California State Facts...

The official state flag of California, called the Bear Flag, was first used on June 14, 1846, but was not officially adopted  until 1911. It was designed by William Todd. The flag pictures a grizzly bear and a star. The first Californian flag was quickly made by a group of American settlers who had just captured the town of Sonoma (from Mexico) and need a flag to replace the Mexican banner.

• STATE ABBREVIATION: CA
• STATE CAPITAL: Sacramento
• AREA: 163,707 square miles, (California is 3rd largest state - only Alaska and Texas are bigger)
• POPULATION: 33,871,648 (as of 2000) (California is the most populous state in the USA)
• NAME FOR RESIDENTS: Californians
• MAIN RIVERS: Sacramento River, Colorado River, San Joaquin River
• HIGHEST POINT: Mt. Whitney - 14,495 feet above sea level
• LOWEST POINT: Death Valley - 282 feet below sea level (lowest point in the Western Hemisphere)
• ORIGIN OF NAME: comes from a mythical Spanish island ruled by a queen called Califia that was featured in a Spanish Romance ("Las Sergas de Esplandian") written by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo in 1510. The Spanish explorers originally thought  that California was an island.
• STATE NICKNAME: The Golden State
• STATE MOTTO: Eureka (I have found it)
• STATE SONG: "I Love You, California"
• STATE BIRD: California Valley Quail
• STATE MAMMAL: Grizzly Bear
• STATE MARINE MAMMAL: Gray Whale
• STATE REPTILE: Desert Tortoise
• STATE INSECT: California Dogface Butterfly
• STATE FISH: Golden Trout
• STATE MARINE FISH: Garibaldi
• STATE FLOWER: California Poppy
• STATE TREE: Redwood
• STATE GRASS: Purple Needlegrass
• STATE FOSSIL: Smilodon fatalis (Sabertooth tiger)
• STATE ROCK: Serpentinite
• STATE MINERAL: Gold
• STATE GEM: Benitoite