Tuolumne County, officially the County of Tuolumne, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,620. The county seat and only incorporated city is Sonora.
Groveland-Big Oak Flat is an unincorporated community and former census-designated place (CDP) in Tuolumne County, California, United States. The population was 3,388 at the 2000 census. This CDP included the communities of Groveland, Big Oak Flat and Pine Mountain Lake (PML).
Hetch Hetchy is a valley, reservoir, and water system in California in the United States. The glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley lies in the northwestern part of Yosemite National Park and is drained by the Tuolumne River. For thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from the United States in the 1850s, the valley was inhabited by Native Americans who practiced subsistence hunting-gathering.
The Merced River, in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a 145-mile (233 km)-long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and steep course through the southern part of Yosemite National Park, where it is the primary watercourse flowing through Yosemite Valley. The river's character changes dramatically once it reaches the plains of the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, where it becomes a slow-moving meandering stream.
The Tuolumne River flows for 149 miles (240 km) through Central California, from the high Sierra Nevada to join the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley. Originating at over 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level in Yosemite National Park, the Tuolumne drains a rugged watershed of 1,958 square miles (5,070 km2), carving a series of canyons through the western slope of the Sierra. While the upper Tuolumne is a fast-flowing mountain stream, the lower river crosses a broad, fertile and extensively cultivated alluvial plain. Like most other central California rivers, the Tuolumne is dammed multiple times for irrigation and the generation of hydroelectricity.
State Route 120 is a state highway in the central part of California, connecting the San Joaquin Valley with the Sierra Nevada, Yosemite National Park, and the Mono Lake area. Its western terminus is at Interstate 5 in Lathrop, and its eastern terminus is at U.S. Route 6 in Benton. While the route is signed as a contiguous route through Yosemite, the portion inside the park is federally maintained and is not included in the state route logs. The portion at Tioga Pass at Yosemite's eastern boundary is the highest paved through road in the California State Route system. This part is not maintained in the winter and is usually closed during the winter season.
Human habitation in the Sierra Nevada region of California reaches back 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. Historically attested Native American populations, such as the Sierra Miwok, Mono and Paiute, belong to the Uto-Aztecan and Utian phyla. In the mid-19th century, a band of Native Americans called the Ahwahnechee lived in Yosemite Valley. The California Gold Rush greatly increased the number of non-indigenous people in the region. Tensions between Native Americans and white settlers escalated into the Mariposa War. As part of this conflict, settler James Savage led the Mariposa Battalion into Yosemite Valley in 1851, in pursuit of Ahwaneechees led by Chief Tenaya. The California state military forces burned the tribe's villages, destroyed their food stores, killed the chief's sons, and forced the tribe out of Yosemite. Accounts from the Mariposa Battalion, especially from Dr. Lafayette Bunnell, popularized Yosemite Valley as a scenic wonder.
Tenaya Lake is an alpine lake in Yosemite National Park, located between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows. The surface of Tenaya Lake has an elevation of 8,150 feet (2,484 m). The lake basin was formed by glacial action, which left a backdrop of light granite rocks, whose beauty was known to the Native Americans. Today, Tenaya Lake is easily accessible by State Route 120 and is a popular lake for water activities.
Area codes 209 and 350 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California. Their service area includes Stockton, Modesto, Turlock, Merced, Winton, Atwater, Livingston, Manteca, Ripon, Tracy, Lodi, Galt, Sonora, Los Banos, San Andreas, Mariposa, and Yosemite, the northern San Joaquin Valley, and the Sierra Foothills.
Pine Mountain Lake (PML) is a private gated community and a census-designated place (CDP) in Tuolumne County, California. It is located 0.8 miles (1.3 km) north and east of Groveland. Pine Mountain Lake sits at an elevation of 2,795 feet (852 m). The 2010 United States census reported Pine Mountain Lake's population was 2,796.
Groveland is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tuolumne County, California. Groveland sits at an elevation of 3,136 feet (956 m). The 2020 United States census reported Groveland's population was 540.
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.
Leavitt Peak is located in the Emigrant Wilderness near Sonora Pass in the eastern Sierra Nevada range of California. Leavitt Peak is located on the Tuolumne County - Mono County line. The Pacific Crest Trail runs close to the east of Leavitt Peak, at an elevation of about 10,800 feet (3,290 m) elevation. The peak offers views south to Yosemite National Park and north towards South Lake Tahoe.
John Chaffee and Jason Chamberlain were gold miners in California who lived together for over 50 years. Referred to as the "wedded bachelors", they are a well-documented example in early American history of a male same-sex couple living in a relationship similar to marriage. There is some evidence they were the inspiration for Bret Hart's gold rush era story Tennessee's Partner and they are part of the local lore of Tuolumne county where they lived.
Sawmill Flat is a locale, formerly a settlement during the California Gold Rush, now a ghost town in Tuolumne County, California. It lies at an elevation of 2,136 feet south of Martinez, another former gold rush settlement.
False White Mountain is a mountain, in the northern part of Yosemite National Park. It is the 24th highest mountain, in Yosemite National Park. False White Mountain can be climbed, as a day hike, from Tioga Pass.
The Gamble Building and Miner's Bean Kettle in Big Oak Flat, California was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
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.
