In the 1850s many Australians travelled to California to take part in the California Gold Rush. Much of California has similar climate to parts of Australia, and some people had the idea of introducing eucalypts. By the early 1900s thousands of hectares of eucalypts were planted with the encouragement of the state government. It was hoped that they would provide a renewable source of timber for construction and furniture making. However this did not happen partly because the trees were cut when they were too young and partly because the Americans did not know how to process the cut trees to prevent the wood from twisting and splitting.