| County of Calaveras | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — County — | |||
| Calaveras County view | |||
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| 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.
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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]
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.
Special districts in Calaveras County include:
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).
Calaveras County Airport is a general aviation airport located just southeast of San Andreas.
| 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] | |||
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 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Population |
|
American |
American |
|
Islander |
races |
more races |
or Latino (of any race) |
| Calaveras County | 45,578 | 40,522 | 383 | 689 | 571 | 79 | 1,534 | 1,800 | 4,703 |
|
city |
Population |
|
American |
American |
|
Islander |
races |
more races |
or Latino (of any race) |
| Angels Camp | 3,836 | 3,329 | 12 | 48 | 49 | 5 | 270 | 123 | 498 |
|
places |
Population |
|
American |
American |
|
Islander |
races |
more races |
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 |
|
communities |
Population |
|
American |
American |
|
Islander |
races |
more races |
or Latino (of any race) |
| All others not CDPs (combined) | 13,582 | 11,955 | 179 | 238 | 171 | 13 | 466 | 560 | 1,397 |
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.
The major Calaveras County employers include:
250-499 employees:
100-249 employees:
| 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]
| Amador County | Alpine County | |||
| San Joaquin County | ||||
| Calaveras County, California | ||||
| Stanislaus County | Tuolumne County | Tuolumne County |
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