capital. west,are in the wild domes and columns in a similar look and style. it was the idea that we were part of this particular government right now. you see a lot of symbolism in the room. >> later, here about the internment of japanese americans during world war ii. >> i remember the day we had to leave. we did not know how long we were going to go. we didn't know where we would be sent. we just knew that we had to leave our farm. >> we begin the hour with a visit to the sacramento history center and a look at the items in the gold rush collection. >> the concept of where sacramento is is quite ludicrous in many ways. its low-lying marshland. probably the worst place to put a city. but the concept that it was more important for the monetary gain than it was for the long-term life of the city. what that caused in the end and what a lot of these things helped us document was how the city had to transform and change for self. it is a story of disasters. you can ask yourself that question, what i have stayed? what i have come? was it worth it? today we are in the center for sacramento history. we hold the original records and we go from the beginning of the city all the way up to pleasant -- present time. i'm going to show you a sample of artifacts related to the gold rush here in the sacramento region. so, things like how we are connected to the goldfield and why sacramento was a destination. we often say they were the gateway to the goldfield. you had to come here off the river and then go on beyond and if you were coming across country, you would have come here to get your goods and supplies, even though you came over the mountains. getn times you had to settled first and kind of recuperate from your journey and then go back and start your mining. gold was discovered in january of 1848. original, had a land grant from the mexican government. he was the first person to settle in land in california and he had an expensive land grant that would have been thousands of acres. the first item is a painting that was done by a gentleman named taber, who was a sailor. he came here in 1848. you can see that this is very low land. it was basically kind of marshy all around here. the sacramento river, which they didn't know at the time, had a tendency to flood, but you had all this greenery here, it was basically a floodplain. this was before gold was discovered in you can see that there was nothing here. there was literally nothing here in 1848. in january word has not spread yet that gold has been discovered, but a few months later a town is going to set up. when you talk what the whole experience of coming to california to search for gold, you will need your supplies. you will probably have had your portrait taken in order to document yourself before the journey. one of the important things you would have required before you got here was a map your out where you need to go. this was a great map of the gold fields. you can see red above here that says that if you look up close on here, on many of the streams it will say that gold has been found here, gold has been found on the streams. this would have been something very important for someone in 49 or 48. the majority of them arrived in the big amount came and 49, that's why they're called the 49ers. this map would have folded up and fit like this so that they could have fit it into their pockets. everything was lightweight, compact, easy for them to travel with. this would have been an essential tool to show miners were to go. you can see how quickly the business of mining the minors and producing these things -- evil were quickly making money off the people who were looking for gold. we had several thousand samples of gold. some of them are embedded in courts. this is the golden nugget. this is fools gold. if you look at the difference, a lot of people would find this, pyrite, and think it was gold. it's pretty and shiny and nice, but it's not the same thing, and a lot of people were fooled by this. haveventually you would cluster mining, hard rock mining , where they literally drill into the ground and they go in and drill the gold out of the walls of the hills and then hydraulic mining, where the use into water cannons to fire the mountains, to break it down to release the gold that was in there. all of these things would have major environmental impact on the state. another thing that was discovered, mercury, or quicksilver, attracted gold. so, they decided it would be good to put the mercury into the water to attract the gold. they didn't realize the mercury was poison. a number of the minors got mercury poisoning. i'm not sure -- mercury was also something that was used to shape hats. there was a term called matt is a hatter, the hatter was mad because smelling the fumes of the miners became crazed by having the mercury around as well. son,48 john sutter and his who was put in charge of his father's fortune hired another gentleman to help him get his father out of debt. the way to do that was to sell off the land that they had. there were u.s. military personnel here at the time. they hired three of them. two of them would go on to become famous. one was general ordered here in california. the other was william tecumseh sherman. they were hired to plot out the city and create this grid. by 1840 nine this was plotted out and the lots were sold. you can see strategically that the city was located -- this is the sacramento river in this is the american river. right here's the beginnings of the city. this location right here. this was -- if you were coming in from san francisco, for example, if you had been someone that came from europe you would have brought a steamship over across the ocean and you would have come up the sacramento river. this was as far as you could go. literally just like san francisco there was a river full of ships here. in 1849 and 1850. that was the beginning of the city in a lot of ways. there were all of these abandoned ships that had been left behind as the miners went off of the goldfield. that's fun tongs look at, this mine was created -- here's the original city right