Chinese Camp is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tuolumne County, California, United States. The population was 126 at the 2010 census, down from 146 at the 2000 census. It lies in the grassy foothills of the Sierra Nevada near the southern end of California's Gold Country.
The Gold Country is a historic region in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, that is primarily on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. It is famed for the mineral deposits and gold mines that attracted waves of immigrants, known as the 49ers, during the 1849 California Gold Rush.
State Route 49 is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that passes through many historic mining communities of the 1849 California gold rush and it is known as the Golden Chain Highway. The highway's creation was lobbied by the Mother Lode Highway Association, a group of locals and historians seeking a single highway to connect many relevant locations along the Gold Rush to honor the 49ers. One of the bridges along SR 49 is named for the leader of the association, Archie Stevenot.
Freeman Junction, a ghost town in Kern County, California, USA, was first homesteaded in the early 1870s. Freeman S. Raymond built a stage coach station here to accommodate travelers between the desert mines and Los Angeles. A group of Native Americans who were defending their homes and families in 1909 killed off the homesteaders and burned the stage station, after which the property lay dormant for several years. It was re-homesteaded in the 1920s by Clare C. Miley, who was born in 1900, and his wife. By the 1930s their small stone cabin became a gas station/car repair and later, a restaurant and some mining activities dominated the site. In 1953 a post office was planned, but never materialized and residents had to travel seven miles to Inyokern to collect their mail. By June, 1978, the town had died once again and the remains of the town have since been removed by passersby. Today, the site has reverted to its natural state and nothing remains.
Holcomb Valley, located in the San Bernardino Mountains about five miles north of Big Bear Lake, was the site of the most gold mines in Southern California. It was named after William F. Holcomb, who found gold there in 1860. That year started the largest gold rush in the Southern California region. The boomtown of Belleville grew up near there and flourished for about ten years before being abandoned. The site is now registered as California Historical Landmark #619.
French Corral is an unincorporated community approximately five miles west of California State Highway 49 in Nevada County, California, United States.
La Grange is a small unincorporated community in rural Stanislaus County, California. Its altitude is 249 feet (76 m). As of 2020 it has a population of 166. It is located at 37°39′49″N120°27′49″W along the Tuolumne River, and is near the La Grange Dam and the New Don Pedro Dam.
Plumas-Eureka State Park is a California state park located in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range in Plumas County, California.
Timbuctoo is an unincorporated community in Yuba County, California. It lies northwest of Smartsville, at an elevation of 397 feet.
Virginiatown is a former settlement in Placer County, California. Virginiatown is located on Auburn Ravine, 7.5 miles (12.1 km) west of Auburn.
Carbondale, in Orange County, California, is a historical coal mining town in Santiago Canyon, where Santiago Creek had its confluence with Silverado Creek in Silverado, California. It had a post office from May 11, 1881, to January 29, 1884, when it was closed and mail sent to the Santa Ana post office.
Second Garrotte is a ghost town located near Groveland in Tuolumne County, California originally settled during the California Gold Rush. The site of Second Garrote is a California Historical Landmark, No. 460 listed on May 9, 1950. It lies at an elevation of 2,894 feet in Second Garrotte Basin.
Manchester was a mining town in the Los Burros Mining District in the southern Big Sur region of Monterey County, California from about 1875 to 1895. The town was reached by a 20 miles (32 km) road from King City to Jolon. From Jolon travelers could ride or take a stage or wagon to the Wagon Caves, followed by a difficult 14 miles (23 km) trail over the steep Santa Lucia Mountains to the site, about 4 miles (6.4 km) inland of Cape San Martin. Prospecting began in the area in the 1850s.
The site of the Old Mining Camp of Brownsville is a California Historical Landmark on Pennsylvania Gulch Road east of the town of Murphys, California in Calaveras County. The Mining Camp of Brownsville was a California Gold Rush camp in Pennsylvania Gulch in from 1850 to 1870. The camp is named after Alfred Brown, who was the former owner of the Table Mountain Ranch. There were many rich mines in the area and Brownsville Mining Camp supported this activity. So rich was the area, the Brownsville Mining District limited the size of mines in the District. Each miner could claim and own only one wet and one dry site, no larger than 150 square feet each. Brownsville Mining District was in the area of Pennsylvania Gulches and Missouri Gulches 2 miles from Murphys. There are no remains of the camp, but nearby is the Brownsville Mining District Cemetery. A plaque monument was dedicated on July 19, 1953, by California State Park Commission with the monument base built by Christa Parlor No. 137 and Ruby Parlor No. 49 of the Native Daughters of the Golden West.
