John B. Trask served from 1850 to 1856 as California’s first State Geologist. He compiled a report entitled "On the Geology of the Sierra Nevada, or California Range." Josiah Whitney succeeded him in the position and made massive strides in his 13-year term. “Whitney organized the first comprehensive survey of California and the first complete topographic maps of the state were completed under him.” (Byerly 12). Whitney’s conscientiousness and respect for nature were his downfalls, though, as those who employed him were concerned only with the locations of precious resources. Once the California State Mining Bureau was established the position of State Geologist was renamed State Mineralogist. In my essay, I’d like to write about the impact of the early mapping of California. I’d like to explore how it reflects the course of the state’s history, and how it changed it.

While the earliest known societies of California were those of the Native Americans, the European colonists had knowledge of the area since the 16th century. The earlier of their cartographers made gaping mistakes by drawing California as an island, though. Until the 19th-century people believed the island of California was a sort of secluded paradise. The earliest mentions of California are from the Spanish literature of the early 16th century. The explorers of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries (Fortun Ximenez, Hernan Cortes, Francisco de Ulloa, Juan de Fuca) continually made mistakes in their explorations of Baja California, and never discovered its connection to the continent. By the late 18th century the Jesuit missionaries explored Baja California (Juan de Ugarte, Ferdinand Konscak, Wenceslaus Linck) and corrected the mistakes. Following the gold rush and the establishment of California as a state, the public’s demand for information about the state naturally rose. California turned to the geologists and hired John B Trask to gather geological information about the state. Little is known about his childhood and upbringing, but he was a member of the California Academy of Sciences and practiced medicine. In 1853 he was named Honorary State Geologist, and spent the early years of his servitude gathering enough information to publish his most important piece of relevant work: a report titled On the Geology of the Sierra Nevada, or California Range. This was the United States government’s first official cartographic publication of the state’s natural resources, which undoubtedly had a major effect on the development of population distribution in the state. In 1850 there were under 100,000 residents in comparison to the more than 350,000 10 years later (Nash 110). California’s population is uniquely migrant in that it moves more than most (Mikowich). The Gold Rush was no doubt the earliest major factor in population distribution, which Trask undoubtedly contributed to, but when he published his report it included information on other resources like quartz which began new colonies. In general, the California settlements of the past that followed natural resources are not thriving today, whereas those that followed trade are. From 1835 to 1848 the population centralized in the farming plains of the central valley and Los Angeles (Mikowich 300). After the discovery of gold, it concentrated at the base of the Sierra Nevada (Mikowich 300). Trasks’ mapping of the state aided in the development of travel routes, namely railroads. By the end of his time as State Geologist in 1860, the population shifted from the mining areas of the state to the valleys. This is Trask’s legacy: a major benefactor of the early scientific observation of California, and an undoubtedly major contributor to the early population distributions.

He was succeeded in the position of California State Geologist by Josiah Whitney, who eventually came to overshadow Trask’s achievements. “Whitney organized the first comprehensive survey of California and the first complete topographic maps of the state were completed under him.” (Byerly 12). Whitney was a professor of geology at Harvard, and through his travels and studies in the mining regions of the United States, he became the lead academic authority on geology in the country. In 1860 he filled the vacancy Trask left by retiring, and that same year he began his work on his magnum opus: the California Geological Survey. He aimed for a survey that covered not only geology and geography, but also botany, zoology, and paleontology. Whitney and his team made tons of progress documenting the nature of the state. He published several articles and collections relating to the state’s nature and became a massive advocate of environmental conservation early on. Whitney’s time in office was met with some controversy. He debated the history of Yosemite Valley and its contents, as well as the potential oil of California. Before the first major California oil strike, Whitney argued against the state’s contents of the resource. After his career ended as State Geologist he was proven wrong. Whitney and his team made a fatal mistake by first publishing two volumes on paleontology when the legislators who funded them were really looking for information about gold. So in 1867, the survey was eliminated from the state’s budget, and Whitney’s work was suspended in 1868. He famously commented: “We have escaped perils by flood and field, have evaded the friendly embrace of the grizzly, and now find ourselves in the jaws of the Legislature.” (Whitney). The state didn’t continue surveyinguntil 1880, 12 years later. Instead of a Geological Survey, they formed the State Mining Beaureu with the sole aim of exploring resources. That year the California State Mining Bureau was established the position of State Geologist was renamed State Mineralogist. The state of California didn’t hire another geologist until 6 decades later in 1928 - a clear demonstration of their priorities and values.

Although the nature of California would inevitably be documented, Trask and Whitney contributed massively to the early beginnings of California geology, government, and society. Trask’s early recording of the state’s resource and geological information undoubtedly impacted the population growth in the mining areas. By 1860 once the state began transitioning from majority mining to farming Whitney took his place and published comprehensive and vast information on the state’s nature and geography. After surveying California, Josiah Whitney was one of the first to publicly advocate for preserved National Parks. This undoubtedly helped in the founding of this treasured national program. Following Trask and Whitney’s success, public demand grew for information about the nature of the country, and so the United States Geological Survey was formed by the federal government in 1879. Trask and Whitney are great examples of the giants whose shoulders we stand on today. They left deep marks on Californian and American history.

California began as a legend - an island of paradise on the other side of a new continent. Slowly the reality of the territory has emerged, and its history shows a beautiful story: the more people saw, the deeper they fell under its spell. Now the most populous of the United States, California provides the people with a more localized American dream: the California Dream.

While John B. Trask and Eli Whitney are not its founders, they played no small part in its exponential success. Trask’s early influence of the booming mining beginnings of the state, as well as Whitney’s major strides in its documentation, have led to its beauty today. Their work deserves recognition and appreciation from those who enjoy the state for what it is today.

• Burns, John F. “Taming the Elephant: An Introduction to California’s Statehood and Constitutional Era.” California History, vol. 81, no. 3/4, [University of California Press, California Historical Society], 2003, pp. 1–26, https://doi.org/10.2307/25161698.
• Byerly, Edward A. “The Politics of Topographic Mapping: J.D. Whitney, C.F. Hoffman, and the California State Geographical Survey, 1860-1874.” Southern California Quarterly, vol. 82, no. 4, [University of California Press, Historical Society of Southern California], 2000, pp. 343–64, https://doi.org/10.2307/41172035. Stearns, Robert E. “Dr. John B. Trask, a Pioneer of Science on the West Coast.” Journal Article, Pp. 240-243, https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.28.712.240.
• C. J. Wills, K. B. Clahan. “Developing a Map of Geologically Defined Site-Condition Categories for California. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.” 2006;; 96 (4A): 1483–1501. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0120050179
• Jenkins, Olaf P. “A Geological Survey of California.” Science, vol. 70, no. 1823, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1929, pp. 554–554, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1654617.
• Limbaugh, Ronald H. “Making Old Tools Work Better: Pragmatic Adaptation and Innovation in Gold-Rush Technology.” California History, vol. 77, no. 4, [University of California Press, California Historical Society], 1998, pp. 24–51, https://doi.org/10.2307/25462507.
• Nash, Gerald D. “The Conflict between Pure and Applied Science in Nineteenth-Century Public Policy: The California State Geological Survey, 1860-1874.” Isis, vol. 54, no. 2, [The University of Chicago Press, The History of Science Society], 1963, pp. 217–28, http://www.jstor.org/stable/228539.
• Mirkowich, Nicholas. “Recent Trends in Population Distribution in California.” Geographical Review, vol. 31, no. 2, [American Geographical Society, Wiley], 1941, pp. 300–07, https://doi.org/10.2307/210210.