Calaveras County, California

County of Calaveras
—  County  —
Calaveras County view

Seal
Location in the state of California
California's location in the United States
Country  United States
State  California
Region Sierra Nevada/Gold Country
Incorporated 1850
County seat San Andreas
Largest settlement Rancho Calaveras
Area
 • Total 1,036.84 sq mi (2,685.4 km2)
 • Land 1,020.04 sq mi (2,641.9 km2)
 • Water 16.81 sq mi (43.5 km2)
Population (2010)
 • Total 45,578
 • Density 44/sq mi (17/km2)
Time zone Pacific Standard Time (UTC-8)
 • Summer (DST) Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
Website www.co.calaveras.ca.us

Calaveras County is a county located in the Gold Country of the U.S. state of California. Calaveras is the Spanish word for skulls; the county was reportedly named for the remains of Native Americans discovered by the Spanish explorer Captain Gabriel Moraga. As of the 2010 census, the county had a population of 45,578. The county seat is San Andreas. Angels Camp is the only incorporated city.

Calaveras Big Trees State Park, a preserve of Giant Sequoia trees, is located in the county several miles east of the town of Arnold on State Highway 4. 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. Each year, the county hosts a fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee, featuring a frog-jumping contest, to celebrate the association with Twain's story. The California Red-legged Frog, feared extinct in the county by 1969, was rediscovered in 2003.

Contents

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.

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 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. In fact, the human remains were of the native Miwuk people killed by Spanish soldiers after they banded together to rise against Spanish missionaries. The Stanislaus River, which runs through the county, is named for Estanislao, a Lakisamni Yokut 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 Spanish attacked. The natives were quickly decimated by Spanish gunfire.

The writer Mark Twain spent many of his writing years in the county, and heard the story that became The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County in the Angel Hotel in 1865.

The county's geography includes beautiful 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, that are national destinations for tourists from across the country.

Gold prospecting in Calaveras County began in late 1848 with a camp founded by Henry and George Angel. The brothers first arrived in California as soldiers, serving under Colonel Frémont during the Mexican War. After the war’s end, the brothers found themselves in Monterey where they heard of the fabulous finds in the gold fields. They 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. The brothers 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-1850’s, 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 1880’s and 1890’s, 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. [1]

The telluride mineral calaverite was first recognized and obtained in 1861 from the Stanislaus Mine, Carson Hill, Angels Camp, in Calaveras Co., California.[2] 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.[3][4]

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 1,036.84 square miles (2,685.4 km2), of which 1,020.04 square miles (2,641.9 km2) (or 98.38%) is land and 16.81 square miles (43.5 km2) (or 1.62%) is water.[5] 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.

Cities and towns

Former Settlements

Special Districts

Special districts in Calaveras County include:

Adjacent counties

National protected areas

Transportation Infrastructure

Major highways

Public transportation

Calaveras Transit provides service in Angels Camp, San Andreas, and other communities in the county. Intercounty connections are available to Columbia (Tuolumne County), Jackson (Amador County), and Lodi (San Joaquin County).

Airports

Calaveras County Airport is a general aviation airport located just southeast of San Andreas.

Demographics

Historical populations
Census Pop.
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%
[7][8][9]

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Calaveras County had a population of 45,578. The racial makeup of Calaveras County was 40,522 (88.9%) White, 383 (0.8%) African American, 689 (1.5%) Native American, 571 (1.3%) Asian, 79 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 1,534 (3.4%) from other races, and 1,800 (3.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4,703 persons (10.3%).[10]

Population reported at 2010 United States Census
The County
Total
Population
White
African
American
Native
American
Asian
Pacific
Islander
other
races
two or
more races
Hispanic
or Latino
(of any race)
Calaveras County 45,578 40,522 383 689 571 79 1,534 1,800 4,703
Incorporated
city
Total
Population
White
African
American
Native
American
Asian
Pacific
Islander
other
races
two or
more races
Hispanic
or Latino
(of any race)
Angels Camp 3,836 3,329 12 48 49 5 270 123 498
Census-designated
places
Total
Population
White
African
American
Native
American
Asian
Pacific
Islander
other
races
two or
more races
Hispanic
or Latino
(of any race)
Arnold 3,843 3,590 20 28 46 3 60 96 259
Avery 646 604 5 7 3 1 2 24 38
Copperopolis 3,671 3,318 31 43 36 12 83 148 454
Dorrington 609 576 0 2 11 1 1 18 33
Forest Meadows 1,249 1,198 0 4 14 0 7 26 60
Mokelumne Hill 646 571 3 12 4 0 26 30 66
Mountain Ranch 1,628 1,472 15 33 18 2 15 73 123
Murphys 2,213 2,045 9 17 7 10 82 43 223
Rail Road Flat 475 411 0 15 4 2 9 34 41
Rancho Calaveras 5,325 4,645 48 102 87 13 195 235 670
San Andreas 2,783 2,453 23 48 28 1 83 147 255
Vallecito 442 398 0 6 11 1 5 21 33
Valley Springs 3,553 3,047 35 39 70 6 179 177 454
Wallace 403 347 3 4 10 2 22 15 32
West Point 674 563 0 43 2 7 29 30 67
Unincorporated
communities
Total
Population
White
African
American
Native
American
Asian
Pacific
Islander
other
races
two or
more races
Hispanic
or Latino
(of any race)
All others not CDPs (combined) 13,582 11,955 179 238 171 13 466 560 1,397

2000

As of the census[11] of 2000, there were 40,554 people, 16,469 households, and 11,742 families residing in the county. The population density was 40 people per square mile (15/km²). There were 22,946 housing units at an average density of 22 per square mile (9/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 91.19% White, 0.75% Black or African American, 1.74% Native American, 0.85% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 2.07% from other races, and 3.31% from two or more races. 6.82% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 15.7% were of German, 13.0% English, 10.7% Irish, 7.4% Italian and 7.0% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 94.5% spoke English and 4.0% Spanish as their first language.

