Munsey's Magazine, November 1906

# Munsey's Magazine, November 1906

Newton Dent's extensive illustrated essay "The Golden Story of California" celebrates the state's natural geography, historical significance, and economic impact on America. Dent emphasizes California's geographic extremes—Mount Whitney and Death Valley's depths, the Yosemite and Deserts side-by-side—and natural features like Sequoia groves (three-thousand-year-old trees) and Lake Tahoe. He chronicles California's history from Cabrillo's 1542 expedition through Spanish colonial era to the Gold Rush of 1849, highlighting figures like John C. Frémont and the "Forty-Niners." The essay details gold's transformative economic effects: California produced $1.5 billion in gold over fifty-seven years, stabilized U.S. currency, financed industrial infrastructure, and raised wages nationally. Dent credits California with resolving the slavery question by joining as a free state. Profusely illustrated with photographs of landscapes, historical figures (Mark Twain, Bret Harte, railroad magnates), and scenery.