Angels Camp and Calaveras County History

Calaveras County, one of the original 27 counties of the State, was organized at the 1849-50 session of the California State Legislature. At one time it embraced a portion of Amador, Alpine and Mono Counties. In 1854, Amador County was created from Calaveras and El Dorado counties, and parts of Calaveras County was taken to form Fresno County in 1856, Mono County in 1861 and Alpine County in 1864.

Calaveras is a Spanish word meaning skull. This name was first given to the river because of the great quantities of human skulls found along the lower reaches of the river. They were believed to have been from the Native American Indians, which were the first to inhabit the area.

Pleasant Valley, better known as Double Springs, was designated as the first county seat. Court was held in a large tent, and later a small courthouse was erected from camphor wood imported from China. The old building is still standing at Double Springs. The county seat was moved to Jackson in 1850 where it remained until 1852. Jackson was in Calaveras County at that time. In 1852 the county seat was moved to Mokelumne Hill where it remained until 1863. After an election in 1863 San Andreas was declared to be the county seat. Legal action followed this election, and it was not until 1866 that the county seat was actually moved to San Andreas where it has since remained.

The Calaveras Chronicle, the first weekly newspaper published in California, was published on October 28, 1851, in Mokelumne Hill. The first grove of Big Trees, "Sequoia Gigantea," discovered in California was the Calaveras Grove of Big Trees. These were located in 1852 by A. T. Dowd, a hunter for the Union Water Company, which at that time was building an aqueduct from the Stanislaus River to Murphys.

The largest gold nugget found in the United States was taken from the Morgan Mine at Carson Hill in November 1854. When weighed on Adams Express Company's gold scales in Stockton, it balanced the scales at 214 pounds and eight ounces, Troy.

The first three story building erected in the interior of California was in Mokelumne Hill. Calaveras County is famous for its lode and placer mines, and for many years it was the principal copper-producing county in California. Cement production from its vast limestone deposits has become one of the county's major industries in recent years.