The Constitutional Convention of 1849 adopted a “Great Seal of the State of California.” The seal was designed by Major Robert Selden Garnett of the United States Army, and presented to the convention by Caleb Lyon, one of the clerks of the convention. The explanation accompanying the seal, as read to the convention on October 2, 1849, is as follows:

“Around the bevel of the ring are represented thirty-one stars being the number of states of which the union will consist upon the admission of California.” “The foreground figure represents the Goddess Minerva having sprung full grown from the brain of Jupiter. She is introduced as a type of the political birth of the State of California without having gone through the probation of a Territory. At her feet crouches a grizzly bear feeding upon clusters from a grape vine emblematic of the peculiar characteristics of the country. A miner is engaged in a rocker and bowl at his side, illustrating the golden wealth of the Sacramento upon whose waters are seen shipping typical of commercial greatness and the Snow-clad peaks of the Sierra Nevada make up the background while above is the Greek motto ‘Eureka’ (I have found it) applying either to the principle involved in the admission of the State, or the success of the miner at work.”