Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Lane, Franklin Knight, 1864–1921, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1913–20), b. near Charlottetown, P.E.I., Canada. Raised in California, he later studied law and practiced in San Francisco, where ...

(Encyclopedia) Marshall, James Wilson, 1810–85, American pioneer, discoverer of gold in California, b. Hunterdon co., N.J. Migrating to California for his health, he arrived at Sutter's Fort (site of present Sacra...

(Encyclopedia) Mission Indians, Native Americans of S and central California; so called because they were under the jurisdiction of some 21 Spanish missions that were established between 1769 and 1823. The major gro...

(Encyclopedia) Alarcón, Hernando de ārnänˈdō dā älärkōnˈ [key], fl. 1540, Spanish explorer in the Southwest. He was given command of a fleet that was supposed to support the land expedition of Francisco V�...

(Encyclopedia) Howard, Sidney Coe, 1891–1939, American dramatist, b. Oakland, Calif., grad. Univ. of California, 1915, and studied under George Pierce Baker at Harvard. His first successful play was They Knew What...

(Encyclopedia) Waxman, Henry Arnold, 1939–, U.S. congressman, b. Los Angeles, grad. Univ. of California, Los Angeles. (B.A., 1961; J.D., 1964). After serving (1969–74) in the California state assembly, he won (1...

(Encyclopedia) Diebenkorn, Richard, 1922–93, American painter, b. Portland, Oreg. Raised in California, he studied at Stanford and at a collector's home encountered (1943) the work of Matisse, whose bold use of co...

(Encyclopedia) Central Valley, great trough of central Calif., c.450 mi (720 km) long and c.50 mi (80 km) wide, between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges. The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers drain much of the...

(Encyclopedia) Baldessari, John (John Anthony Baldessari), 1931–2020, American artist, b. National City, Calif., grad. San Diego State College (now Univ.; B.A., 1953; M.F.A., 1957). A founder of conceptual art, he...

(Encyclopedia) Robinson, Charles, 1818–94, American politician, first governor of the state of Kansas (1861–63), b. Hardwick, Mass. He studied medicine and in 1849 he joined the gold rush to California, where th...