Reading's Bar is a historical site in Redding, California in Shasta County. Reading's Bar is a California Historical Landmark No. 32 listed on August 1, 1932. Reading's Bar was named after Major Pierson Barton Reading, who discovered gold on the Clear Creek bar in May 1848, starting a California Gold Rush in the surrounding area. Later he found gold on a sandbar on the Trinity River that started the Trinity Alps Gold Rush. Reading's gold discovery was a major part of the California Gold Rush and news of the find created a rush of gold prospecting in Northern California, well north of the better-known gold fields of the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Piety Hill, California is a historical site on Cloverdale Road in Shasta County, near Igo, California. The city was founded in 1949 as part of the California Gold Rush. Like many Gold Rush camps that became a town, the town grew quickly from a few miners to a town of 1,500. Near Piety Hill was Chinatown of 600 that mined and farmed. The large scale Hardscrabble mine opened in 1853. Mining need lot of water and the Dry Creek Tunnel and Fluming Company both ran a water system, with a two-mile ditch, to the town and mines nearby, built with Chinese labor. In 1866 the Hardscrabble's hydraulic mining run off threatened the town. Many fed to nearby Igo. Hydraulic mining was outlawed in 1884 in the anti-debris act. The town ended in the 1920 when the last two Chinese residents died. The Dry Creek Tunnel and Fluming Company water right were transferred to the Happy Valley Land and Water Company that serves the Happy Valley area. There are no remains of this town. The Piety Hill Loop is 4.1-mile loop trail near near Igo. A historical was place near the form town by the Ono Grange #445, E Clampus Vitus, Trintarianus Chapter # 62 and the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management.
Cherokee, California is a historical mining town site in Tuolumne, California in Tuolumne County, California. The site of the Cherokee, California is a California Historical Landmark No. 410 listed on December 11, 1949. The Scott brothers, descendants of the Cherokee Tribe, discovered gold in 1853 in Tuolumne County. Soon many placer mines started in the valley of Cherokee and the town of Cherokee was founded. When the placer gold panning (diggins) ran out, some quartz mines opened around Cherokee. Cherokee was the first mining town in the East Best of the California Mother Lode. Cherokee supported the other nearby mining camp of Independence, Little Jessie, Mary Ellen, Plowboy and Excelsior. At its peak Cherokee had a population of 700 in 1856. After the gold ran out the Scanvino brothers, Domingo and Ciovanni, from Italy, started a family farm that replaced Cherokee. Cherokee is now a neighborhood of Tuolumne City. A marker at the site was place there by the California Centennials Commission on December 11, 1949.
Parrott's Ferry is a historical cable ferry site in Columbia, California in Tuolumne County, California. It is California Historical Landmark No. 438, listed on June 2, 1949.
Shaw's Flat, California is a historical ghost town and mining town in Columbia, California in Tuolumne County, California. The site of the Shaw's Flat is a California Historical Landmark No. 395 listed on March 8, 1948. Shaw's Flat was 49 California Gold Rush town founded in 1850. The town is named after it first settler, Mandeville Shaw. In November 1849, Shaw started an orchard on the eastern slope of Table Mountain. The California Gold Rush started shortly after Shaw's. Nearby Tarleton Caldwell, started Caldwell's Gardens by growing black walnut. Caldwell found gold on his land. James G. Fair found Gold and went on to be a United States senator.
Tuolumne Wells Fargo Express Company Building is a historical building in Chinese Camp, California Tuolumne County, California. The Tuolumne Wells Fargo Express Company Building is a California Historical Landmark No. 140 listed on June 6, 1934. The Tuolumne Wells Fargo Express Company Building was built in 1849. Contrustion was done by the Walkerly brothers. After the Wells Fargo Express moved out the Morris brothers took ownership of the building and it became a general store. Morris brothers also worked with the Adams Express Company. The original express agents were Sol Miller, C. W. H. Solinsky, and the Morris brothers.
