California Essay, Research Paper

California was the 31st state, which received it?sstatehood on Sept. 9, 1850 , and nickname is ?the Golden State.?The bird is the California Valley Quail; the flower is the goldenpoppy; the tree is the California Redwood; and the state motto is?Eureka (I have Found It).

There are many sights to see in the state of California.Besides all the big metropolitan cities, there is the Golden GateBridge, Chinatown, and Fisherman?s Wharf in San Francisco.Also there is the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Yosemite and SequoiaNational Park, and any of the mountains in the northern part of thestate. In addition to that, you can see Disneyland and thecountless numbers of television and movie studios in Hollywood.Another hotspot is the beautiful Lake Tahoe, which bordersNevada.

California is the most populated state and is the mostdense , of the fifty states, at an average of 151 persons persquare-mile. The majority of California?s persons are white, butthere is a notable number of blacks, Hispanics, and Japanese &Chinese Americans. About 95% of it?s population is metropolitan,or urban, so about 5% is rural. Pretty much all of the ruralpopulation is ranches or farmers.

California is very rich in minerals. They include crudepetroleum, natural gas, boron, tungsten, sand and gravel,asbestos, copper, feldspar, iron ore, mercury, potash, rock salt,soda ash, sulfur, uranium, zinc, and gold.

On Jan. 24, 1848, gold was found at Sutter?s Mill. Thenews of the find spread quickly. Before long, the Gold Rush wasunder way, bringing thousands of ?forty-niners? to stake theirclaims in northern California. Gold production peaked in 1852but from there on, declined rapidly.

Manufacturing brought in an estimated $40.5 billion ayear in the mid-?70s. A large amount of it comes from fruits &vegetables, processed meat, canned fish, and beverages like wineand fruit juice. Most of the above come from or near theworld-famous Napa Valley. Other goods made in California aresteel, textiles and clothing, refined petroleum, metal, wood,plastics, chemicals, and printed materials.

California?s climate varies in different regions becauseof the great changes in topography and wide latitudinal range.Most parts of the state has two distinct seasons. A rainy, whichlasts from October to April, and a dry period, May to September.Annual precipitation is greatest in the north, especially near thePacific Coast, which gets around 80 in. dumped on them, whileLos Angeles gets 15 in. and San Diego gets only 10 in. The desertgets even less precipitation.

Temperatures along the coast are mild with smallvariations between the warmest and coolest months. The averagerecorded temperatures in January range from 50 F in SanFrancisco, 56 F in Los Angeles, and the July temps are 72 F forLos Angeles, and a very comfortable 59 F in San Francisco. TheCentral Valley usually has a mild climate, but other parts of thearea are either hotter like Death Valley and the Mojave Desert, orcolder like the peaks of the Sierra Nevada.

Earthquakes are quite common in California. Anearthquake is the sudden shaking of the ground that occurs whenmasses of rock change position below the Earth?s surface.Earthquakes, called tremblors by scientists, happen almostcontinuously. Fortunately, big earthquakes can be monitored bysensitive instruments called seismographs. Others that are felt arejust small tremors or aftershocks. Earthquakes can be greatdestructers which produce such tragic effects as destroyed cities,broken dams, mud slides, tsunamis, and volcano eruptions. A verylarge earthquake usually rises at least once every year in somepart of the world. All of California?s earthquakes are from the SanAndreas Fault, which is a major fracture in the Earth?s crust at themutual boundary of two of the major plates that make up theEarth?s crust. The fault is about 50 miles inland of the Californiacoast from southern California north to San Francisco, where itcontinues out 200 more miles before heading out to sea. A famousearthquake in San Francisco was in 1906. There were 700 deaths,many injured and it jumped up to 8.3 out of 10 on the RichterMagnitude Scale. In 1989, during the World Series which saw theOakland Athletics -vs.- San Francisco Giants game interrupted byan earthquake of 7.1 on the Richter Scale, and 70 deaths.

Sacramento is the capital city of California. It is themarketing and manufacturing center for the northern part of thegreat Central Valley. This rich agricultural valley is watered bythe Sacramento River. To the East of the city rises then SierraNevada, a mountain wall that is always snowcapped. To the westare the Coast Ranges. The gold rush helped put this beautifullyplaced city on the map.

In the early 1980s the golden-domed State Capital inthe heart of the city was restored to its turn-of-the-century look. Itrises in a 40-acre park that has varieties of trees and shrubs fromall parts of the world. The Old Sacramento Historic District alongthe river has a collection of restored buildings dating from 1849to 1870, the period of the Pony Express and the gold rush.

Thousands of people work in the city?s governmentoffices and military installations. A modern ship canal, completedin 1963, made the city a deepwater port by linking it with SanFrancisco Bay. Mather and Mc Clellan Air Force bases and anArmy depot are close by.

The city of Sacramento has grown and redeveloped alot in the 1970s and 1980s, when its population grew by nearly20%. A new trolley system opened in the city in 1987. Sacramentohas a council-manager form of government. Population in the cityin 1990 was 369,365; and metropolitan area was 1,481,102.

With the spread of irrigation, the valley became one ofthe major truck-farm areas of the United States. The city is now aleader in fruit and vegetable canning, freezing and shipping.Among the chief products of the surrounding area are beef cattle,rice, dairy products, peaches, prunes, wheat and vegetables.Tours are given of the California Almond Growers Exchange inSacramento. The printing and aerospace industries are alsoeconomic mainstays of the city.

In 1839, while California was ruled by Mexico, Capt.A. Sutter sailed up the Sacramento River from San Francisco Bay.He set up a colony on the present location of Sacramento. Henamed it New Switzerland after his native homeland. Two yearslater he built a fort to protect his Mexican land grant, which hasbeen restored as a museum.