Frontier, gold rush, and the trails west.
3 markers in this collection.
Promontory, UT · est. 1957
Two railroads — one built east from California largely by Chinese laborers, the other west across the plains — joined rails at Promontory. The country could now be crossed in days instead of months.
Coloma, CA · est. 1949
Marshall's discovery drew some 300,000 'forty-niners' to California within a few years, reshaping the West, accelerating statehood, and devastating Native communities.
San Antonio, TX · est. 1936
For 13 days a small garrison held the former mission against a far larger Mexican force. Their deaths rallied Texas; weeks later Sam Houston's army won independence at San Jacinto.