here. they all represent looms. four in athree or quarter of a block. mark twain one he was here -- when he was here, he described sacramento as a city where you could go into any door, ask for a beer and someone would hand it to you. the breweries were established as early as 1848. they were building breweries to dig deep into the ground to make it cool for the beer to ferment. --s is a good example of this is an all male, pretty much. this is how they occupy their time, by drinking, gambling, dancing, and other sorts of things. of the things that is kind of interesting is that there has been a myth that the people that came to the gold rush were illiterate and poor, that they were basically not very bright. the reality is that the large number of people that came for the gold rush were well educated, professional people. a you think about it, it was very expensive thing to go to do. to travel here by ship could take anywhere from three months to four months. expensive to buy your passage on that. if you came overland, the investment of the wagons and your supplies, it would be a minimum of six months journey to get here. you had a lot of professionals a came early on. doctors, lawyers, merchants, differentll of these professions. you had a very diverse group of people. thinking about the journey, how long it takes to get here, how separate it is and how unknown california is from of anywhere else. deal me where they had to communicate back-and-forth was through letters. that was so important to them. here are samples of some of these letters. some of what they could purchase here would have images of the sacramento post office. here in sacramento. way for them to show their family what it looked like here. notelevision, no telegraph, internet, no way to communicate back-and-forth. the post office was the central place they would have come. when they found out the mail had arrived, they would have run to get there and oftentimes waited for days to her some news. describedat they would be -- i'm writing every day because of not sure what we'll get back to you. that is because the mail was not consistent. it's not until the railroad comes through that the mail is coming through on a regular basis. so, these letters, they are pouring out their hearts to their families. they are also describing what california is like, how hard it is to be a minor. sometimes they are saying things like -- don't let my brother come here. it is such a hard way to live. other times they are saying -- this is a great place, you need to bring the rest of the family out here. particularly for african-americans, this was a place because they came in as a letterste, we have some of african-americans saying -- this is the best place you can come to make a living on your own. people came here for different reasons. a lot of them came as minors and decided it was hard. in the letters they would write back and say -- i change my mind, i'm going back to being a storekeeper. being a storekeeper you could make good money mining the miners. then they would write to have their families come and live out here. these letters, documents, they tell us what life is like, the personal experiences, the loneliness, the hope, and the basic gamble that these individuals were taking when they came out here. you have got all of these people swarming into an area. they are going to need some type of entertainment. sacramento established its first theater in 1849. the eagle theater. a reproduction exists today. it only stayed in business a few short months because of the flood of 49. that tradition with theater was california,here in the need for entertainment was so important that it drew a lot of performers to come here. a lot of the performers that would get their start here would go on to become some of the most famous entertainers in the country throughout the 19th century. one example of that is edwin booth. his brother is probably more famous as john wilkes booth, but at the time in the 19th century, edwin booth would become the most famous in the booth family. traveling with his father for about four or five years when the gold rush happened. they wanted to come out to california because it was a place where entertainers could make money. his father books the two of them on a ship, they came to california. they did their performances and when it was time to go back edwin said -- i'm done, staying here. knownrnia had always been for that, as a place to reinvent yourself. you could come out here and make yourself something different from what you were back east. he said -- i'm going to stay here in sacramento, which was one of the first places he performed as an actor without his father. he is listed that here is young marlowe. the fourth theater here in town. there were multiple theaters. edwin booth went on to become the most famous male actor in the united states. he wasugh the 19 century friends with and had performed many times in front of lincoln. also, secretary of state seward. he really transitioned, up until that point. they were considered low lives and not anyone you would want in your house. they were the traveling gypsies, so to speak, but he was a gentleman, very well-respected. she writes about how infatuated he she was because of his dark and wavy hair. he established himself in california and went on to have this national reputation. s that is greatg about repository guides, there are literally thousands of books, essays and things that have come out of here and will continue to come out of here. these letters tell us what life was like. they give us personal experiences. they let us know where people are coming from. directories dating from 1849 and 1850. in them it says where people are from. sometimes it lists at the city as well. all of these things help us to get to know the people they came here. we were an incredibly diverse city then. we are still an incredibly diverse city. all of these artifacts and stories are part of the collections and help us to understand ourselves better today because of where we came from. >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring sacramento, california. is now aord mansion state historic park. stamford served as the governor, senator, and president of the central pacific railroad. he also established stamford university in memory of his son, who died of typhoid fever at the age of 15. the c-span city tour staff recently visited many sites showcasing the city's history. all more about sacramento weekend here on "american history tv." >> the capital of california was not supposed to be in sacramento. actually, farther down the road in san jose was where the first legislature met. they met in vallejo and in many show. close enough to sacramento. when they first decided where to place the capital, they wanted it closer to where the people could get quickly. the gold rush in 1849, they brought a lot of people in. we have balloons, roads, and ways to get there. eventually sacramento was chosen in 1854 to be the state capital. construction started in 1860. it took about 14 years to complete. the civil war era brought a lot of starts and stops. throughtal in 1971 was a distinctive seismic test to withstand an earthquake. there was a huge earthquake in the southern california area in 1961 -- 1871. make thistrying to victorian building look modern. they decided to go ahead and see if it would withstand an earthquake. basically, the bricks holding together the building, you could put a pencil through it. could -- itat you was being held up by habit and gravity. interestingly enough, it included two towers. it would take $42 million to basically take down the capital down to the ground and about 70 million to build. that would shelled for a while, but by then people were turning their attention. looking around to where are the places. inroduced in the assembly 1975, they created the ability for us to take the money that would be used for the towers and redirect it to see if we could actually save the building and make it earthquake safe, retrofitted. they saw that it could be done. ,ix years and $68 million later we're looking at a re-creation of what you would have seen in 1900 to 1910. .e are in the assembly chambers we are on what they call before the assembly. the galleries are above us. as with any state house, the galleries are where the people sit to view the legislature. california's diversity is reflected in our assembly members. the first time this room was used, the desks that you see were brand-new. i imagine the story of a gentleman who immigrated here and made california his home because of that possibility. john brewer was from germany. ofcame during the gold rush 1849, 1850. because he was a woodworker he actually created tools for minors. they would use bowls or rockers that look like baby cradles. you would put more dirt through and it would be more efficient. home furnishing started in acramento and grew to be business that is online today. he created all the desks that you see. there are 88 of them. we still use them today. our legislature since the 1960's have been full-time. prior to that it was part-time. because of the people were reelected over and over again and by the 1990's people thought it might not be a good thing to have career politicians. through a proposition voted in by voters, we became a state of term limits. 1990,n the assembly after the assembly members would serve two-year terms and they could repeat that three times, six years total. in the senate it was to four-year terms. in 2012 the voters decided again and term limits james. voters decided that each legislative person could service outlook 12 years and i've -- in either house. interestingly enough, we had to really significant assembly members here prior to and one of them was 15 years as speaker. the speaker of the assembly or the house is elected by the members themselves. in rags to riches story, becoming very influential in politics, a strong african-american political figure in california. while here for quite a and served for 15 years before term limits and went on to be mayor of san francisco. speaker who had a lot of power for nine years, he had a committee room named after him. and in 2005 another gentleman named john britton who is pro 10 of the senate have a hearing room named after him. he went straight to congress, representing the bay area. a number of our lawmakers have gone on to representing californians the united states congress. there are some interesting things around the world -- around the room itself. in the senate, a portrait of george washington hold -- hangs over the leader's desk. the picture of lincoln is done by william cause well, an artist in person.incoln in 1900ham lincoln would have been considered a -- as significant as george washington would have been. he would have had two significant presidents. with the reminder that we are to the united states. california being so far west, not a lot in between, the idea that we would create the look of the capital with as close to what the united states capital this huge building with a dome and columns, very similar in look and style to the united states capital. that wasn't my mistake. it was the idea that we were part of this particular government right now, this is our identity. you see a lot of symbolism in the room. stemming from what have been used in the united states in their house and senate, and has roots that go back to british parliament. green, house of commons. read, house of lords. now we are in the senate. we are on the third floor of the capital. let's start with the gallery. the chairs the you see around you are for the people. legislative sessions are always open to the public and at any time you will see a lot of , schoolchildren, or nobody depending on what's going on. a lot of bills going to this room have been very controversial. i used to tell them it was a bit dream making factory. a place or they would work on pieces of legislation and turn them in to law. you saw some monumental bills being passed in here. about 1911, a lot of legislation was favored towards special interests. the railroads were a huge special interest in california. governor, in, the the progressive area he let natives