Across the Continent: the Frank Leslie Transcontinental Excursion, 1878; engraving; courtesy the Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley. This picture shows a train rounding the bend as Chinese workers look on near the site of Sutter's Mill, Coloma, California. 

They Came in Droves

People from around the globe came to California in droves. Following the discovery of gold in 1848, fortune seekers from China, Chile, Mexico, Australia, France, and many other nations journeyed to the goldfields.

After the completion of the railroad in 1869, some 70,000 passengers arrived on the West Coast every year. In 1886, the second transcontinental railroad, the Santa Fe line, was completed.

Price wars and advertising that featured romantic images of California drew tens of thousands of migrants to Southern California. Unlike the immigrant laborers who came to work on the railroad, many of these settlers were wealthy and had been attracted by accounts of the region's pleasant climate.

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