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A World Transformed
Firsthand Accounts of California Before the Gold Rush

Edited with Introduction by Joshua Paddison
Trade paper, 320 pages (6 x 9), with b&w artwork, line drawings, maps, bibliography, index
ISBN:1-890771-13-9, $18.95

Although it is often thought that modern California, like the goddess Minerva, was born full-formed after the discovery of gold in 1848, this important collection of writing illustrates that its modern roots go back almost a century earlier. In A World Transformed, the impressions of early explorers, missionaries, and sea captains combine to provide a remarkable and multifaceted picture of a land in transition.

Strikingly honest and insightful, the pieces span the rise and fall of Spanish California, its brief Mexican period, and the Anglo infiltration and eventual conquest. From the first Spanish missionaries who marveled wide-eyed, in wonder and fear, at the idyllic landscape and bewildering residents to the Bostonian immigrants who populated Yerba Buena (later known as San Francisco) on the cusp of the gold rush, these writers chronicle firsthand California's amazing transformation. Their lively accounts range from descriptions of its complex Indian cultures to the founding of the first missions; from the rise of the coast's hide-and-tallow trade to the emergence of the port of Yerba Buena.

Together, these little-known writings provide a fascinating look at the seeds planted in pre-gold rush California that gave rise to the state we know today.

Table of Contents

Part I: Early Explorations

Juan Crespi: Account of the "Sacred Expedition," 1769

Vicente Santa Maria: Journal of the first Spanish ship to enter San Francisco Bay, 1775

Francisco Palou: Account of the founding of Mission Dolores, 1776

Part II: Life Under Spanish Control

George Vancouver: from A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, 1792

Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov and Georg von Langsdorff: The Rezanov Voyage, 1806

Adelbert von Chamisso: from A Voyage Around the World, 1816

Part III: Picturing a World Transformed

Part IV: Mexican Control, Yankee Infiltration and Conquest

Frederick William Beechey: from Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait, 1826

Richard Henry Dana, Jr.: from Two Years Before the Mast, 1835-36

Sir George Simpson: from An Overland Journey Around the World, 1841-42

Edwin Bryant: from What I Saw in California, 1846

Edward Kemble: Reminiscences of early San Francisco, 1847-48

Author Biography:

Joshua Paddison is a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has worked as a writer or historical consultant for a variety of institutions, including the National Park Service, the California Historical Society, the California Council for the Humanities, and San Francisco State University. His research interest is the social history of California and the American West.

Reviews:

"Enthralling... [a] well-edited, attractive volume."—San Franciso Chronicle