PLACERVILLE, Ca. (San Francisco Examiner – 1936) — NOT so many years ago one could start a fight in El Dorado County by referring to this prosperous little city as “Hang-” town.
Not any more, though, for that name now evokes nothing but smiles as the colorful history of this community and this county, once the center of the fabulous gold mines of California, is now one of the major boasts of the countryside. Its gold, agriculture, and lumber that have made this city one of the most important in California.
The gold mining is not gone, by any means. Several of the most important mines in the West are near Placerville, and since the governmental encouragement of gold mining the count) has been the scene of renewed activity. Many of the old mines, closed because it was unprofitable to operate them at low gold prices, have reopened and employment has been steadily on the increase.
Placerville is in the center of the Mother Lode country. In the fifties they took gold out by the bucket, from the very grass roots. The stories of nine acres yielding $9,000,000, of another four acre tract giving up $4,000,000 are substantiated in history. And experienced geologists have said repeatedly that under the soil of this county is many times more millions in gold than has yet been taken out.
Only seven miles from here is Coloma, the site Sutter’s Mill, where John Marshall discovered the first California gold on january 24, 1848, and brought about the greatest gold rush in history.
Placerville was first known as Dry Diggings. But in 1849 an out-law known as Irish Dick Crone and two Mexican bandits were hanged on the Coloma road, and the town became known as Hangtown until it was incorporated as Placerville in 1851.
In recent years Placerville occupations have been changing from the mining. Vast timber lands have been opened up and big mills have been erected. Lumbering has assumed the proportions of a major industry and the county supplies a large amount of the State’s needs.
Agriculture, too, has increased enormously in recent years. The Placerville Fruit Growers’ Association, a pear growers’ co-operative, has erected a $250,000 packing, pre-cooling and storage plant and more than 1.000 carloads of fruit are shipped every year.
Midway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, Placerville is an important highway center. It is also the center of a great recreational area, and each year thousands of visitors from the urban areas are attracted here by the fishing, hunting and camping facilities. El Dorado is still the “Land of Gold,” whether the gold comes from its mines, its forests, its farms or its scenic beauties.
![Grizzly Flat [ca. 1851-1852]](http://www.inedc.com/23/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GrizzlyFlats-1851-1852-350x250.webp)