back into the. government in the service of people. creating bills and legislation that would assist people in of life.alks you suck compulsory education. you saw it eight hour workday. you could work a sixth day, but you could not go over 48 per week. monumentally, the woman's suffrage bill was approved here in the cultural amendment, passed by the senate, the assembly, and ratified by a slim 2% of the majority in the state of california. also significant is the referendum, the initiative of the recall. the idea that you could directly vote on something by passing a legislative approval or disapproval. in 1972, the people of california introduced the death of the into california based on that initiative process. at the top of the senate, right above the desk of the president pro tempore, the roman goddess named minerva. you see her around the capital a lot. state sealced on the in 1849. minerva represented also california's becoming a start without -- state without ever being a territory. sheer ancient roman story sprung full formed from the brain of jupiter. she was never a baby, never a young child. just full-blown right off the bat. like california becoming the 31st state without ever being a territory. they were pretty proud of that in 1849. not having been a state yet, that was it. they decided they were either going to be a state or an independent republic. minerva is one of the biggest symbols of that. which is why she's up there. right now we are in one of our historic rooms. the first floor was turned basically into the first floor museum, showing people what government was like. the active culture at the turn-of-the-century -- the threat of the last century, i might say. governor who the actually use these office , until the east wing annex opened up and the governor's office moved down there. you are seeing a lot of things reflected in the opulence of the. -- of the time. wood working on the wall represents tooled leather. this was a working, functional office. it must have been amazingly busy during the time of the earthquake, when the governor went to oakland. when the two consecutive secretaries had to take everything, donations that brought him right to the governor's office. the best communication you have is physically being there. telephone and telegraph. here in the office we have a telegraph from theodore roosevelt asking how they could help. there are things you can show people that government, how it changes. we talked a little bit about the progressive era of laws that were made. most significant the suffrage, the initiatives, the referendum. this is the perfect place to talk about that. although the recall was used significantly right after to , legislators, things like that, it had never successfully been used to recall a governor. until most recently. a governor was recalled and then at the same time a new governor was elected. a person well-known throughout the united states if not the world, arnold schwarzenegger. he became governor in 2004 based on a recall. davis was only the second governor to be recalled at that time in the united states. it was not used often in 1921 to recall a governor. attemptedgan had an recall. our current governor, jerry brown, when he was governor prior to this -- this was his didnd term of office -- just that. edward g brown have an governor , but it waslled unsuccessful. preserving old holdings give us a -- gives us a feeling of solidarity. the original intent of the building was still here. long, american history tv is joining comcast cable arbors to showcase the history of sacramento, california. to learn more about the cities in our tour, visit c-span.org /city tour. we continue now with our look at the history of sacramento. [honking] railroadlifornia state museum is significant not only in the collection, but where we sit. we sit at the corner of front and i street in sacramento, very close to the birthplace of the railroad. california became a state very quickly. because of the gold rush. even prior to that people had talked and dreamed about a railroad spanning the american continent. it was really important for the railroadates to have a connecting california. in the 1860's the civil war was raging. prior to the secession of the southern states, congress could not agree on a route for the transcontinental railroad. they feared that the northern route would give them more power politically. feelthe -- similarly, they that -- fear that the southern route would give the south more power. people could not agree. one of the weird results of the secession was that it allowed a smaller congress to decide on a northern route for the railroad. the locomotive behind it he is the stamford. which is really significant, wasuse it is the first one starting construction. it arrived on the docks in sacramento in pieces. it was actually assembled very close to the spot where it sits today. when he was campaigning for governor, part of the platform was a virulent anti-cheney platform. yet he and his railroad began the largest employers of chinese .rom outside china they were dedicated and worked hard. even though it was discriminatory, for the time it was in the -- it was a very egalitarian way to treat the chinese. by and large they felt they were treated well by the railroad compared to other parts of california's society at the time. archaeologist you can actually find evidence of chinese habitation, a particular kind of pottery that was only made in china used to ship food products. things like rice bowls, chopsticks, things like this that show they were all over the route during the building of the railroad. it sort of explores the idea of community spreading. it was 700 best several hundred miles of virtually nothing. very complexly native american societies, for but culturally for the united states and asia it was a vast, unknown quantity. the mythical 12 month growing season, a land of gold and prosperity. it was very important for the country to have a connection with california. that's what the railroad did. suddenly instead of a four-month journey back to the united states, you could