Unkown -1768- Karkin Indians live a seasonal life of hunting, gathering and trading with other tribes of the Ohlone Indian group in the Bay Area.
1769- Spanish expeditions discover San Francisco Bay.
1770-1834- Mission life is at its peak in California.
1820- Mission records indicate that no Ohlones were left in the area.
1821- Mexico wins independence from Spain.
1823- Don Ygnacio Martinez receives Rancho El Pinole, a 17,700-acre land grant in Contra Costa.
1836- Dr. John Marsh was first Anglo-American physician to live in Contra Costa County.
1847- First ferry across the Carquinez Straits.
1848- Gold discovered in California.
1849- Colonel William Smith aquires 120 acres from Don Ygnacio Martinez’s living relatives and founds the city of Martinez.
1849- Don Ygnacio’s son, Vincente Martinez, builds a two-story Adobe home (located at the rear of John Muir NHS).
1850- California admitted as the thirty-first (31) State of the United States.
1851- Martinez is named the county seat.
1869- Dr. John T. Strentzel (father-in-law of John Muir, and fruit, nut orchard and vineyard pioneer in the Alhambra Valley) devised a way of shipping fruit with carbonized bran, thus preserving the fruit for improved quality and opened up markets previously unattainable.
1876- Captain Joseph Walker, frontier scout credited with the discovery of Yosemite Valley in 1833, dies in Martinez and is buried in Alhambra Cemetery.
1876- Martinez incorporated as a city.
1877- Central Pacific Railroad reaches Martinez, providing long distance shipping of Alhambra Valley produce.
1879- The Christian Brothers purchase land in Martinez and develop their first 12 acres of vineyards.
1880- Population of Martinez is 875.
1881- Martinez is connected with telephone service.
1882- Portuguese and Italian fisherman provide large amounts of fish from the Carquinez Straits. So much that two of the twelve Pacific coast canneries were located in Martinez.
1884- 1.5 miles of telephone cable laid to connect the Muir House.
1900- Santa Fe Railroad reaches Martinez, also providing long distance shipping of Alhambra Valley produce.
