rom the soil
by the miners.

1849--September 1, 1849, a convention to frame a State Constitution
assembles at Monterey, the capital. On October 10 the constitution is
adopted.

1850--September 9, 1850, California is admitted as a State, into the
Union, without having been a Territory. Since then she has forged to
the front as one of the richest members of the Republic. Her soil has
been found to yield greater treasures than gold, and her people pride
themselves upon being among the most progressive of all between the two
oceans.

THE PANAMA CANAL

1513--September 25, the young Spanish navigator Vasco Nunez de Balboa
and party, from the Atlantic, exploring afoot the Isthmus of Panama
(first called the Isthmus of Darien), on the mountain divide sight the
Pacific Ocean. This they reach and claim for the King of Spain. They
were the first white men to cross the Isthmus, and they discovered the
Pacific Ocean.

1516--Balboa again crosses the Isthmus, transporting the material for
four ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Two thousand native
Indians die by the hard labor of jungle travel.

1520-1529--Various other explorations are made by Spain, in hopes of
finding a water-way clear through the Isthmus.

1521--Charles the Fifth of Spain orders a Royal Road constructed across
the Isthmus between Nombre de Dios on the Atlantic side and Panama on
the Pacific side. It crossed the Chagres River at Las Cruces.

1530--Vessels begin to navigate the Chagres up to Gorgona and Cruces,
and there connect with the Royal Road from Panama.

1534--The Spanish authorities of this New Spain undertake a survey of
the Isthmus, in order to construct a water-way from ocean to ocean.
The project fails.

1535-1814--Nothing more has been accomplished toward bettering
communication across the Isthmus, although a water route by way of Lake
Nicaragua has been much discussed.

1814--Spain authorizes the construction of a canal through the Isthmus,
but by a revolution loses her Central America provinces.

1825--The Republic of Central America requests the assistance of the
United States in the construction of a canal through Nicaragua.

1826--Aaron H. Palmer, of New York, contracts with the Republic of
Central America for the construction of a canal across Nicaragua. This
project also fails, and so does an English plan.

1827--President Bolivar of the Republic of Colombia (formed by the
States of New Granada, Ecuador and