come back in about 10 days. meaning that suddenly california one of the reasons you have and you also know that you and west of here for hill different food items, synthetic really spanning the north american continent analogical way with easy transport. the railroad is also, as they traveled, they had to build fuel,ns for water, telegraph needs, logistical things like that. communities developed around railroad stations. he started to see stores popping up. merchants and bankers. people could bring their crops and to market. they could buy manufactured goods. they could order from the sears catalog. they could get telegrams and learn the daily news instantly because of the telegraph rather than several days or weeks later. so, the railroads caused a sense of community, they caused the nation to develop into the complex nation we have today. the collection of equipment inside the california state railroad museum really spans the the late1862 until 1950's, early 1960's. so, you see a lot of different types of equipment. the locomotive that's right behind me is from the 1870's. it is a beautiful piece of steam equipment. a pacific classic locomotive that was a very large, high-speed, powerful and efficient locomotive used to into the 1950's. they do the same thing, but one is double the size of the other you will looking at black, heavy industrial objects where the mid-20th century. is the empire locomotive. the exhibit that we currently have is the 1894 pullman strike. it was a national strike the the labor was manufactured on inlman cars and to that illinois he did not have the and he wase prices the president of the workers of the world, tied into the torican railway union sympathetically strike, where becausee former nonemento was the home since the building repair. the workers just stop out of sympathy for the strikers. this stopped traffic in and out of sacramento. by extension of stopped traffic in and out of other product -- traffic in and out of other places. the mail had to move. the very first train that left sacramento fell victim to sabotage just a few miles west, near the city of davis, california. the train was derailed by a broken rail. they were here for about two months. the camp out city parks and had contingent.in it was a very hot summer. and some of them bring their loyalty back to the i know thatrailroad you think it's broken, right -- did establisholn the holiday. >> it's really hard to imagine sacramento or california without the impact of the railroads. the gold rush made sacramento wealthy, process, politically important. weekend, american history tv is featuring supplemental california. in 1858 the gold rush began when gold was discovered in nearby paloma, california. our comcast cable partners work with the city to her staff when they travel to sacramento to explore the rich history of the city. learn more all weekend, here on american history tv. >> leland stanford was lord to california, like many people, because of the -- leeward california, like many people, because of the gold. toeeward -- lured california, like many people, because of the gold rush. he purchases home in 1861 when they were stepping into public life. he had been elected president of the central pacific railroad. he was nominated to run as governor in 1861 and he purchased that house up there. as the stamford's became more prosperous, they would live in a large house, as we see today. we are in a house was built in the italian style, that after 10 expanded to it was the french renaissance revival style. it's one of the best examples of the french renaissance revival style in the united states. he was part of a merchant community. this was really a house for someone in the public eye. we are in the entry hall of the mansion. eightuse contains about rooms in its original form. the entry hall with several parlors on each side. three and a half bedrooms. when guests arrived they are invited into a seating parlor, most formal room of the house. the room where guests would be invited in an introduced to each other. oldest inbeing the the house, it has all the original features. columns, archways, ceiling medallions and plasterwork, all created in 1856. this room is the reason why they would pay $8,000 for the house. they live in sacramento and the railroad expands, the family became prosperous and they were able to purchase some remarkable items from new york and philadelphia manufacturers. this table and that cabinet on the costliest in the house. made in new york, shipped out by the railroad in 1871. these items are really the most remarkable things that american manufacturing have made at the time. they were able to buy two items from the company. there are other fine items in the house. these are a statement about prosperity. the photograph. 's taken in 1860, showing their growing prosperity is a young family. it shows leland stanford at age because --y educated before coming to california. he grew up in a farming community and eventually reading law before coming to california. so, we are standing in the two-room office built by leland stanford when he was elected governor. served as his executive department for his two-year term. and then, since he was a supporter of lincoln and the next governor was a supporter of leased. this office was it has served to governors, our thel war governors, in 1860's. it contains an inner office that was his office and then a receiving office for his clerk anna porter. today this is an office for our governor to use for ceremonial purposes. it has been used by two governors since 2005. both governor schwarzenegger and governor brown have had access to its 2005. mr. stamford was our last two-year term governor. he was elected and he served all of 1862 and all of 1863. he was part of a group of men that were merchants. they were politically active and had similar ideas. stamford was their first candidate that was successfully elected governor. our eighth governor, he was the first republican governor of california. in the office we have a portrait of him in his 50's. this is really a remarkable man in the 1880's. he's