Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

You can use brief portions of copyrighted material under the legal doctrine of "fair use" (search for it). Merely using a copyrighted source as a reference is usually acceptable.

As for copying longer portions, you can always use any publicly available U.S. Government material, which covers quite a lot. You are on fairly safe ground using material that is more than 100 years old.

If you complete your book and find a publisher, the publisher will have the book lawyered and any copyright concerns addressed. It is always possible to get permission to use other people's material, it never hurts to ask.