Angels Camp and Copperopolis

With an authoritative text and vintage photographs from the Calaveras County Historical Society, Calaveras County Archives, Angels Camp Museum, descendants of pioneer families, and other sources, historian Judith Marvin, archeologist Julia Costello, and writer Salvatore Manna tell celebrated and soon-to-be-celebrated tales of this unique region in one of California's most colorful counties.

The Angels Camp and Copperopolis regions offer a fascinating chapter in the history of the Mother Lode. Calaveras County's southwest corner has many tales to tell, including one of the earliest settlements of the Native American in California; two of the most famous names in Americana, Mark Twain and Black Bart; and two major events in national history, the Gold Rush and the Civil War. An important Gold Rush town, Angels Camp gained even greater fame through Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which inspired the world-famous Jumping Frog Jubilee. At the same time, Copperopolis became a critical supplier of copper to the Union during the Civil War. Legendary outlaw Black Bart made his first and his last stagecoach holdup here. Ferries and railways served the region that also included the settlements of Hodson, Milton, Felix, Carson Hill, Dogtown, and Lost City.