president of the central, pacific, southern pacific railroads. by this point he has transitioned from sacramento into a life in san francisco. been mothballed. they are constructing one downtown in san francisco. the railroad expanded internationally from there. so, we are standing in the stamford family dining room. an extension of the house that reflects his work as president of the railroad. this was a president dining room. instead of seating a dozen, as in the original house, this room seats 28. these to tamp -- two tables expand to see larger groups. as he became more of it -- as they became more public and prosperous and show their wealth frome public, it moved eight rooms to what it is today, 44 rooms. this is the principal room for entertaining and it contains substantial items showing their connection with the railroad and the row -- growing wealth. this is the s carved into the glass panel and a cartoon there, showing a wood burning locomotive. a tender, a passenger car, and a small detail is that it has a small s carved into it. when taken together, looking at all of these items as one great design team you will notice everything in here contains some kind of reference to the railroad. such as the sideboard, with its uncanny resemblance to a locomotive. makese lighting, which reference to a locomotive. even the lighting above, you will notice that these have in the very center of them would look like spokes in a wheel, like really large c's, which could represent c4 california or for central pacific. showining room tables carvings that look like miniature local of -- miniature locomotives with a pilot on the front and a stack up above. so, we are standing in the bedroom of the mansion. the master bedroom. in this room we have a portrait of leland stanford junior, taken at the age of 12. a would grow up to be remarkable person. by the age of 15 he was 5'10", intensely interested in archaeology and the sciences. as a teenager living in that large home in san francisco, he would begin to talk to his parents. an institution of learning based on his interest. leland stanford junior directly ofpired the creation stamford university. it's named after him. the leland stanford junior university. this was the birthplace of university. essentially this a big part of the origin story of the stamford's and their desire to have a family. unfortunately through the untimely death of their son and through their great grief, they would create a lasting legacy, the university. the meaningful part of the story of the mansion is that it shows how the stamford's became more prosperous over time. in a very slow and careful way did their prosperity grow. they seemed to be content early in their life here in sacramento and even later as they became more well-to-do, the consistency in that domestic harmony between mr. stamford and his wife. >> all weekend long, american history tv is featuring california, the starting point of the central pacific railroad, which was built between 1863 and 1869 when the tracks met in promontory, utah, completing the transcontinental railroad. together with comcast cable partners, we recently visited many sites exploring the city's rich history. more about sacramento all weekend here on "american history tv." >> sutter's fort is a state historic park that has a central building that is actually the ,riginal adobe building constructed by native american workers working for john sutter and the 1840's. a lot of people hear the word -- fort -- they think it was a military endeavor. really, sutter looked at this more as a fortified hacienda. it was fortified just for protection, but it really was an agriculture -- agricultural and industrial complex. in 1839 the spanish and the mexicans had tried to make inroads into the interior. they have frequently been rebuffed by everything -- by the californian indians who lived , who were not particularly friendly towards them and did not welcome the idea of being forced to go into the missions on the coast. they really resisted very well for long time. he had to agree and settle and hold the territory. yet he had to attract settlers. he had to make an agreement that he would give smaller amounts of land to settlers and start developing the territory. his first settlement here was not a fortification of all. he really just built and adobe building where the california unions would come in and trade. alliancesas to make with the california union people that live here and get them to be his labor force. early on it had to be very much a negotiated relationship. later on as he became stronger, it seemed that there was more and more coercion with people being forced to labor here. there is still a lot of .ontention about sutter's role indians, inian their oral histories they will talk about being forced to work for him. is still of his legacy being evaluated. to be view them as heroic pioneers or someone who came in and hurt people. in 1846 the war between the u.s. and mexico started. fremont was seized by and the u.s. government and was used as a base of operations. more americans started coming after he became a u.s. territory . he did start looking at how he might be able to make money by serving these new american immigrants. the one thing that was a possible profitable enterprise that he could go into would be to provide lumber for building houses. in order to provide lumber he would need a sawmill. so, he had one of his workers here, amanda marshall, who he said -- sutter sentiment in the mountains to look for a suitable place to build a sawmill. sawmill,king of that when marshall was checking the mill waste to see of the water would flow appropriately through the mill to turn the mill. that's when nuggets of gold were seen. marshall came down, showed it to sutter, said -- i think that there's gold appear, this might be a good opportunity. he tried to keep it quiet. he wasn't able to. word got out that there was gold in the hills of california. numbers.rived in huge it was the largest mass migration in history. at that point people from all over the world converging on california. of course, x