Gold Country (also Mother Lode Country) is a region in the central-and-north-eastern part of California, United States. It is famed for the mineral deposits and gold mines which attracted waves of immigrants, known as the 49ers, during the 1849 California Gold Rush.
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Geography
The Gold Country is generally considered to lie along the route of State Route 49, stretching from Mariposa County in the south, to Sierra County in the north.
It includes parts of twelve California counties: Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sierra, Tuolumne, Plumas and Yuba.
Geology
The Gold Country lies on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, reaching down to the Sacramento Valley. The oldest geology can be found along the easternmost portions of this region, closer to the Sierra Nevada summits, and consists of ancient sea floor and portions of islands which were added onto the western edge of North America during the late Paleozoic, about 275 million years ago. The western sections of the Mother Lode are significantly younger, from the mid Mesozoic, about 150 million years ago and also consist of material that was accreted from the ocean floor to the continental edge. Massive intrusions of granite forced their way into these formations, and after ten miles of overlying material was eroded over the last seventy million years, these intrusions are visible throughout the Sierra Nevadas. Over the last fifty million years, rivers and volcanoes deposited materials which lay in thick layers that can be found atop many of the high ridges of the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Climate
For the most part, the climate in this part of California resembles that of much of Italy or Spain. Winters are cool and damp, averaging around 30 inches of rainfall and occasional snowfall, especially in the higher altitudes of the eastern reaches up the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Winter temperatures range from the upper twenties to mid fifties. Summers are dry and hot, with long streches that reach triple digits. This region has very short periods of autumn and spring.
Principal cities and towns
- Angels Camp, California
- Auburn, California
- Cameron Park, California
- Camino, California
- Camptonville, California
- Coloma, California
- Columbia, California
- Downieville, California
- El Dorado, California
- Folsom, California
- French Corral, California
- Georgetown, California
- Grass Valley, California
- Groveland-Big Oak Flat, California
- Jackson, California
- Lotus, California
- Mariposa, California
- Murphys, California
- Nevada City, California
- North Bloomfield, California
- Placerville, California
- Pollock Pines, California
- Rescue, California
- Shingle Springs, California
- Sonora, California
- Sutter Creek, California
Demographics
Culture and politics
Economy
References
External links
- Gold Country Visitors Association
- The Virtual California Gold Country: Highway 49 Revisited Online
- Gold Country Families E-Magazine
- Gold Country Forum
- Building Materials of the California Gold Country: A Selective Photographic Tour from Mariposa in Mariposa County to Auburn in Placer County, on Stone Quarries and Beyond.
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38°24′N 120°48′W / 38.4°N 120.8°W
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