California The Golden State : retailer Rock Island Line Travel Guide by John Sebastian

California The Golden State : John Sebastian
c. 1906 / Paperback / Rare Advertisement
Published by Rock Island Lines
Measures : 8" tall x 5 1/2" wide x 1/4" thick.

This is a rare travel guide that refers to the Rock Island Railroad in the early 1900 as it adventures accross California in the famous era of dining cars and long scenic railroad travel.

About California: James Marshall was camped on the American River at Coloma, near Sacramento. He and his crew were building a saw mill for a fellow named John Sutter. On the morning of January 24, 1848, while making adjustments to the millrace, he found a few small nuggets of gold.

Nine days later, the Mexican-American war was over. Mexico gave up the state of California with the Treaty of Guadalupe and California became a U.S. territory.
Sam Brannan, a young newspaper man in San Francisco began to hear rumors of gold at Sutter's Mill and decided to go find out for himself. Indeed, he found the place swarming with prospectors, some quite wealthy. It is said that, being an industrious man, Sam settled at Morman Island on the American River and began to collect "the Lord's tithes"(10% of their gold) from the miners who passed by.
On September 9, 1850, the United States Congress hesitatingly voted to admit another free state to retailer the union. It was called California.