Calaveras County, California

Etymology

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.

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.

History

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.

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.

In December 1849 and January 1850 the county was the site of "Chile War of 1849" in which Anglo-American and Chilean miners raided each others camp and fought a legal battle. The conflict ended with three Chileans publicly executed in Mokelumne Hill on January 3, 1850.

The telluride mineral calaverite was first recognized and obtained in 1861 from the Stanislaus Mine, Carson Hill, Angels Camp, in Calaveras Co., California. 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.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1037 sqmi, of which 1020 sqmi is land and 17 sqmi (1.6%) is water. A California Department of Forestry report lists the county's area in acres as 663,000, although the exact figure would be 663477.949 acre. There are a number of caverns located in Calaveras County.

Adjacent counties

• Amador County – north
• Alpine County – northeast
• Tuolumne County – south
• Stanislaus County – southwest
• San Joaquin County – west

National protected area

• Stanislaus National Forest (part)

Demographics

|align-fn=center 1790–1960 1900–1990 1990–2000 2010 2020

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 45,292. The median age was 51.6 years. 17.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 28.2% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 101.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 99.6 males age 18 and over.

The racial makeup of the county was 80.2% White, 0.8% Black or African American, 1.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6% Asian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 4.4% from some other race, and 11.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 12.9% of the population.

18.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 82.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 18,758 households in the county, of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 22.1% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 27,422 housing units, of which 31.6% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 79.0% were owner-occupied and 21.0% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.5%.

Racial and ethnic composition

2010 census

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%).

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 40,554 people, 16,469 households, and 11,742 families residing in the county. The population density was 40 /mi2. There were 22,946 housing units at an average density of 22 /mi2. 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

The major Calaveras County employers include:

250–499 employees:

• Calaveras County Government
• Forestry & Fire Protection
• Mark Twain St. Joseph's Hospital 100–249 employees:
• Bret Harte Union High School
• Ironstone Vineyards
• Calaveras High School
• Mark Twain Convalescent Hospital
• Mountain Machinery

Government

Calaveras County is a general law county under the California Constitution. That is, it does not have a county charter. The 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

Voter registration statistics

Cities by population and voter registration

Overview

Calaveras County is in .

In the State Senate, Calaveras County is in .{{Cite web |access-date=November 4, 2025 |access-date=November 4, 2025

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.

Crime

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

Cities by population and crime rates

Transportation

Major highways

• [[File:California 4.svg|20px|link= |alt=]] State Route 4
• [[File:California 12.svg|20px|link= |alt=]] State Route 12
• [[File:California 26.svg|20px|link= |alt=]] State Route 26
• [[File:California 49.svg|20px|link= |alt=]] State Route 49

Public transportation

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

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

Communities

Cities

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

Census-designated places

• Arnold
• Avery
• Campo Seco
• Copperopolis
• Dorrington
• Douglas Flat
• Forest Meadows
• Glencoe
• Hathaway Pines
• Mokelumne Hill
• Mountain Ranch
• Murphys
• Paloma
• Rail Road Flat
• Rancho Calaveras
• San Andreas (county seat)
• Sheep Ranch
• Vallecito
• Valley Springs
• Wallace
• West Point
• Wilseyville

Other communities

• Cave City
• Sheep Ranch
• Milton

Former settlements

• Camanche
• Poverty Bar

Special districts

• 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.

Population ranking

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2020 census of Calaveras County.

† county seat

Notes

References

References

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