was all about becoming the number one state. Everything became more important than the last topic; Education, gold, art, architecture, railroad, movies, population, segregation, politics, oligarchy, bagmen, earthquakes, and last but not least – water. Land owners were the people who looked to be in charge as well as the railroads and corporations when it all entered the 1880s. These modern times that people were coming into weren't as simple as they used to be; politics and money were now ruling the American life style; 'a generation of young miners had become aged pioneers' (Starr 135).
If California wanted to be the all-star state of the U.S, then it needed two main ingredients; water and inhabitants. 'Great Central Valley is itself a semiarid steppe, with soil baked by the sun to such hardness that it frequently had to be broken by dynamite' (Starr 167). The legislature Drainage Act passed in 1878, allowing California to become inhabitable, and was now one step closer to a mega state. Engineers were given $100,000 for drainage, studies, and irrigation which, with the help of William Hammond, were thoughtfully planned out. It was decided that a gravity fed canal would be built, and after ten years of talk, was finally finished and was opened on May 14th, 1901. This action allowed water to flow from the Colorado River into the Salton Sink, now named Imperial Valley, creating a huge reservoir for people to draw from.
California came to a decision that it needed three major developments. First development would be the all important railroad. Train tracks criss crossed throughout America, allowing box cars to import every day and luxury items from other states and when the refrigerated rail car came to be it was now possible to transport fresh produce without it spoiling. The railroad 'reached San Bernardino in 1885, Los Angeles in 1887, and San Diego in 1888' (Starr 146). Due to this, property values and taxes rose to compensate the cost. Private railroad cars permitted tourists to travel in relative comfort and in less time. From the influx of tourists, California; mainly Santa Barbra, San Diego, and Pasadena were the biggest destination points because of the sunny weather. The natural blue skies and clean air drew unhealthy people. Many individuals had health risks from consumption of alcohol and in a lot of cases the weather did help them. As a result, Hotels, motels, and Inns were built to accommodate and see to the tourists every need. 'A number of Southern California communities can trace their origins to tourism and to the great hotels' (Starr 148).
Books on wealth, health, and residencies of California were sold in abundance, encouraging middle class families to settle in California so they could live a better life. Hellen Hunt Jackson wrote Ramona in 1884, portraying California as a romanticized state with a Spanish feel, 'anchoring it in a mythic time and place (Starr 148), 'this perception of Southern California as Spanish Colonial daydream of Arcadia helped establish an expanded metaphor of Mediterraneanism' (Starr 148). Magazines, articles, and books described what California was like in the 1890s; often comparing it to 'the gritty practicality of the industrialized East' (Starr 149). California was full of 'genteel tradition, prizing the arts and literature of the region' (Starr 149-150).
The second development for California was all about achieving the region but was unsuccessful due to an Earthquake in San Francisco. The 1890s introduced artists, new Mediterranean and Spanish style buildings, football, parades, vendors, shows, farmer markets, and clubs. Southern California rarely saw snow in January and to celebrate this fact a New Year's Day parade full of 'chariots and floral floats' (Starr 152) were shown off on the streets of Pasadena in 1890. A few years later in 1902 'a collegiate football game was added to the program' (Starr 152). This yearly event was dubbed the Tournament of Roses parade. As of 1923 the Rose Bowl stadium was erected by Myron Hunt and the gridiron game of the New Year would be played there till this day. Artists poured into California wanting to paint the 'new American landscape' (Starr 152). Murals and canvasses were slathered in paint trying to convey the Land of the Sun through Impressionism and Postimpressionism art.
In the late 1890s miners were still finding gold. Several notable names like Klondike were going full force but it was now time for people to turn their attention to education. Early Childhood Education was estimating at two hundred and thirty-five kindergartens by 1894, allowing toddler age children to begin school within a free public system, 'to develop self-esteem at an early age combined with further education' (Starr 158). In Stanford, students were encouraged to 'practice high thinking and strenuous life' (Starr 158). Berkeley students were 'to pursue an equally high minded, evolution friendly theism whose matrix and primary symbol was California as natural place' (Starr 157).
The oligarchy in San Francisco started talking about reform and corruption. A lot of contracts were being dealt with via backroom talks, shady deals, and 'envelopes stuffed with cash' (Starr 160). A few oligarchy people were actually interested in reform and were pleased to see Abe Ruef go to prison on charges of corruption. He was let out after serving four years and seven months instead of the full fourteen years. Abe Ruef was considered a bagman and after he left prison he went back to his life and even thrived in real estate. He probably thought his complications were done with, but they were only starting when Ruef was kidnapped and 'submitted to psychological torture' (Starr 161) by the chief investigator William J. Burns.
Being woken up by an 8.3 earthquake at five o'clock on April 18, 1906 was disturbing to say the least. 'North American tectonic plates sprang over twenty-one feet past each other along the 290 miles of the San Andreas fault' (Starr 162). The wave sped 7,000 miles per hour throughout California that originated in San Francisco. Countless buildings collapsed, including City Hall, because they weren't reinforced for earthquakes. Water mains broke, houses weren't safe for habitation, fires escalated, and it was thought that martial law was enacted when the city was taken over by army troops. An estimation of three hundred died but later it came out that that number 'was increased tenfold by later researchers' (Starr 163). The second development of California had ended the 'High Provincial years of regional achievement and contentment' (Starr 164).
