Gilded Age California

After the Gold Rush, California’s economy expanded through railroads, commercial agriculture, mining, ports, oil and urban development. The Southern Pacific and allied interests exercised extensive influence over land, transport and state politics.

San Francisco became a centre of finance and journalism while Los Angeles and Southern California grew through irrigation, citrus, property promotion and new industries. Chinese exclusion, labour conflict and political corruption accompanied the creation of immense fortunes.

This context supports historical fiction about railroad magnates, newspaper empires, reform politics, immigrant labour, land development and ambitious newcomers attempting to remake California.