marks the spot on everyone's map was come here all theo sutter's fort things that he was trying to say -- his cattle were slaughtered, his sheep were slaughtered. he sold his fort in bits and to businessmen who wanted to sell supplies to minors started selling lots by the embarcadero. for a new city of sacramento. his son, august sutter junior, became a founder of the city of sacramento. we had a may be romantic, very rosy view of what happened here. sutter as a heroic figure. the notion of the influences coming from the united states were coming into an empty territory, turning a wilderness into an agricultural wonderland. that before they came to california, this was one of the most heavily populated areas north of mexico. there is an estimate that there were 300,000 californian indians living here. population was that large. speaking as many as 80 different languages. this was a heavily, heavily settled land. it wasn't a matter of pioneers coming and settling the land. was one people coming and displacing another people. in terms of the stories we tell and the way we interpret that history, as we look to a future multiculturalu, a state, how do we move forward into the future and have people of different cultures and live andds learning to work together if we can't address the issues we have with the same questions in the past? >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring sacramento, the state capital of california. c-span pacitti tours staff recently visited many sites showcasing the store -- the city's history. learn more here on american history tv. >> evacuation -- more than 100,000 men, women and children of japanese ancestry removed from their homes in the pacific coast state established in out-of-the-way places. there in actuation did not imply individual disloyalty but was ordered to reduce the military hazard at a time when danger of invasion was great. -- thirds of the iraqi ways of the evacuees are american by birth and the rest are japanese born parents and grandparents. they are not under suspicion. they are not visitors or in tourneys. they are merely dislocated people, the unwounded casualties of war. of time, spring and summer 1942, the place 10 different relocation centers and unsettled parts of california, arizona, utah, idaho, wyoming, colorado and arkansas. i was born in a small town south of sacramento called florence. my dad had a farm. we raised grapes and strawberries. five, when until age world war ii started with the bombing of pearl harbor. dad, who hady, my been home listening to the radio heard about the bombing, first into the methodist church where my mother was length can know, and interrupted the service, announcing japan had bombed pearl harbor. all the sudden, in that one instant, our lives changed. know what was going to happen to us and, at first, there wasn't that much anti-asian sentiment in the newspapers. things were quiet, but after a startedhe newspapers publishing articles about the perils of having the japanese on the west coast and it made the neighbors who had been friendly in the past a little afraid. so we felt the sting of prejudice before we were sent off to what is euphemistically called internment camps, but the official documents called them concentration camps. occurred onbor december 7, 1941. by may of 1942, the people in the sacramento area were being shipped out. i remember the day we had to leave. 30, 1942. it was dark when we got up. we had to be at the railroad station in elk grove by a certain time. ira member i was five years old going into the garden and finding my grandmother who was in her 60's looking at her garden, crying and saying in japanese that she didn't think she was ever going to get back here. i remember thinking her hand and telling her don't cry, grandma. you will be back. i know you will be back here. that point, we didn't know where we were going. we only knew we had to back up and take what we could, carrying a suitcase. we were told to bring sheets, towels, personal items. we didn't know how long we were going to go or where we would be sent. we just knew we had to leave our farm. us were sent to what they called assembly centers. they had them all over the united states. of them where fairgrounds or racetracks and that's why you hear stories of people being housed in animal barns and horse stalls. we were lucky. we got there late, so we were not put in one of the animal buildings. we had temporary quarters, a barracks held directly on asphalt and i remember fresno was hot. it was over 100 and if you sat on the bed, the asphalt was soft and the bed would think. getting tar in my hair and my hair had to become because the tar was dripping from the roof. that's how hot it was. there were no trees. we were there from may until october, when the real camp was ready and we were sent to arkansas. we sat on the train and the government did not want people in the public to know we were being moved, so soldiers would come through the train and order us to close the window shades as we approached any town. we would be sent across the nation that way. we didn't know where we were going. we had no idea how long we would be there. or what the living conditions would be like. it was another camp. the buildings were built in the order of a military facility. the terms use were military terms, so we ate at the mess hall. the restrooms were called latrines. they had a men's side and ladies side. each side had 16 toilets. there were no stalls, it was just open toilets, eight in a row, back to back. i remember my grandmother telling me don't sit with your elbow out because that is very impolite. and if you did, you could touch the person next to you. the whole experience was humiliating. , we werere uprooted chased out of our homes and there was so much uncertain tn fear. my dad was very wise. there were some people who belonged to the farmers association who turned their farms over to them, but my dad found a man who said they he would take care of our farm, pay the mortgage and pay our taxes. he did that for three farms and we did not lose our farm. that did not happen