Not even about Ford? He wanted to score points with other States by knocking NY down when the City was a smoldering mess. Literally wanted us to have a blackout for a few days, if I remember correctly (I was a tad young, so look that bit up to verify...), to teach us a lesson.
Then he was told by the powers that be to step off. NYC goes, so does the USA, so does the World.
'49ers, Gold Rush. That, silver, minerals, lumber, oil, farming, seaports... Without raw materials and the means to sell them, you can have the most industrious people, that won't mean squat. Look at Europe. The richest countries they had just so happened to have had colonial holdings where they got their wealth from. Once they lost them after WWII, their fortunes began to decline.
No Cali, no NYC, no economy.