Sonora

Founded by Mexican miners during the California Gold Rush (to remind them of the state of Sonora, Mexico), Sonora still echoes some of its history through preserved architecture. The journal of William Perkins offers an account of Sonora at the height of the gold rush.

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Angels Camp

Henry and George Angel were soldiers serving under John C. Frémont during the Mexican-American War. When the California Gold Rush started, they tried their hand at prospecting, but decided they didn’t like the labor involved, so they set up a trading post, which became a camp, and eventually a town. The placers around their camp were very productive but gave out after a few years and the population began to dwindle until Gold-bearing quartz veins were discovered in the town, which brought people back. Those mines operated for the next few decades, producing over $20 million worth of gold, processed by stamp mills in town. It was said that when the last mill finally ceased operations, the townspeople couldn’t sleep, the silence was so loud.

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Groveland

Groveland has always been an important stop on the highway to Yosemite but really grew in the early 1900s with the development of the Tuolumne River Hetch-Hetchy water project for the city of San Francisco. Groveland is adjacent to the Stanislaus National Forest and is known for the historic Iron Door Saloon.

The community of Big Oak Flat was founded by James D. Savage who began mining the area about 1851. In some works, Savage is credited as discovering the Yosemite Valley about 1848. He is also identified as one of the first persons of European ancestry to enter the valley, (March 27, 1851). Others of European ancestry may have seen the valley as early as 1833.

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