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If you enjoy following Historical Markers, you will find
many of the Tuolumne County markers along Highway 49. Below is just a
small sampling of the historic markers around Groveland. Additional details, photos
and maps to each of these stops can be found online at the
Historical Marker Database website, scroll down this page until you
find Tuolumne County. The photos and map links are exceptional additions
to your studies.
Chinese Camp — 423 —
Chinese Camp — Mark Twain Bret Harte
Trail
Reportedly founded about 1849 by group of Englishmen who employed Chinese
as miners. Much surface gold found on hills and flats. Headquarters for
stage lines in early 1850’s, and for several California Chinese mining
companies. First Chinese tong war in state fought near here between Sam
Yap and Yan Woo tongs. Present stone and brick post office built 1854,
still standing. St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church build 1855, restored
1949. First pastor, Father Henry Aleric. Historical Landmark . . . —
Map
(db m906)
Columbia — 123 —
Columbia
Columbia, the “gem of the southern mines,” became a town of 4000 to 5000
in the 1850s, following the discovery of gold here by the Hildreth party
March 27, 1850. Gold shipments, estimated at $87,000,000, declined rapidly
after 1858 but Columbia never became a ‘ghost town.’ Columbia State
Historic State Park was created in 1945 to preserve its historic buildings
and sites. —
Map
(db m2482)
Groveland —
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and O’Shaughnessy Dam
The great 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed key portions of the City
of San Francisco’s water system. The three days of unquenchable fires that
followed the quake claimed more than four square miles of land, thousands
of buildings and an untold number of lives. The devastation spurred City
leaders to pursue a more reliable source of water for the future. After
intense national debate about building a reservoir and dam in a national
park, Congress passed the Raker Act in 1913, . . . —
Map
(db m1940)
Groveland —
In Memory of David Erickson
Groveland —
Producing Clean Renewable Energy
Every year the Hetch Hetchy Water and Power System produces 1.7 billion
kilowatt-hours of clean renewable hydropower - equivalent to the power
generated from burning 39 million gallons of oil. Early Intake Powerhouse
was built in 1918, twelve miles downstream from O’Shaughnessy Dam. It
supplied power for the tools and equipment used in building the dam. It
also powered lighting for nighttime construction - a visionary innovation
at the time. Moccasin Powerhouse was built in 1925; Holm . . . —
Map
(db m1941)
Groveland —
Trails and Waterfalls
Jamestown —
Woods Crossing — Mark Twain Bret Harte
Trail Tuolumne County history begins here. Early in 1848 a party of
Philadelphia prospectors under the leadership of James Woods discovered
gold 500 feet south east of this marker, where the old road crosses the
creek now bearing Woods’ name. James Savage, J.H. Rider, and Searles
Bassett, the lawyer prominent in the early history of Columbia, were
members of the party. This marker is located directly on the famous Mother
Lode, the greatest gold-bearing vein in the world. —
Map
(db m5782)
Sonora —
Emigrant Trail Terminus
Sonora was the goal of many emigrants traveling the various overland and
sea routes. The 1852 Clark-Skidmore Party of emigrants from Elizabethtown,
Ohio and Lawrenceburg, Indiana struggled to force a wagon train up the
Walker River and over the 10,000 ft. pass east of Sonora. In 1853, more
than 2,000 emigrants with 20,000 cattle followed, creating a new emigrant
road to Sonora. Difficult for wagon travel, the Walker River and Sonora
wagon route was soon abandoned. The Emigrant Wilderness . . . —
Map
(db m7566)
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