DAWN AND THE DONS 168
will now go down to posterity with the odor of gamblers, convicts and tipplers. I leave it as an humble evidence of what may be accomplished by rigidly adhering to one purpose, and shrinking from no personal effort necessary to its achievement.”
Colton Hall still stands, an
historic monument to the birth of a great state. California’s admission to the union soon followed, and a Mexican province became an American commonwealth. And thus the “Gringo” came. And he proceeded at once to change the social and industrial complexion of California. He swarmed over her mountains and through her canyons in his feverish search for gold. He drove the flocks and herds from her fertile valleys, and planted grains and fruits. He introduced strange customs, and insisted on people paying for things. The lotus land of the cavalier was yielding to the spirit of commercial adventure, save here and there where old Spain lingered on, as at Monterey.
