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Calaveras County, California

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Calaveras County (Template:IPAc-en), officially the County of Calaveras, is a county in both the Gold Country and High Sierra regions of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 45,292.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The county seat is San Andreas.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> Angels Camp is the county's only incorporated city. Calaveras is Spanish for "skulls"; the county was reportedly named for the remains of Native Americans discovered by the Spanish explorer Captain Gabriel Moraga.

Calaveras Big Trees State Park, a preserve of giant sequoia trees, is in the county several miles east of the town of Arnold on State Highway 4. Credit for the discovery of giant sequoias there is given to Augustus T. Dowd, a trapper who made the discovery in 1852 while tracking a bear. When the bark from the "Discovery Tree" was removed and taken on tour around the world, the trees became a worldwide sensation and one of the county's first tourist attractions. 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. The county hosts an annual fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee, featuring a frog-jumping contest, to celebrate the association with Twain's story. Each year's winner is commemorated with a brass plaque mounted in the sidewalk of downtown Historic Angels Camp and this feature is known as the Frog Hop of Fame. Lukas Foss used Twain's story for his 1950 opera The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

In 2015, Calaveras County had the highest rate of suicide deaths in the United States, with 49.1 per 100,000 people.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Etymology

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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, during his 1806–1808 expeditions, 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. A more likely cause was a European epidemic disease, acquired from interacting with other tribes near the Missions on the coast. The Stanislaus River, which forms the southern boundary, is named for Estanislao, a Lakisamni Yokuts who escaped from Mission San José in the late 1830s. He is reported to have raised a small group of men with crude weapons, hiding in the foothills when the Mexicans attacked. The natives were quickly decimated by Mexican firearms.

In 1836, John Marsh, Jose Noriega, and a party of men went exploring in Northern California. They made camp along a river bed in the evening, and upon waking discovered that they had camped amid a great quantity of skulls and bones. They also gave the river the name Calaveras.<ref>Lyman, George D. John Marsh, Pioneer: The Life Story of a Trail-blazer on Six Frontiers, pp. 207–208, The Chautauqua Press, Chautauqua, New York, 1931.</ref><ref>Winkley, John W., Dr. John Marsh: Wilderness Scout, pp. 54–5, The Parthenon Press, Nashville, Tennessee, 1962.</ref><ref>Thompson, Thomas Hinkley, and West, Albert Augustus. History of San Joaquin County, California, p. 13, 1879.</ref>

Mark Twain spent 88 days in the county in 1865, during which he heard the story that became "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" at the Angel Hotel. This story kicked off his career and put Calaveras County on the map.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

History

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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.<ref name=csac/>

The county's geography includes 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, California Cavern and Moaning Cavern that are national destinations for tourists from across the country. Other attractions include a thriving wine making industry, including the largest of the Calaveras wineries: Ironstone Vineyards, mountain sports recreation and the performing arts.

Gold prospecting in Calaveras County began in late 1848 with a camp founded by Henry Angel. Angel may have first arrived in California as a soldier, serving under Colonel Frémont during the Mexican War. After the war's end, he found himself in Monterey where he heard of the fabulous finds in the gold fields. He 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. Henry Angel 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-1850s, 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 1880s and 1890s, 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 produced a total of over $20 million in gold.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The telluride mineral calaverite was first recognized and obtained in 1861 from the Stanislaus Mine, Carson Hill, Angels Camp, in Calaveras Co., California.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>American Journal of Science. (2). xlv, p. 314.</ref><ref>http://www.libraries.psu.edu/content/dam/psul/up/emsl/documents/circulars/circular27.pdf Template:Webarchive Biographical paper on F. A. Genth</ref>

Geography

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File:CaliforniaCaveFormation.jpg
California Caverns – Calaveras County

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (1.6%) is water.<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref> A California Department of Forestry report lists the county's area in acres as 663,000, although the exact figure would be Template:Convert. There are a number of caverns located in Calaveras County.

