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Calaveras County, California | |
|---|---|
 Calaveras County view | |
 Flag  Seal | |
 Interactive map of Calaveras County | |
 Location in the state of California | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Regions | Sierra Nevada, Gold Country |
| Incorporated | February 18, 1850[1] |
| Named for | Spanish word meaning "skulls" |
| County seat | San Andreas |
| Largest community | Rancho Calaveras (population) Mountain Ranch (area) |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council–CAO |
| • Body | Board of Supervisors[2] |
| • Chair | Gary Tofanelli |
| • Vice Chair | Jack Garamendi |
| • Board of Supervisors[2] | Supervisors
|
| • County Administrative Oficer[3] | Crista Voh Latta |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,037 sq mi (2,690 km2) |
| • Land | 1,020 sq mi (2,600 km2) |
| • Water | 17 sq mi (40 km2) |
| Highest elevation | 8,174 ft (2,491 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
| • Total | 45,292 |
| • Density | 44/sq mi (17/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−8 (Pacific Time Zone) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−7 (Pacific Daylight Time) |
| Area code | 209 |
| FIPS code | 06-009 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1675885 |
| Congressional district | 5th |
| Website | calaverasgov |
Calaveras County (/ˌkæləˈvɛrəs/ ⓘ), officially the County of Calaveras, is a county in both the Gold Country and High Sierra regions of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 45,292.[5] The county seat is San Andreas.[6] Angels Camp is the county's only incorporated city. Calaveras is Spanish for "skulls"; the county was reportedly named for the remains of Native Americans discovered by the Spanish explorer Captain Gabriel Moraga.
Calaveras Big Trees State Park, a preserve of giant sequoia trees, is in the county several miles east of the town of Arnold on State Highway 4. Credit for the discovery of giant sequoias there is given to Augustus T. Dowd, a trapper who made the discovery in 1852 while tracking a bear. When the bark from the "Discovery Tree" was removed and taken on tour around the world, the trees became a worldwide sensation and one of the county's first tourist attractions. The uncommon gold telluride mineral calaverite was discovered in the county in 1861 and is named for it.
Mark Twain set his story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" in the county. The county hosts an annual fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee, featuring a frog-jumping contest, to celebrate the association with Twain's story. Each year's winner is commemorated with a brass plaque mounted in the sidewalk of downtown Historic Angels Camp and this feature is known as the Frog Hop of Fame.
In 2015, Calaveras County had the highest rate of suicide deaths in the United States, with 49.1 per 100,000 people.[7]
Etymology
The Spanish word calaveras means "skulls." The county takes its name from the Calaveras River; it was said to have been named by Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga, during his 1806–1808 expeditions, when he found many skulls of Native Americans along the banks of the stream. He believed they had either died of famine or been killed in tribal conflicts over hunting and fishing grounds. A more likely cause was a European epidemic disease, acquired from interacting with other tribes near the Missions on the coast. The Stanislaus River, which forms the southern boundary, is named for Estanislao, a Lakisamni Yokuts who escaped from Mission San Jose in the late 1830s. He is reported to have raised a small group of men with crude weapons, hiding in the foothills when the Mexicans attacked. The natives were quickly decimated by Mexican firearms.
In 1836, John Marsh, Jose Noriega, and a party of men went exploring in Northern California. They made camp along a river bed in the evening, and upon waking discovered that they had camped amid a great quantity of skulls and bones. They also gave the river the name Calaveras.[8][9][10]
Mark Twain spent 88 days in the county in 1865, during which he heard the story that became "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" at the Angel Hotel. This story kicked off his career and put Calaveras County on the map.[11]
History
Calaveras County was one of the original counties of the state of California, created in 1850 at the time of admission to the Union. Parts of the county's territory were reassigned to Amador County in 1854 and to Alpine County in 1864.[1]
The county's geography includes landmarks, rolling hills, and giant valleys. It is also known for its friendly communities, and businesses such as agriculture management and construction engineering. It has numerous caverns, such as Mercer Caverns, California Cavern and Moaning Cavern that are national destinations for tourists from across the country. Other attractions include a thriving wine making industry, including the largest of the Calaveras wineries: Ironstone Vineyards, mountain sports recreation and the performing arts.
Gold prospecting in Calaveras County began in late 1848 with a camp founded by Henry Angel. Angel may have first arrived in California as a soldier, serving under Colonel Frémont during the Mexican War. After the war's end, he found himself in Monterey where he heard of the fabulous finds in the gold fields. He joined the Carson-Robinson party of prospectors and set out for the mines. The company parted ways upon reaching what later became known as Angels Creek. Henry Angel tried placer mining but soon opened a trading post. By the end of the year, over one hundred tents were scattered about the creek and the settlement was referred to as Angels Trading Post, later shortened to Angels Camp.
