The Thirty-First State

. On September 9, 1850, California became the thirty-first state, after long debate. The debate was about whether California should have slaves or not. So how did so many people end up in California?
. On a January morning in the year of 1848, W. Marshall saw gold in a stream. Word spread and the gold rush began. People from all over the world came to find gold. Most of the people came in 1849. These people, also known as miners, were called the forty-niners, because they started their journey in 1849. Most of the forty-niners overloaded their wagons and wore out the animals that pulled their wagons. Less than four years after 1848 people started to suffer and leave. Because the miners were suffering from hunger and because prices were high, the forty-niners had left the mines by the mid-1850s.
. The state motto is "Eureka", a Greek word for "I found it." It was probably intended for the discovery of gold during the gold rush. In 1957 attempts were made to establish "In G-d We Trust", but in 1963 "Eureka" was made the official state motto.
. "The Golden State" has long been a popular designation for California. In 1968, "The Golden State" became the official state nickname. This is a particularly appropriate nickname since California’s modern development can be traced back to the discovery of gold and fields of golden poppies, the state flower, can be seen in spring throughout the state.
. We live in a very unique place in California. We have snow-topped mountains right next to desert. In California, there are mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers, a bay, and deserts. California’s agriculture provides the U.S.A. with most of the fruit and vegetables they need. California’s also famous worldwide for its wine. California is very agricultural, but the Silicon Valley is very high tech. Almost every home has at least one computer.
. As of January, 2000, the population of California is 34.3 million and it’s growing quickly.

The Drawings I made for the project,

state flower-California Poppy; state bird-Quail; state tree-Redwood; state animal-Bear







































[ This was really the first research type paper I ever had to write. It was a warm-up for the years to come and without it, I would have been flailing in a dark abyss during my Massachusetts report the following year (not part of this portfolio) and I would probably still be flailing wildly now because this was a big intro to research reports (just as the Catfish and Mandala essay was an intro to college essays).]