User:Ksbasilk/sandbox

Starting from the 1870s, the Southern Pacific Railroad company commissioned authors to write articles and books promoting California. While Northern California became predominantly white by the mid-19th century, Southern California remained mainly Mexican until the first major waves of white immigrants began to arrive in the 1880s after the Southern Pacific railroad reach Los Angeles. Between 1880 and 1920, Southern California’s population grew from 64,000 to 1.3 million, most of which was contributed by white health-seekers, real estate investors, and Midwestern farmers. As Southern California in the late nineteenth century was promoted as a “semi-tropical” paradise ideal for health and agriculture, these groups of immigrants, many of whom were middle-to-upper-class Americans, moved into the region via the newly built railroads connecting Southern California to the rest of the United States. A 1913 census shows that white Americans composed 95% of California’s population. Other sources note that by 1910, 96% of the population of Los Angeles was white. Although this is probably an overestimation due to flaws in statistical methods, it shows the significant white predominance in California by the early 20th century.