Samuel Brannan (1819-1889) was a Mormon elder who came to San Francisco in 1846 in hopes of building a new Mormon settlement there. In 1848, Brannan became the most enthusiastic and successful prom...

Leland Stanford (1824-1893) was an entrepreneur, politician, and with his wife Jane, the founder of Stanford University.NBD.After moving to California in 1852, Stanford opened a general store to su...

Levi Strauss (1829-1902) was a Bavarian immigrant who, during the California Gold Rush, went into business as a dry goods wholesaler on San Francisco's Market Street.In 1853, Strauss began making d...

John Sutter (1803-1880) was an early California settler who obtained a Mexican land grant for a huge ranch near modern-day Sacramento in 1841. The Gold Rush began in 1848 with the discovery of gold...

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was the pen name for Samuel Langhorne Clemens, an American writer, humorist, and political critic who is best known today for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a...