{"id":1850,"date":"1996-02-11T05:14:41","date_gmt":"1996-02-11T05:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogschapman.wpenginepowered.com\/huell-howser-archives\/1996\/11\/08\/california-firsts-californias-gold-703\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T21:35:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T21:35:42","slug":"california-firsts-californias-gold-703","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/huell-howser-archives\/1996\/02\/11\/california-firsts-californias-gold-703\/","title":{"rendered":"California Firsts &#8211; California&#039;s Gold (703)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">From orange groves to freeways, everybody knows about some of the most important and uniquely Californian firsts our state has produced. In this episode Huell looks at three unexpected California firsts that occurred in ways and places people never imagined: the surprising story behind the &#8220;real&#8221; discovery of gold in California, the unlikely spot of the first oil drilling in California and finally a galvanizing visit to a location where an overlooked innovation in the history of electricity took place.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Note: This episode was released across Public Broadcasting Service&#8217;s (PBS) affiliated stations in California, but not necessarily on the same day for each station. The date shown represents an earliest, approximate airdate for this episode. A more conclusive airdate may potentially be between February 11, 1996 &#8211; February 20, 1996.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embedded Media titled: GOLD00703_ca_first\" src=\"https:\/\/video.chapman.edu\/V\/Video?v=9855021&amp;node=43255238&amp;a=134494304&amp;preload=false\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From orange groves to freeways, everybody knows about some of the most important and uniquely Californian firsts our state has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"custom_author_name":"","chapman_pin_hero_slider":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1200,990,1201,1202,1203,1204,437,394,1205,1206,960,1207,1208],"class_list":["post-1850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-californias-gold","tag-electricity","tag-folsom","tag-folsom-power-house","tag-folsom-powerhouse","tag-folsom-powerhouse-state-historic-park","tag-francisco-lopez","tag-gold","tag-gold-rush","tag-humboldt-county","tag-jerry-reynolds","tag-oil-drilling","tag-petrolia","tag-placerita-canyon"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - 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