title: Sacramento:   Indomitable  City   (CA)  (Making of America)
author:  Steven  M. Avella 
description: Historian Steven Avella employs his extensive local knowledge to highlight Sacramento's past and examine the complexities of an emerging western community. His detailed chronicle canvasses the influential events of this capital city's history, from the Nisenan and Miwok Indian tribes to modern events that are shaping California's future as a leader on the American landscape.
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  # A MUNICIPAL REPORT
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### O Henry
  
  
  
  
  
  
      
  
  
  The cities are full of pride,
  
  
  Challenging each to each—
  
  
  This from her mountainside,
  
  
  That from her burthened beach.
  
  
  
  
  
  R. KIPLING.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Fancy a novel about Chicago or Buffalo, let us say, or Nashville,
  
  
  Tennessee! There are just three big cities in the United States
  
  
  that are "story cities"—New York, of course, New Orleans, and,
  
  
  best of the lot, San Francisco. —FRANK NORRIS.
  
  
  
  
  
  East is East, and West is San Francisco, according to Californians.
  
  
  Californians are a race of people; they are not merely inhabitants of
  
  
  a State. They are the Southerners of the West. Now, Chicagoans are
  
  
  no less loyal to their city; but when you ask them why, they stammer
  
  
  and speak of lake fish and the new Odd Fellows Building. But
  
  
  Californians go into detail.
  
  
  Of course they have, in the climate, an argument that is good for
  
  
  half an hour while you are thinking of your c