The SS California was launched in May 1848. It had been on the drawing boards for some time, and government subsidies helped make it possible. It (and two other steamships were supposed to deliver mail and freight from the East Coast to California.
But the discovery of gold in California changed that, and the emphasis focused on passengers. The ship, after a four-month voyage, arrived in San

True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Truth Be Known
- What Has Taught Me: Deb Goodrich
- Earp, Cowboy Songs & Prairie Hygiene
- Trails of the Old West
- The Frontier Characters of South Dakota
- The Bowie Knife
- The Kindled Flame 1835
- King of the Scatterguns
- Selling the Mythic West and the Real West
- A Gut Punch Turns into a Miracle Reprieve
- The Beginnings of the Bird Cage
- Frontier Colossus