California changed dramatically in the years between the founding of the first mission in 1769 and the 1848 gold rush. These eleven eyewitness accounts vividly describe the first European land expedition into an unknown territory; the spread of the missions; the rule of Spain and then Mexico; the rise and fall of California's Russian colony; the emergence of rancho culture; the semi-feudal empires of Vallejo and Sutter; and the arrival of Anglo-Americans as ship-deserters, settlers, traders, and ultimately -- perhaps inevitably -- the masters of California.