First of was a group of people who made the missions along the west coast. Then the it was a lot of rancheros, or ranchers, these people claimed large plots of California to make ranches for cows. During the 1800s is the time of the Gold Rush, this is when you see a rush of people claiming plots of land, Building huge cities, and making money. I hope this will help you a little bit. The biggest rush of this area was the year of 1849, that's why the people of the gold rush are sometimes called 49ers.