This Year in History

1860

This Year in History - 1860

  • On April 16, the first Pony Express riders arrive in both Sacramento and St. Joseph, Missouri, proving that the mail could be delivered in ten days. Throngs of people turn out in both cities to welcome the riders. From Sacramento, mail is ferried down the Sacramento River to San Francisco.
  • The first federal census conducted in California in 1860 counts 308,000 residents. Disease brought by gold prospectors, as well as violence committed against Native peoples cause the Native population to fall from 310,000 in 1769 to about 30,000.
  • Californians narrowly deliver four electoral votes to Republican Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election. Lincoln edges the Democratic nominee, Stephen Douglas by 734 votes. Southern Democratic nominee, Vice President John C. Breckenridge, finished third.
  • The Marysville Appeal newspaper begins publication in Yuba County.