There were 16,469 households out of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.9% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.7% were non-families. 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.85.

In the county the population was spread out with 22.8% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 22.4% from 25 to 44, 31.1% from 45 to 64, and 18.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 98.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.7 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $41,022, and the median income for a family was $47,379. Males had a median income of $41,827 versus $28,108 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,420. About 8.7% of families and 11.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.6% of those under age 18 and 6.2% of those age 65 or over.

Major Employers

The major Calaveras County employers include:

250-499 employees:

100-249 employees:

Government and politics

Calaveras County vote
by party in presidential elections
Year GOP DEM Others
2008 55.1% 12,835 42.2% 9,813 3.3% 773
2004 60.9% 13,601 37.1% 8,286 2.0% 456
2000 56.2% 10,599 37.6% 7,093 6.3% 1,184
1996 48.1% 8,279 38.6% 6,646 13.3% 2,281
1992 35.4% 6,006 35.3% 5,989 29.4% 4,996
1988 56.3% 7,640 41.8% 5,674 1.9% 260
1984 64.3% 7,632 34.4% 4,081 1.4% 164
1980 58.9% 6,054 29.9% 3,076 11.1% 1,145
1976 49.1% 3,695 47.9% 3,607 3.0% 226
1972 60.8% 4,119 33.5% 2,268 5.8% 392
1968 52.2% 3,042 36.6% 2,134 11.3% 656
1964 41.6% 2,244 58.3% 3,145 0.2% 8
1960 52.6% 2,820 46.8% 2,509 0.6% 32
1956 57.9% 2,843 41.7% 2,049 0.4% 17
1952 61.7% 3,112 37.4% 1,890 0.9% 46
1948 46.8% 1,888 49.4% 1,995 3.8% 154
1944 43.2% 1,455 56.2% 1,893 0.6% 21
1940 40.4% 1,649 58.9% 2,405 0.7% 29
1936 27.2% 960 71.3% 2,520 1.5% 54
1932 29.0% 754 67.1% 1,744 3.9% 101
1928 53.8% 1,262 45.4% 1,066 0.8% 18
1924 39.4% 872 15.06% 333 45.5% 1,006
1920 64.0% 1,480 27.7% 641 8.3% 193

Calaveras is part of California's 3rd congressional district, which is held by Dan Lungren.

In the State Assembly, Calaveras is part of the 25th district, which is held by Kristin Olsen. In the State Senate, Calaveras is part of the 1st district, which is held by Ted Gaines.

Past presidential elections in Calaveras County have displayed preferences for Republican candidates; the last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Lyndon Johnson in 1964, although Democrat Bill Clinton lost the county by only 17 votes in 1992. By contrast, recent elections have seen a sharp upswing in Democratic voter registrations.

Calaveras County is governed by a five member Board of Supervisors.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ Koeppel, Elliot H.. "Angels Camp". The California Gold Country: Highway 49 Revisited. Malakoff & Co.. ISBN 0-938121-12-X. http://www.malakoff.com/goldcountry/angelsca.htm. 
  2. ^ Calaverite information
  3. ^ American Journal of Science. (2). xlv, p. 314.
  4. ^ http://www.libraries.psu.edu/content/dam/psul/up/emsl/documents/circulars/circular27.pdf Biographical paper on F. A. Genth
  5. ^ "Census 2000 U.S. Gazetteer Files: Counties". United States Census. http://www.census.gov/tiger/tms/gazetteer/county2k.txt. Retrieved 2011-02-13. 
  6. ^ "Largest Calaveras County Employers". infoUSA. January 2008. http://www.calmis.cahwnet.gov/file/majorer/countymajorer.cfm?CountyCode=000009. Retrieved 2008-03-10. 
  7. ^ http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/cencounts/files/ca190090.txt
  8. ^ http://factfinder2.census.gov
  9. ^ http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/
  10. ^ "2010 Census P.L. 94-171 Summary File Data". United States Census Bureau. http://www2.census.gov/census_2010/01-Redistricting_File--PL_94-171/California/. 
  11. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  12. ^ "Bear Valley Ski Resort Home Page". Bear Valley Ski Resort. January 2008. http://www.bearvalley.com. Retrieved 2008-03-12. 
  13. ^ "Calaveras County Largest Employers". usaINFO. January 2008. http://www.calmis.cahwnet.gov/file/majorer/countymajorer.cfm?CountyCode=000009. Retrieved 2008-03-10. 

Sources

External links