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Calaveras County California

Calaveras County. Organized in 1850 Bounded on the northwest by Amador, east and southeast by Alpine and Tuolumne, and on the southeast by Stanislaus and west by San Joaquin. Area, 936 square miles. Assessed valuation of property for 1874, $l,656,331.

County seat. San Andreas. Principal towns, Angels Camp, Campo Seco, Chinese Camp, Copperopolis, Milton, Mokelumne Hill, Murphy's, Vallecito, and West Point. The largest streams are the Mokelumne on the northern border, the Calaveras in the interior, and the Stanislaus on the southern border.

Its resources are mineral and agricultural, aided by the grand forests of the mountains. The "Big Trees of Calaveras" have obtained a world-wide renown. On a high ridge in the eastern portion of the county is a grove of 103 trees, several exceeding thirty feet in diameter, of proportional height, and stand as the most majestic monuments of the vegetable kingdom the earth has produced.

The copper mines of Copperopolis were formerly worked with great profit, the Union mine being considered one of the richest of that metal known. The decline in the prices of copper, together with the high rates of working expenses, is the cause of the decline in that interest.

Gold mining is carried on with increasing energy, the many rich quartz lodes and the deep channels of ancient glacial drift giving unlimited fields for the most extensive operations. The vast deposits of auriferous gravel are melting away before the hydraulic, proving remunerative to the miner and encouraging to every interest.

The agricultural and horticultural resources are also great, the county affording grazing for art large number of sheep and goats, and many flourishing vineyards and orchards of every variety of fruit are found.

Stage communication is had from various points with Stockton and Sacramento. The Stockton and Copperopolis Railroad, originally intended for the transportation of copper ore, was only completed as far as Milton, in the western portion of the county, to which point it continues in successful operation.

Officers: William B. Norman, County Judge; Jubal A. Foster, Clerk, Recorder and Auditor; William T. Lewis, District Attorney; Benjamin K. Thorn, Sheriff and Tax Collector; John Gallagher, Treasurer; William J. R. Robertson, Assessor; A. E. Wheat, Surveyor; H. G. Allen, Coroner and Public Administrator; J. B. Garvey, Superintendent Public Schools.

California Gazetteer | AHGP California

Source: Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1876-78, Compiled by Henry G. Langley, San Francisco, 1875


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