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LARGELY because California history already occupied a favored position in the estimation of bibliophiles, the celebration of the centennial years, roughly from 1845 to 1850, stimulated a fairly broad publishing program. Possessing a history unlike that of some states, California experienced a series of interesting and significant events over the span of a half decade, each of which was worthy of some commemoration, so that the publishers were not faced with the necessity of issuing all their items within a few weeks or months. As a result the publication program was broad and comprehensive, and many notable books became available in new format. By and large, the items chosen for publication were chiefly books and documents written by participants in the Mexican War and the Gold Rush. A few pieces of current research, some scholarly, others the work of enthusiastic or competent amateurs, found their places in the lists, but the most important objective was that of publishing works, hitherto rare, in attractive style so that they would appeal to collectors. This in some respects added to, rather than detracted from, their value, despite the common absence of thorough editing, footnotes, and the paraphernalia of research. These latter aids would have been useful additions, but their place was taken in large part by excellent forewords and introductory notes by highly competent persons, so that their lack was not felt so greatly. It is probably safe to conclude that these reprints and other accounts will find a valued place in the libraries of institutions and individuals, and will constitute a portion of Californiana without which serious study in the future will be difficult. In general, there were four major sources of books for the California Centennial. Individuals and independent publishers, such as Joseph A. Sullivan of Oakland and Ward Ritchie of Los Angeles, issued interesting volumes; commercial publishers, such as Knopf and Hastings House, produced both "centennial series" and occasional items of value; book

THE CHARACTERISTIC tendency of southern California has been to grow spasmodically. Population has increased, land has been developed, and industry has expanded, not in a smooth and even evolutionary flow, but in irregular spurts. The region, since Anglo-Americans have been associated with it, has passed through an entire series of booms and depressions which did relatively little damage, considering their intensity. One of the greatest of these booms was the land frenzy which took place between i886 and 1888, reaching its culmination in the late summer months of 1887. The "great boom" was one of the outstanding events in southern California's history. By bringing in a new population it forced the region one step farther away from the mellow Spanish-Californian culture which had so tinged its earlier years, and, as the final step in the break-up of the ranchos, completed the transition from rangeland to agricultural economy. The importance of the boom has often been remarked. For three years it occupied most of the attention of southern Californians. Among its features were flamboyant advertising and wild speculation. Bourgeois midwesterners who came to visit the fabulous state often went home

IN THE YEAR 1855, nine years after the great exodus which had brought the Latter-day Saints to their Utah Zion, Brigham Young issued an edict to one William Bringhurst, ordering him to go to Las Vegas, build a fort there for protection from the Indians, and teach the latter how to raise agricultural crops. Accordingly, President of the Mission Bringhurst started out with thirty disciples on May to of that same year to traverse the long arid stretches of southern Utah Territory and to plant seeds in the wilderness. It was a very churchly tour. One of the brethren was baptized en route, and every camp was characterized by much oratory, and-regrettably-some "hard feeling."' One month and four days later the Saints arrived at their goal-the brush-clad springs called Las Vegas de Quintana, on their plateau surrounded by barren hills, baking under a brassy sun. They found Las Vegas to be a "nice patch of grass about half a mile wide and two or three miles long,"' at the base of a fifty-foot bench or mesa. The springs featured clear, glassy water in a pool about thirty feet in diameter. Two feet below the surface the white sand bubbled, but it was quicksand, and when the Saints sounded it, they went to a depth of sixty feet without finding bedrock. There was firewood in plenty-but only in the form of scrubby mesquite. Larger timber was scanty. Two days later, on the Sabbath, the brethren built a small "bowery" in the forenoon, and at one P.M. gathered for a religious meeting." On Monday they "commenced their labors,"' some laying out the floorplan of the fort which was to be built, others planting crops, still others arranging for irrigation from the springs. The location which they chose was downstream from the springs about four miles. The fort was to be one hundred and fifty feet square, close to the creek, garden lots were laid 'Andrew Jensen, ed., "History of Las Vegas Mission," Nevada State Historical Society Papers, 1925-1926 (1926), 132. 2 Ibid., 137 f. Letter from Interpreter George W. Bean to Elder George A. Smith, June 24, 1855. 3 Ibid., 132. SIbid., 134. [ 257 ]

[Associate professor of history and chairman of the department of history, Occidental College, Glenn S. Dumke is a frequent contributor to scholarly journals. He is the author of The Boom of the Eighties in Southern California (1944) and the editor of Mexican Gold Trail: The Journal of ... George W. B. Evans (1945). The present paper, read at the Berkeley meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch in January, 1948, is a chapter in a projected volume on cities of the Southwest.]