By Paul McClure
This book purports to be a “folk history” but is, in fact, a detailed history of the major players in early California history from Juan Cabrillo to Crawford Teague, founder of the town of San Dimas. There is also detailed discussion concerning Native Americans who lived in southern California before the arrival of Europeans. The format consists of a brief narrative followed by a poetic summary of the topic covered and a cartoon highlighting an event or circumstance in the previous narrative. The chapter ends with citations of source material. The narratives read like a Wikipedia entries and, indeed, the author cites some Wikipedia entries. The poetry is pedestrian with enough treacly political correctness to make them both annoying and totally unnecessary. The cartoons are just plain awful with an intellectual panache of a junior high schooler.
This volume, covering the Settlement Years from 1542 through 1878, is the first of three volumes. The next two volumes will cover the Citrus Years and the Subdivision Years. The book divides the Settlement Years into five Eras: Discovery, Mission, Rancho, Statehood and Valley. Each section of the book provides a detailed history, listing the important players in each era. It does, however, read like a textbook.
The Discovery Era covers Juan Cabrillo, Sir Francis Drake, Sebastian Vizcaino and Gaspar de Portola. Most early explorations were by sea along the treacherous coast of California. The Portola Expedition was the first overland penetration of California by Spain, which was concerned with encroachment by Russia and England. Spain determined that it needed to populate the northern provinces of New Spain.
The Mission Era covers Father Junipero Serra, Juan Bautista de Anza and Jedediah Smith. These men laid down the foundation of what became Spanish California. Their efforts were not enough to prevent encroachment by Americans, led by traders and then by settlers.
The Rancho Era covers Ygnacio Palomares, Rowland and Workman, Henry Dalton, Olive Oatman and Ricardo Vejar. These men settled the area after Mexico won its independence from Spain. They owned the prominent ranchos of southern California.
The Statehood Era covers John C. Fremont who spearheaded the effort to survey and conquer the land for American settlement. Fremont was a popular pioneer who later fell out of favor and was courtmartialed by the Army.
The Valley Era covers the development of the valleys into townships populated by farmers, merchants and craftsmen. The first layer of civilization was the establishment of schools and churches providing for education and spiritual needs.
Overall, the book is a fine read for anyone interested in the history of southern California.
