The Empty Interior

Since the 19th century, America's fascination with gold and silver has brought individuals (and their families) out on quests in order to find lands where they could "strike it rich". Pathways to states where gold was abundant (such as the Oregon Trail) were quickly formed and traveled over, until the mining areas ran out of ore, to which they were abandoned and people moved onto the next one. States that are located within the empty interior such as Nevada became popular in this era for gold and silver mining, as well as other areas such as ones in Northern California around Sacramento.

Gold Ore found at Mother Lode, near Sacramento
(Source: http://nevada-outback-gems.com/prospect/gold_specimen/gold_ore_calif_b.jpg)

Throughout Nevada, gold mining was a very enticing reason for moving to the dry desolate desert. Miners began to populate the region even before it had become a unionized state, and came to live with the Mormons who had already established a settlement there. Towns and cities such as Virginia City began to spring up around areas where precious metals were discovered (namely gold and silver). However, the life of these cities was short-lived, due to the fact that these mines became quickly depleted due to their popularity, which caused people to move away from these towns to mine elsewhere, quickly transforming a once populated area into a ghost town. Nowadays, these areas have become tourist attractions.

Virginia City in the 1860's
(Source: http://nevada-outback-gems.com/Mark_Twain/virginia_city1861.jpg)

In Northern California, similar actions were taking place, but not quite in the same manner. Settlers from the East and Midwest began to trickle into both California and Oregon during the Gold Rush era of the 1850's. Northern California became famous for the gold mines that were found in places such as Eureka, and had more settlers established themselves there due to the large amount of mines that were found in the area. Some of these towns, such as Bodie, were filled with people during this era, but became ghost towns once the mines near the towns ran out of gold. However, some of these cities did survive long enough to be the major ones that we see today. One example of this is Sacramento. When John Sutter was building the foundation for his mill, he discovered gold around the area. After word had gotten out about the gold, settlers began to rush into his town and area, hoping to strike it rich there. His son, John Sutter Jr., was able to take these settlers and grow Sutterville into modern-day Sacramento, which became the state capital in 1854. Though the gold around Sacramento is very much depleted from how much there once was, the city is still very active, with just under 1.4 million residents.

Sacramento River in 1860
(Source: http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt696nc58z/hi-res%3Bjsessionid=DvS-cWFCvv-PIveM)

If we were to review both Virginia City and Sacramento together, and focus on the strengths and weaknesses of each, we can see that Sacramento has a lot more potential than Virginia City ever had. For starters, Virginia City is located in a very desolate area, where there is little to no vegetation and water. The city was not very close to any major rivers, which prevented water from being irrigated to the city without having to pay for substantial work to be done in the area. The city was not close to any substantial transportation hubs, making it costly to ship goods to and from the city, and making it hard to travel to the city except by horseback, wagon, or on food.

Virgina City In Present Day
(Source: http://www.desertusa.com/Cities/nv/photos/DSCN0905.jpg)

However, Sacramento was (and still is) quite the opposite. Sacramento's location between the Sacramento and American rivers made it easy to ship goods in and out of the city to other areas, and also made it popular for exporting goods to other countries. Due to the city's easy shipping routes, many railroad companies turned Sacramento into a railroad hub, where today the US's largest railroad company in the country is located. The area around Sacramento is filled with plush vegetation, where many farms are located with distribution centers and canneries based in Sacramento. These opportunities have allowed Sacramento to stay prosperous and active area within the United States.

Sacramento in Present Day
(Source: http://www.planetware.com/i/photo/sacramento-ca339.jpg)