Adjacent counties

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National protected area

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Demographics

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Template:US Census population

2020 census

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Calaveras County, California – Racial and ethnic composition
Template:Nobold
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) Pop 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>Template:Cite web</ref> Pop 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Partial<ref name=2020CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref> % 2000 % 2010 Template:Partial
White alone (NH) 35,465 38,074 34,668 87.45% 83.54% 76.54%
Black or African American alone (NH) 300 355 334 0.74% 0.78% 0.74%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 607 526 497 1.50% 1.15% 1.10%
Asian alone (NH) 322 529 706 0.79% 1.16% 1.56%
Pacific Islander alone (NH) 36 71 75 0.09% 0.16% 0.17%
Other Race alone (NH) 40 68 268 0.10% 0.15% 0.59%
Mixed Race or Multi-Racial (NH) 1,019 1,252 2,879 2.51% 2.75% 6.36%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2,765 4,703 5,865 6.82% 10.32% 12.95%
Total 40,554 45,578 45,292 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

2011

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Population, race, and income
Total population<ref name="US-CB-B02001">U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B02001. U.S. Census website . Retrieved October 26, 2013.</ref> 45,794
  White<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/> 41,672 91.0%
  Black or African American<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/> 496 1.1%
  American Indian or Alaska Native<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/> 571 1.2%
  Asian<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/> 601 1.3%
  Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/> 16 0.0%
  of other race<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/> 1,114 2.4%
  Two or more races<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/> 1,324 2.9%
 Hispanic or Latino (of any race)<ref name="US-CB-B03003">U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B03003. U.S. Census website . Retrieved October 26, 2013.</ref> 4,688 10.2%
Per capita income<ref name="US-CB-B19301">U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B19301. U.S. Census website . Retrieved October 21, 2013.</ref> $28,667
Median household income<ref name="US-CB-B19013">U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B19013. U.S. Census website . Retrieved October 21, 2013.</ref> $55,256
Median family income<ref name="US-CB-B19113">U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B19113. U.S. Census website . Retrieved October 21, 2013.</ref> $67,253

Places by population, race, and income

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2010 Census

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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%).<ref>Template:USCensus2010CA</ref>

2000

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As of the census<ref name="GR8">Template:Cite web</ref> of 2000, there were 40,554 people, 16,469 households, and 11,742 families residing in the county. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 22,946 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. The racial makeup of the county was 91.2% White, 0.8% Black or African American, 1.7% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.1% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races. 6.8% 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.

Economy

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The major Calaveras County employers include:

250–499 employees:

  • Calaveras County Government
  • Forestry & Fire Protection
  • Mark Twain St. Joseph's Hospital

100–249 employees:

Government

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Calaveras County is governed by a five-member Board of Supervisors. Supervisors are elected by district at the Consolidated Primary Election and serve for four years. Current Board of Supervisors: Gary Tofanelli (District 1); Autumn Andahl (District 2); Martin Huberty (District 3); Amanda Folendorf (District 4) and Benjamin Stopper (District 5). In January 2023 Gary Tofanelli was elected chair of the board and Jack Garamendi was elected Vice Chair. Teresa Hitchcock is the County Executive Officer and Sarah Edwards is the County Counsel. Both are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Board of Supervisors.

Elections and politics

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Voter registration statistics

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Cities by population and voter registration
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Cities by population and voter registration
City Population<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/> Registered voters<ref name="CA-SS">California Secretary of State. February 10, 2013 – Report of Registration Template:Webarchive. Retrieved October 31, 2013.</ref>
<ref name="PCT-RV" group=note/> 		Democratic<ref name="CA-SS"/> Republican<ref name="CA-SS"/> D–R spread<ref name="CA-SS"/> Other<ref name="CA-SS"/> No party preference<ref name="CA-SS"/>
Angels 3,820 61.9% 31.5% 42.9% -11.4% 11.2% 18.1%

Overview

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Election results from statewide races
Year Office Results
2010 Governor align="right" Template:Party shading/Republican|Whitman 53.8 – 39.1%
Lieutenant Governor align="right" Template:Party shading/Republican|Maldonado 51.1 – 34.6%
Secretary of State align="right" Template:Party shading/Republican|Dunn 51.0 – 36.7%
Controller align="right" Template:Party shading/Democratic|Chiang 49.5 – 38.7%
Treasurer align="right" Template:Party shading/Republican|Walters 46.1 – 43.5%
Attorney General align="right" Template:Party shading/Republican|Cooley 56.7 – 28.5%
Insurance Commissioner align="right" Template:Party shading/Republican|Villines 49.7 – 34.6%

Calaveras County is in Template:Representative.<ref>Template:Cite GovTrack</ref>

In the State Senate, Calaveras County is in Template:Representative.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the State Assembly, it is in Template:Representative.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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. In 2020, Republicans won 60% of the vote for the first time since 2004.

