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Search for a Southern Route
Sonora-California Trail
The development of the southern route to California--as if all had
been in anticipation of the gold discovery in 1848-- extended over a
period of over 150 years, if its origins are traced back only as far as
Kino's day. Spanish use of the trail was never heavy. The population
of New Spain's northern provinces was too sparse, the financial
support by the crown too uncertain, and the Indian problems too
complex. Though the Mexicans re-opened the Sonora-California trail
that had been closed at the end of the Spanish era, traffic was never
extensive until the discovery of gold. Sonorans were among the
earliest arrivals at the California mines.
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