Placer mining soon gave out around the camp, but an extensive gold-bearing quartz vein of the area's Mother Lode was located by the Winter brothers during the mid-1850s, and this brought in the foundations of a permanent town. This vein followed Main Street from Angels Creek up to the southern edge of Altaville. Five major mines worked the rich vein: the Stickle, the Utica, the Lightner, the Angels, and the Sultana. These mines reached their peaks during the 1880s and 1890s, when over 200 stamp mills crushed quartz ore brought in by hand cars on track from the mines. By the time hard rock mining was done, the five mines had producing a total of over $20 million in gold.[12]
The telluride mineral calaverite was first recognized and obtained in 1861 from the Stanislaus Mine, Carson Hill, Angels Camp, in Calaveras Co., California.[13] It was named for the County of origin by chemist and mineralogist Frederick Augustus Genth who differentiated it from the known gold telluride mineral sylvanite, and formally reported it as a new gold mineral in 1868.[14][15]
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,037 square miles (2,690 km2), of which 1,020 square miles (2,600 km2) is land and 17 square miles (44 km2) (1.6%) is water.[16] A California Department of Forestry report lists the county's area in acres as 663,000, although the exact figure would be 663,477.949 acres (2,685.00000 km2). There are a number of caverns located in Calaveras County.
Adjacent counties
- Amador County – north
- Alpine County – northeast
- Tuolumne County – south
- Stanislaus County – southwest
- San Joaquin County – west
National protected area
- Stanislaus National Forest (part)
Demographics
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 | 16,884 | — | |
| 1860 | 16,299 | −3.5% | |
| 1870 | 8,895 | −45.4% | |
| 1880 | 9,094 | 2.2% | |
| 1890 | 8,882 | −2.3% | |
| 1900 | 11,200 | 26.1% | |
| 1910 | 9,171 | −18.1% | |
| 1920 | 6,183 | −32.6% | |
| 1930 | 6,008 | −2.8% | |
| 1940 | 8,221 | 36.8% | |
| 1950 | 9,902 | 20.4% | |
| 1960 | 10,289 | 3.9% | |
| 1970 | 13,585 | 32.0% | |
| 1980 | 20,710 | 52.4% | |
| 1990 | 31,998 | 54.5% | |
| 2000 | 40,554 | 26.7% | |
| 2010 | 45,578 | 12.4% | |
| 2020 | 45,292 | −0.6% | |
| 2023 (est.) | 46,565 | [17] | 2.8% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[18] 1790–1960[19] 1900–1990[20] 1990–2000[21] 2010[22] 2020[23] | |||
2020 census
| Race / Ethnicity | Pop 2010[22] | Pop 2020[23] | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 38,074 | 34,668 | 83.54% | 76.54% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 355 | 334 | 0.78% | 0.74% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 526 | 497 | 1.15% | 1.10% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 529 | 706 | 1.16% | 1.56% |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 71 | 75 | 0.16% | 0.17% |
| Some Other Race alone (NH) | 68 | 268 | 0.15% | 0.59% |
| Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH) | 1,252 | 2,879 | 2.75% | 6.36% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4,703 | 5,865 | 10.32% | 12.95% |
| Total | 45,578 | 45,292 | 100.00% | 100.00% |
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.
2011
| Population, race, and income | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total population[24] | 45,794 | ||||
| White[24] | 41,672 | 91.0% | |||
| Black or African American[24] | 496 | 1.1% | |||
| American Indian or Alaska Native[24] | 571 | 1.2% | |||
| Asian[24] | 601 | 1.3% | |||
| Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander[24] | 16 | 0.0% | |||
| of other race[24] | 1,114 | 2.4% | |||
| Two or more races[24] | 1,324 | 2.9% | |||
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race)[25] | 4,688 | 10.2% | |||
| Per capita income[26] | $28,667 | ||||
| Median household income[27] | $55,256 | ||||
| Median family income[28] | $67,253 | ||||
Places by population, race, and income
| Places by population and race | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Type[29] | Population[24] | White[24] | Other[24] [note 1] |
Asian[24] | Black or African American[24] |
Native American[24] [note 2] |
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)[25] |
| Angels | City | 3,820 | 94.9% | 5.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 17.7% |
| Arnold | CDP | 3,172 | 93.0% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 6.9% |
| Avery | CDP | 415 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Copperopolis | CDP | 4,177 | 93.0% | 3.4% | 0.7% | 2.9% | 0.0% | 3.6% |
| Dorrington | CDP | 466 | 88.4% | 11.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 16.7% |
| Forest Meadows | CDP | 1,546 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Mokelumne Hill | CDP | 717 | 94.8% | 1.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3.6% | 11.2% |
| Mountain Ranch | CDP | 1,541 | 93.3% | 0.9% | 0.0% | 5.8% | 0.0% | 5.9% |
| Murphys | CDP | 1,965 | 92.6% | 3.7% | 2.5% | 0.0% | 1.2% | 5.6% |
| Rail Road Flat | CDP | 410 | 82.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 17.8% | 0.0% | 8.3% |
| Rancho Calaveras | CDP | 5,997 | 88.8% | 8.9% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 1.6% | 12.2% |
| San Andreas | CDP | 2,941 | 92.0% | 5.4% | 0.5% | 1.3% | 0.8% | 16.1% |
| Vallecito | CDP | 841 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3.6% |
| Valley Springs | CDP | 4,196 | 92.3% | 2.8% | 4.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 20.8% |
| Wallace | CDP | 131 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| West Point | CDP | 654 | 95.3% | 4.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1.2% |