 In 1846 the Oregon boundary dispute was settled with Great Britain and California was under U.S. control in 1847 and annexed and paid for in 1848.The United States was now a Pacific Ocean power.Starting in 1848 the U.S. Congress, after the annexation of California but before the California Gold Rush was confirmed there, had subsidized the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with $199,999 to set up regular packet ship, mail, passenger and cargo routes in the Pacific Ocean.