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The biggest jump by percent was 1850-1860, 221%. I was wondering if any knew what brought that many people into the county? Was it just that California was a new state, so people came in looking for land?
1880-1890 also had a big jump of 200%. What was happening to cause this?
Any other early California history fans here? There are a fair number of books on 20th century Los Angeles, but rather less on the 19th century.
The biggest jump by percent was 1850-1860, 221%. I was wondering if any knew what brought that many people into the county? Was it just that California was a new state, so people came in looking for land?
1880-1890 also had a big jump of 200%. What was happening to cause this?
Any other early California history fans here? There are a fair number of books on 20th century Los Angeles, but rather less on the 19th century.
It might require a subscription to see them on-line, but the two federal censuses from that period would be a gold mine of info.
1850-1860: In July 1861 rebels claimed the Arizona Territory for the Confederacy and there was the intention of not only making California a slave state, but the conquest of the gold fields in northern CA was on the agenda. Bet you didn't know the Union built a military fort in SoCal--Drum Barracks. Check it out: Home
1880-1890: Also check out the Huntington Museum. Collis Huntington built the Southern Pacific Railway that eventually linked SoCal to the rest of the US. He was a ruthless robber baron, one of the worst actually, but you'll never hear that at the museum. His mansion is also there to tour: Collis P. Huntington
The biggest jump by percent was 1850-1860, 221%. I was wondering if any knew what brought that many people into the county? Was it just that California was a new state, so people came in looking for land?
Probably the Gold Rush. The early California gold miners were called "Forty-Niners" because they arrived in the state in 1849 (one year before the census). These people were probably passing through LA on the way to the gold fields and were counted by the census takers. --Of course, everything about California was greatly exaggerated (same as today ). Few people actually found any gold.
BTW, the LA census records from 1850 are a part of my family tree. I had relatives who moved from Iowa to LA in 1850 (for the gold rush). By 1860, they were back in Iowa after they didn't find any gold.
Part of it could have been from the fact they expanded the boundaries if the city. Places that were on the outskirts became part of Los Angeles. There was a real estate boom. There was also job growth. L.A. supplied foodstuffs and goods for the miners swarming Gold Country.
Edit: I looked at Wikipedia to double check my memory from fourth grade history. Someone slipped "Lakers Suck" in a paragraph title in the Wiki article on the history of L.A. Lol...must be a Clippers fan.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 10-28-2015 at 01:27 PM..
The Gold Rush in the 1850s was in the northern and central Sierra, well away from California. Most of the migration to California at that time was to San Francisco and some nearby coastal cities, a few valley towns and farms to the east and the Sierra east of those. 221% isn't as huge of a jump as it sounds given the starting population was tiny.
San Francisco boomed much faster; it went from 1,000 people to 25,000 in one year (1848 to 1849). By 1860, it had 57,000 people.
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). Few people actually found any gold. 