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Crime

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The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.

Population and crime rates
Population<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/> 45,794
Violent crime<ref name="CA-DOJ-T11">Office of the Attorney General, Department of Justice, State of California. Table 11: Crimes – 2009 Template:Webarchive. Retrieved November 14, 2013.</ref> 84 1.83
  Homicide<ref name="CA-DOJ-T11"/> 1 0.02
  Forcible rape<ref name="CA-DOJ-T11"/> 16 0.35
  Robbery<ref name="CA-DOJ-T11"/> 14 0.31
  Aggravated assault<ref name="CA-DOJ-T11"/> 53 1.16
Property crime<ref name="CA-DOJ-T11"/> 523 11.42
  Burglary<ref name="CA-DOJ-T11"/> 284 6.20
  Larceny-theft<ref name="CA-DOJ-T11"/><ref name="LT-note" group="note">Only larceny-theft cases involving property over $400 in value are reported as property crimes.</ref> 405 8.84
  Motor vehicle theft<ref name="CA-DOJ-T11"/> 99 2.16
Arson<ref name="CA-DOJ-T11"/> 8 0.17

Cities by population and crime rates

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Cities by population and crime rates
City Population<ref name="FBI-UCR-T8">United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime in the United States, 2012, Table 8 (California). Retrieved November 14, 2013.</ref> Violent crimes<ref name="FBI-UCR-T8"/> Violent crime rate
per 1,000 persons 		Property crimes<ref name="FBI-UCR-T8"/> Property crime rate
per 1,000 persons
City of Angels 3,826 14 3.66 86 22.48

Transportation

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Major highways

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Public transportation

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

Airports

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

Communities

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Cities

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Angels Camp is the only incorporated city located in Calaveras County.

Census-designated places

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Other communities

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Former settlements

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Special districts

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Template:Div col

  • Altaville Cemetery District
  • Altaville-Melones Fire District
  • Angels Camp Fire District
  • Bret Harte Union High School District
  • Calaveras County Air Pollution Control District
  • Calaveras Unified School District
  • Central Calaveras Fire and Rescue Protection District
  • Copperopolis Fire Protection District
  • Ebbetts Pass Fire Protection District
  • Foothill Fire District
  • Jenny Lind Fire District
  • Mark Twain Health Care District
  • Mark Twain Union Elementary School District
  • Mokelumne Hill Fire District
  • Murphys Fire District
  • San Andreas Fire District
  • Vallecito Union Elementary School District
  • Valley Springs Public Utilities District
  • West Point Fire District.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:Div col end

Population ranking

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Template:Update The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Calaveras County.<ref>2010 Census</ref>

† county seat

Rank City/Town/etc. Municipal type Population (2010 Census)
1 Rancho Calaveras CDP 5,325
2 Arnold CDP 3,843
3 Angels Camp City 3,836
4 Copperopolis CDP 3,671
5 Valley Springs CDP 3,553
6 † San Andreas CDP 2,783
7 Murphys CDP 2,213
8 Mountain Ranch CDP 1,628
9 Forest Meadows CDP 1,249
10 West Point CDP 674
t-11 Avery CDP 646
t-11 Mokelumne Hill CDP 646
12 Dorrington CDP 609
13 Rail Road Flat CDP 475
14 Vallecito CDP 442
15 Wallace CDP 403

See also

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Notes

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Template:Reflist

References

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Template:Reflist

Further reading

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  • A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Merced, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa, California. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1892.
  • "Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit: 2005 Pre-Fire Management Plan September 28, 2005 Edition," California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, September 28, 2005, pp. 16, 17
  • United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
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Template:Geographic Location Template:Cities of Calaveras County, California Template:California Template:Authority control

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