The Donner Party came to California 164 years ago.
The ill-fated company of immigrants got stuck in a heavy, early December snow at the eastern end of Donner Lake below the imposing Donner Summit.
They had crossed the desert without benefit of trains or Interstate 80. The trail that took them through the Great Basin to the Sierra didn't include a way station in what is now Reno. They were on their own against the elements.
It is humbling to realize that just 164 years ago, California was a vast wilderness.
There were occasional settlements along the coast, but they were mere outposts.
California was settled by men and women whose dreams were as big as its mountains, as wide as its Great Central Valley and as vast as its deserts.
Californians - and Americans for that matter - tend to forget just how young this land is both in terms of Old World civilization and nature.
The Golden State is the newest piece of real estate in the contiguous United States. The great forces of nature are still pushing up the Sierra, molding the coastline and cutting deep into the earth's crust to continue to build such stark geological features as Death Valley.
The power and strength of California is underscored by numerous faults, two active volcanoes and an annual show of the power of snow and water that are still carving the face of the Golden State today.
The men and women who created the California Dream were in the same league of the mighty forces of nature.
They flocked to the wilderness in search of gold. They built two of the world's greatest cities - Los Angeles and San Francisco - in just a little more than a hundred years.
They harnessed the power of nature. They built massive dams and aqueducts.
The desert-flood cycles of the Central Valley were put in check to create the most bountiful agricultural region in the earth's history.
When you reflect upon California's natural and manmade wealth, it is easy to see why the men and women of the Donner Party left the comfort of the East and risked it all. They had a vision.
Dreaming and risk taking is part of the California psyche. It is what transformed the Santa Clara Valley into the cradle of high-tech. It is what created the aerospace and entertainment industries. It helped create not just fertile farms where there once was barren wilderness but the modern farming practices and tools that made the transformation complete.
It is what brings farm laborers north from Mexico to work the fields. It is what brings immigrants by the thousands from other states and lands.
It is easy to lose sight of California's bounty when we allow ourselves to be caught in the modern-day Greek Chorus of doom. It is an easy song to sing. The refrain is simple and to the point. California has 38 million people today and will have 45 million by 2025. Toss in a dysfunctional state government that can't rein in spending. California, they say, is doomed.
Skepticism abounds because we don't appreciate how far we have truly come in a short time and how the challenges we face today are minuscule compared to those in the past.
It wasn't all that long ago when the Donner Party headed west that less than 50,000 people inhabited California.
Had the Donner Party been bombarded with pundits and others with negative views on developing California, they never would have left the relative comfort of their East Coast homes.
The greatness of this land is in the ability of its people to dream big and to pursue their dreams.
It isn't by accident that the United States is responsible for the lion's share of man's progress during the past 100 plus years. Nor is it too amazing to realize many of those ideas are generated and implemented here in California.
The Donner Party would be astounded to see what has become of the land they reached in a wicked winter 164 years ago.
They would be even more amazed, though, to listen to the doomsayers who say the challenges we face as California in the 21st century are insurmountable.
Nothing is unattainable in a land that is just seven generations removed from a time when men and women refused to play the odds and instead opted to turn dreams into reality even if it meant their lives.
The ill-fated company of immigrants got stuck in a heavy, early December snow at the eastern end of Donner Lake below the imposing Donner Summit.
They had crossed the desert without benefit of trains or Interstate 80. The trail that took them through the Great Basin to the Sierra didn't include a way station in what is now Reno. They were on their own against the elements.
It is humbling to realize that just 164 years ago, California was a vast wilderness.
There were occasional settlements along the coast, but they were mere outposts.
California was settled by men and women whose dreams were as big as its mountains, as wide as its Great Central Valley and as vast as its deserts.
Californians - and Americans for that matter - tend to forget just how young this land is both in terms of Old World civilization and nature.
The Golden State is the newest piece of real estate in the contiguous United States. The great forces of nature are still pushing up the Sierra, molding the coastline and cutting deep into the earth's crust to continue to build such stark geological features as Death Valley.
The power and strength of California is underscored by numerous faults, two active volcanoes and an annual show of the power of snow and water that are still carving the face of the Golden State today.
The men and women who created the California Dream were in the same league of the mighty forces of nature.
They flocked to the wilderness in search of gold. They built two of the world's greatest cities - Los Angeles and San Francisco - in just a little more than a hundred years.
They harnessed the power of nature. They built massive dams and aqueducts.
The desert-flood cycles of the Central Valley were put in check to create the most bountiful agricultural region in the earth's history.
When you reflect upon California's natural and manmade wealth, it is easy to see why the men and women of the Donner Party left the comfort of the East and risked it all. They had a vision.
Dreaming and risk taking is part of the California psyche. It is what transformed the Santa Clara Valley into the cradle of high-tech. It is what created the aerospace and entertainment industries. It helped create not just fertile farms where there once was barren wilderness but the modern farming practices and tools that made the transformation complete.
It is what brings farm laborers north from Mexico to work the fields. It is what brings immigrants by the thousands from other states and lands.
It is easy to lose sight of California's bounty when we allow ourselves to be caught in the modern-day Greek Chorus of doom. It is an easy song to sing. The refrain is simple and to the point. California has 38 million people today and will have 45 million by 2025. Toss in a dysfunctional state government that can't rein in spending. California, they say, is doomed.
Skepticism abounds because we don't appreciate how far we have truly come in a short time and how the challenges we face today are minuscule compared to those in the past.
It wasn't all that long ago when the Donner Party headed west that less than 50,000 people inhabited California.
Had the Donner Party been bombarded with pundits and others with negative views on developing California, they never would have left the relative comfort of their East Coast homes.
The greatness of this land is in the ability of its people to dream big and to pursue their dreams.
It isn't by accident that the United States is responsible for the lion's share of man's progress during the past 100 plus years. Nor is it too amazing to realize many of those ideas are generated and implemented here in California.
The Donner Party would be astounded to see what has become of the land they reached in a wicked winter 164 years ago.
They would be even more amazed, though, to listen to the doomsayers who say the challenges we face as California in the 21st century are insurmountable.
Nothing is unattainable in a land that is just seven generations removed from a time when men and women refused to play the odds and instead opted to turn dreams into reality even if it meant their lives.
