California didn't become a state territory until after the Mexican-American War. Then, the start of the gold rush in 1848 brought a new wave of settlers to the Sacramento Valley. After the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in Sacramento in 1848, California’s population leaped from 14,000 to 250,000 in only four years. Between 1850 and 1859, miners found 28,280,711 ounces of gold. By 1850 California became the 31st state. The Gold Rush helped the California territory become a state. Due to the Northwest Ordinance any territory had to have a population of 60,000 and 5,000 voters to apply for statehood. Before the Gold Rush Califormia's population of 14,000 was a mixture of Mexicans, Russians, Americans, Europeans and native people.  Making California unable to apply for statehood.  With the huge volume of goldseekers flooding California, while some left, those who stayed made the territory able apply for statehood, thanks to the population boom from the discovery of gold.  When it came time ot set the state's boundaries the California lawmakers did something that no new states had done.  That was draw their own borders.  They included the Sierra Neveda Mountains because it was filled with gold. If Congress had their way the border of California would be set along the crest of the Sierra Neveda Mointains.