who wrote the immigrant's guide to california
Lansford Hastings Hastings wrote The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California to induce Americans to move to California, hoping they could effect a bloodless revolution by sheer numbers. He described California in glowing terms and gave practical advice to overland travelers. Contrary to popular belief, he did not promote the cutoff that bears his name in his book. He merely described it in a single sentence as a possible route: "The most direct path would be leave the Oregon route, about two hundred miles east of Fort Hall; thence bearing west-south west, to the Salt Lake; and thence continuing down to the bay of San Francisco." (Hastings, pp. 137–138). However, Hastings wrote this statement before he had traveled the route himself, and he may have been unaware of the difficulties in crossing the Wasatch Range and the salt flats of western Utah.
History of California The U.S. 1850 California Census asks state of birth of all residents and finds about 7300 residents that were born in California. The San Francisco, Contra Costa and Santa Clara county U.S. censuses were lost or burned in one of San Francisco's many fires. Adding the approximate 200 Hispanics in San Francisco (1846 directory) and an unknown (but small as shown in 1852 CA Census recount) number of Hispanics in Contra Costa and Santa Clara county in 1846 gives less than 8,000 Hispanics statewide in 1846 before hostilities commenced. The number of California Indians is unknown since they were not included in the 1850 census but has been roughly estimated to be between 50,000 and 150,000.