They Came by Way of Panama - California History for the Young Reader

The Land Known as Alta California

The Conquered Province

Gold Discovered in California

They Came by Way of Panama

They Came Around the Horn

They Came Overland by Train

The Story Ends Where it Began:
Along El Camino Real

Many of those coming to California stayed on. San Francisco became a great metropolis. The sleepy little village of Los Angeles began to grow. The cattle drives to the gold country brought high prices. Rancheros with their new-found wealth had money to spend. People continued to come to California.

Andrew Weinshank, a young veteran of the war against Mexico brought his family to California. He chose this route, though more expensive than by going around the horn, for it was a shorter, less hazardous way to come. They landed at Chagres on the Gulf of Mexico. They traveled by river, then through the tropical jungle by donkey to the City of Panama. There Andrew booked passage for his family to continue on to the thriving metropolis of San Francisco.

The Panama crossing was taken from material from Drifting About. This story is about a young actor who made the crossing overland.

It also includes material from Harris Newmarks Sixty Years in Southern California, a story about the people and of the events that took place in early Los Angeles.

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ISBN 0-87062-240-4