The third development was to construct a mega state. Infrastructure projects boomed in the 1880s. Around this time land acts were the most popular. Suddenly knowing where property lines lay seemed a big deal and if the soil was prosperous then farms could grow much needed produce for the increasing population. The Wright Act of 1887 set the precedence for 'legal and political framework for hundreds of irrigation districts' (Starr 168) which meant previous dry land could now turn Southern California into 'an agricultural empire' (Starr 168). When a second canal was illegally constructed by the California Development Company 'from the western bank of the Colorado River across northern Mexico into the Imperial Valley. Done illegally and on the cheap' (Starr 170) and this turned horribly wrong when the Valley was over run by raging water. In the spring of 1905 the Colorado River levels were to the extreme and it ended up overwhelming the second canal. 'Only civil engineers capable were the Southern Pacific' (Starr 171) railroad and took seven tries before they were able to 'staunch the flooding by pouring 2,500 of rock' to create an 8-foot-high levee. As thanks to Southern Pacific the president of the U.S said the government would compensate but Congress refused to pay so Southern Pacific took over California Development Company; which was bankrupt.
The famous Aqueduct that runs through California to Los Angeles took six years to construct, spanning 235 miles. It finally 'arrived on the morning of Wednesday, November 5, 1913' (Starr 172) in the San Fernando Valley. Lots of people brought their cups to the spillway so they could take a drink. Water had finally come to California in abundance. Over the course of the 1920s-1930s dams, reservoirs, pipelines, hydroelectric power plant, and tunnels were built to transport water to those in need over California. By 1930 Los Angeles' population was 'the fifth largest city in the nation' (Starr 172)and by the 1940s California in all was reaching 6.9 million. The result of all building infrastructure caused flourishing valley's to be filled with water and Owens Valley River was siphoned off for Los Angeles' use instead, leaving it a dry husk of a once fertile land.
Nine tenths of the population growth in Los Angeles was contributed by whites of European descent and from the Midwest. Next came Japanese, Mexicans, and African Americans who had children, but by the early 1930s the federal government did an ethnic cleanse. They deported millions of Mexicans back to Mexico and foretold what would happen to the Japanese in the 1940s. At this time the Great Depression was slow to hit California because of how the 'economy was diversified' (Starr 193), 'hence why it could not be crippled' (Starr 193) unlike the Northeastern states. The Great Depression created instability; job loss, riots, wage drop, and horrible tempers to rise. This is how the Red Scare came to be. Segregation of African Americans was becoming apparent as well, jobs weren't in abundance, crude oil was being bought and sold, automobiles sales were high, roads were being constructed, and farm land became important. Seasonal workers lived in horrible conditions all over California and so it sparked a movements of worker Unions. Something had to be done for better equality in the workforce. The Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (CAWIU) was originated by the Trade Union Unity League. They gather hundreds of individuals of multiple diversities and they went out on strike in the Imperial Valley. Local Sheriffs rounded them up, creating Red Scare, and 'nine union leaders were convicted of criminal syndicalism' (Starr 205). Many strikes happened over the years but the most memorable one was the cotton strike of 1933. Violent vigilantes showed up at a strike and shots were fired, two people died while eight others were wounded.
Blood Thursday happened on July 5, 1934 where strikers and police formed lines across from each other, it ended with lots of people hurt and ten days later a general strike shut down the city. A 'vote of 191 to 174 was cast to end the strike and submit the dispute to the National Longshoremen's Board for arbitration' (Starr 210). When Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 California went into panic mode and any Japanese Americans were accused. 'President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 allowing the War Department to remove suspicious people from military areas' (Starr 226). In March 1942 relocation camps were opened and all Japanese aliens and Japanese Americans were rounded up and held for the next three years.
During World War II everyone in California felt the difficulties between classes, gender, and race which divided society. While the men were away at war the woman found a new sense of purpose: the work force. Numerous women could now be found in factories 'as they mastered the intricacies of airplane manufacture' (Starr 236) in 1944. The returning vets from the war gave a boom in the population that lead 'California into becoming the most populous state in the nation' (Starr 237) by 1962.
From the 1960s to the 1990s the world was changing rapidly. Vaccines were suddenly very important for a person's health which was understandable with a growing population. DNA was discovered in 1963 which was a huge breakthrough for science! Modern technology was being created with microprocessors, motherboards, computers, water turbines, and electromagnetic waves for images and sound. Film was suddenly much more interesting, and Hollywood took advantage of the opportunity to have picture with sound and color. June of 1968 came with the news that the beloved Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated. By the 1970s the gay community was converging in San Francisco in substantial number, making others feel uncomfortable and even some outraged. 'Harvey Milk, who was on the Board of Supervisors for Castro and openly gay, was shot by a former police office and firemen' (Starr 331). When he was given a light sentencing the gay community was outraged.
In the 1980s people of California were concerned about water again and wanted a new waterway to be constructed but it didn't pass the vote, so everyone started to go green, saving water and reusing items. Computers and the internet came to the public in 1983, 'representing an evolutionary step forward for the human race' (Starr 267). Once the 1990s came around people were enjoying life, California had water, was populated, politics were involved with every big issue, and demographics were mostly getting along.
The state of California saw a lot happen from the 1880s – 1990s. Water canals gave the state life, people gave it a voice, diversities helped expand cultures, architecture, and agriculture, and the strike workers permitted job conditions to be improved. The railroad connected states and brought tourists and a booming economy to California, Hollywood, books, and artists made everything sparkle, and it was all thanks to the Spanish for discovering California in 1533.
Citation
Starr, Kevin. California: a History. Modern Library, 2015.
Oligarchy: Small group of people with control of a country, organization, or institution.
Bagman: a person who collects or distributes the proceeds of illicit activities.
Red Scare: Rounding up and deporting of hundreds of immigrants, who had radical views, by the federal government and the fear side of it was fed by communists in the U.S after the Russian Revolution.
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