FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2022-161 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (September 9, 2022) – In Issue 2022-161 of Steve Kovacs Fun with Maps, we head west to celebrate the anniversary of another State in our union.

California Dreamin’

The 31st State entered the Union on September 9, 1850.  California.

A lot happened around that time – importantly, the Mexican-American war ended and the 1949 gold rush was still in full swing.  Both fueled the fast tracking California’s admission to the US as a state.

California had a rather small population in 1850 per the census that year at under 93,000 people.  I don’t think many of the miners or Native Americans were counted.

Since then, people flocked to this state, with not much regard to or taxing the environment surrounding them.  So over half of the current nearly 40 million residents live in arid and semi-arid environments with water needing to be transported in, many live on earthquake prone areas and so on. 

With that said, the California dream is well and alive.  

In many ways some regard life in California as a caricature, so here is White’s humorous pictorial map of California when it had only about 6 million residents, 1938.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Antique Maps & Fun Facts here on Loveland Beacon.