for too many people. everybody in the area lost their property. in each case, if you did not lose your property, there was a neighbor or someone who was a friend that helped you. property.their -- 85% lost their property. >> the japanese-american collection here at sacramento state is one of the best in the world. largest, but the what makes it unique is the depth and breadth of the collection. it began in 1994 with the donation of educational material from a leader in the community as an educator and civil rights asked -- civil rights activist. upon her retirement, she donated her educational material here that tells the story from the vantage point of the evacuees and from the government. after president roosevelt signed the executive order which legalized the incarceration of people of japanese descent in the military zone, which was the entire west coast, washington, oregon, california and southern arizona. things moved very quickly. at that point, japanese-americans were sent to assembly centers. this demonstrates how they were only allowed to bring what they could carry. we have these two young girls who could carry their suitcases. they are from hollywood and and mountain, wyoming. they did not know they were supposed to bring clothing for cold weather. if you can only carry what you could ring, you can see these japanese-americans evacuating from the elk grove train station. but you could see the mother could only carry her child and perhaps a diaper bag. so she was not able to bring anything besides her child. documentee here is a from a manager of the pomona assembly center. inona was a racetrack southern california. it is evacuation release number 19 and he's talking about what families of mixed marriages should expect. what they are referring to is that many times, caucasian women were married to men of japanese descent and they were not forced to go to the incarceration center. so they were faced with whether they would go to the incarceration center or stay with her husband and family. in most cases, the caucasian to goand mothers decided to the incarceration centers. in early 1943, all of the internees were commanded to complete a questionnaire called the statement of the united , commonlyizens referred to as the loyalty questionnaire. the 27th question asks if you are willing to serve in the united states military wherever ordered and will you swear unqualified allegiance to the united states america and faithfully defend the united hates from any and all attacks from foreign and the mastech forces. those who answered no were called no no boys and considered traitors and segregated and put into a segregation center. there was a1944, christmas card to president franklin d roosevelt and eleanor roosevelt. card.s the christmas if we look at how she starts it, she says dear president and mrs. roosevelt, from christmases ago, we were shocked and deeply hurt is startedwas japan the war and left a record of shame for history. 100 24,000of the americans of japanese ancestry living on the west coast, frightened and angry. eager to do our part to protect the precious stores -- press just shores and by may, we left our great winery to live in a camp. by january, 1945, eleanor roosevelt did respond. says i readr, she your letter with much interest and i read your writing. i'm glad all is going well. what we are looking at here are some of the arts and crafts made in the incarceration centers. working with arts and crafts and other recreational activities were key to keeping the sanity of the internees. dry seabed, so a there were shells they could use to make various corsages and works of art. and other aspect of the story told by these artifacts is they worked with whatever they could find and nothing went away. so we see this unit ball, but if you inspected closely, you can see her hands are made of toilet paper wrapped round wire. is made fromface stockings and nylon. her hair is made from sewing thread and her komodo is made from scraps of fabric. this is a formg, of watercolor. what's interesting about this painting is you see the image of the watchtower. internees were not allowed to imagesotos or re-create of the watchtowers. but just as interesting, we see on the back, it was made from a purex soapbox. ande looking at artifacts photographs that tell the story about the military service of japanese-americans. once it was determined they could serve in the army, the 442nd regimental italian was created. it consisted of only japanese-americans. here, we see the picture of three young men from the sacramento area. this is the picture they took before they were sent out and all three were killed in action. while theird families were incarcerated. this is one of the most rare items in the collection. this one means 1000 knots. in each of these red threads are a not tied by a loved family member. the tradition dates back to samurai times because theoretically, they would all deflect the thrust of a samurai sword. many of the family members , but in this case, the family created this best. he decided to keep it. motion other -- most others threw it away. you can see it is very japanese looking. we have japanese calligraphy and this lovely painted tiger and more japanese calligraphy. to theterial relates reparation and redress of the japanese-americans incarcerated during world war ii. the carter administration, a commission on the wartime relocation and internment of civilians was formed. as a result of their investigation, they determined the japanese-americans constitutional rights were denied and they deserved an apology. here, we have a photo of hr 442nt reagan signing where he is legalizing the apology and redress to the japanese-americans survivors. policye see the actual a -- actual policy letter. he says they monetary sum and words alone cannot restore lost years or erase painful memories. in the second painful -- second paragraph, in a law offering a sincere apology, your fellow americans have renewed their commitment to the ideals of freedom. at the same time, survivors received a check for $20,000. here, we have a letter from pren