Calaveras Gold: The Impact Of Mining On A Mother Lode County

Notes

       Calaveras County–Selected-Population Data, – Census 1850 1852 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 Total (State) 93,000 — 380,000 560,000 865,000 1,213,000 1,485,000 2,478,000 3,427,000 5,677,000 6,907,000 Miners (State)** 57,979 — 82,573 36,339 37,147 21,310 12,964 6,622 4,889 54,730 21,137 % Miners To State 62.3 21.8 6.5 4.3 1.8 0.8 0.3 0.1 1.0 0.3 Total (County) 16,884 20,183 16,299 8,895 9,094 8,702 11,200 9,171 6,183 6,008 8,221 Miners (County)*** (90.6%)* — 1,026 1,249 2,172 776 1,198 1,378 821 614 825 % Miners To County 90.6 — 6.3 14.0 23.9 8.7 10.7 15.0 13.3 10.2 10.0 Male 16,617 18,679 13,698 6,246 5,988 5,455 4,552 5,452 3,642 3,497 4,671 Female 267 1,504 2,601 2,649 3,106 3,247 4,438 3,719 2,541 2,511 3,550 Foreign Born 5,855 10,735 9,359 4,218 3,349 2,332 2,375 1,813 1,035 659 657 % Foreign To County 34.7 53.2 57.4 47.4 36.8 26.3 21.2 19.8 16.7 10.8 7.9 Chinese (.5%)* 1,441 3,657 1,441 1,037 333 237 10 — — — Black 84 169 95 31 56 77 69 17 11 8 9 American Indian 3,000 1,982 1 18 169 77 100 161 65 125 — Mexican/Latino (13.4%)* — (5.8%)* 255 174 183 213 58 71 8 42 Irish — — — 466 384 286 4 87 25 2 21 Italian — — — 446 391 363 82 634 349 205 160 German — — — 409 294 314 3 179 73 47 56 French — — — 356 252 192 3 59 35 21 18 U.K. (England, — — — 337 311 306 127 173 94 79 68 Scotland,Wales) Canadian — — — 70 122 96 179 86 92 12 74 Austrian — — — — — 37 233 280 — 24 8 Finnish — — — — — — 323 3 4 6 8 Yugoslav — — — — — — — — 57 44 47 Hungarian — — — — — — 513 — 6 2 4 Other NW Europe — — — 122 37 159 47 159 126 104 116 Other SE Europe — — — — — 29 20 11 40 57 26 *Figures in parentheses are estimated percentages of total population, based on census random sampling. — = no data available. ** data an estimate from ;  census figures from , when underground miners alone were estimated to number ,, with surface labor at ,;  data include  gold and silver miners only; , , , and  state figures include metals mining only; , , and  state figures include petroleum and nonmetals mining;  state figure excludes petroleum and coal mining. *** data an estimate from – State Mineralogist figures;  data an estimate from – state mineralogist figures. Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Census publications and returns for –; U.S. Bureau of Mines, Information Circulars, Technical Papers, –; California Bureau of Mines, various publications, –; Study #: Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, –, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (), University of Michigan.             . U.S. Census Bureau at http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/metro-city /scful/ -.txt; California Statistical Abstract, table B (Sacramento: California Department of Finance, ), online at http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/fs data/ stat-abs/toc.htm. . Eugene L. Conrotto, Miwok Means People: The Life and Fate of the Native Inhabitants of the California Gold Rush Country (Fresno: Valley Publishers, ), –. . William Cronon, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England (New York: Hill and Wang, ), –, –; Cronon, ‘‘Under an Open Sky: Rethinking America’s Western Past,’’ in Kennecott Journey: The Paths Out of Town, ed.W. Cronon, G. Miles, and J. Gitlin (New York: W.W. Norton, ), – ; Lary M. Dilsaver and William C. Tweed, Challenge of the Big Trees of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (Three Rivers, Calif.: Sequoia Natural History Association , ), –; M. Kat Anderson, Michael G. Barbour, and ValerieWhitworth, ‘‘A World of Balance and Plenty: Land, Plants, Animals, and Humans in a Pre-European California,’’ California History  (summer and fall ): –, –. . Some early accounts described the ‘‘Mother Vein’’ as stretching all the way from Mariposa to Grass Valley, thus helping inflate the image of Mother Lode wealth. See Calaveras County Illustrated and Described, Showing Its Advantages for Homes (; Fresno: Valley Publishers, ), . . The lack of accurate...