Mexico Exploits California

I did a search, and I can't believe that nobody's done one of these. Or at least, if they did, they didn't file it under keywords conducive to searching.

At one point, Mexico owned a fair amount of land in America, including California. Their biggest hurdle in my mind has always been one of money, so the thought came to me; what if the Mexicans had discovered the amount of gold in California and began to harvest it? I believe that there was also a large amount of silver in one of their territories, but I can't quite recall which.

How would history have changed if in 1822, one year after Mexico gained its independence, some poor, if loyal, sop in California made that startling discovery that so changed America?
 
Believe me this HAS been done before.

Mexico has a host of problems exploiting California. Population, distance and money were all there. Unless you read about early California one does not get the an appreciation of how far San Diego or Monterrey were from Mexico City. Any gold find is more than likely going to be eventually lost to Mexico since it can not hold the territory - and this is in regard to the likelihood of annexation by the US, Britain or even a local revolution and independent state. There is no Mexican stability domestically that would cause the outlying regions, like California, to not be neglected by the central government.
 
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