In 1769, Jose Francisco Ortega,
scouting for the Portola-Serra
party, became the first European
to visit the fertile valley
inhabited by Los Costanos Indians
(the coast people) and later were
called the Ohlone.

Spain began colonizing California
by establishing a string of 21
churches, called missions. By 1839,
squatters took over the Santa Clara
Mission.

California became a state in 1850.
The Gold Rush of 1849 brought
many settlers. The town site was
surveyed by William Campbell into
lots one 100 yards square, and one

The immediate vicinity around Santa Clara became famous
for its acre-upon-acre of flower and vegetable seed farms.
The abundantfruit crop Santa Clara orchards produced was
either shipped fresh, dried, or canned. By 1906, the
population of the city had grown to nearly 5,000.

A new product, the semiconductor chip, was developed in
the 1950's. By 1990, the city covered 19.1 square miles
and had a population of more than 93,000. Few remnants of
Santa Clara's agricultural past remain as it today sits in
the heart of what is known world-wide as Silicon Valley.

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