The New Student's Reference Work/Sacramento, Cal.

Sacramento, Cal. (săk-rȧ-mĕn'tṓ), capital of California, is on the east bank of Sacramento River at the mouth of the American, 90 miles by rail northeast of San Francisco. The main public buildings are the capitol, which cost about $2,000,000; the courthouse, hospital, postoffice, a Roman Catholic cathedral, Crocker Art-Gallery, and the Masonic and Odd Fellows' Halls. There are flour and planing mills, carriage, box and broom factories, foundries, potteries, spice-mills and a cannery. Here also are the shops of the Southern Pacific Railroad, covering 25 acres. Sacramento was settled in 1839 by a Swiss, who built a fort in 1841. It was not till 1848, after the discovery of gold, that the city, at first a town of tents, was laid out. It became the capital in 1854. Population 44,696.