CATALINA ISLAND, CALIFORNIA

The island was discovered by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese navigator who, seeking the mythical Strait of Anian under orders from the Spanish Crown, put into the small, placid bay now called Avalon on October 7, 1542. … In 1811 a Russian vessel, seeking the prized sea otters, landed in the bay and slaughtered many of the Indians. Until 1821, when Mexico freed herself from Spain and lifted the Spanish ban on foreign trade in California, Santa Catalina was the base for unlawful trading operations with the mainland.

Although gold had been discovered on Santa Catalina in 1834, it was not until 1863 that several prospectors “struck it rich,” starting a gold rush; some 100,000 feet of claims were staked and filed in the Los Angeles County Recorder’s office, and indefatigable prospectors even ran their mine tunnels under the ocean floor. The boom was cut short by three developments: a new island owner, José Maria Covarrubias, bought the property in 1855 and vociferously objected to the freebooting activities of the prospectors; a pirate scare frightened the Federal Government; and last but not least the gold ran out.

— California, A Guide To the Golden State (WPA, 1939) 

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Michelle Legro is a native Californian whose writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The Atlantic and Brain Picker. She is an editor at Lapham’s Quarterly and the woman behind My Daguerrotype Boyfriend.