Golden Days of Placerville
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Approximately forty-five miles east of Sacramento, California, is the friendly town of Placerville, which marks a major “Gold Rush” historical landmark in the United States. In the early days of this small gold mining boomtown, Placerville was known as “Hangtown.” If you come into town, you will see the sign of Placerville, and underneath it you will see its nickname reading, “Old Hangtown.” Nooses can be seen all over town, on police cars, on historical landmark signs – even at the firehouse and on the Placerville City Seal. Placerville has a great deal of history behind its name. Many people who pass through the town, or even those that live there, dont realize the history behind the town.
There are different accounts on how Placerville attained the name of Hangtown, but the most famous is an episode that occurred one January night in 1849. A gambler named Lopez hit it rich at a local saloon. After he retired for the evening, several robbers tried to overpower him. Lopez fought back like a tiger, and with the help of others, the robbers were captured and beaten like piÑatas. Three of the robbers had been wanted for previous robberies, as well as for murder at a gold camp on the Stanislaus River. A thirty-minute trial was held for the robbers and after a unanimous “guilty” verdict, the crowd called out, “Hang em! Hang em!”
The most historic location in Placerville is the 147-year-old Hangmans Tree Saloon. On the outside wall of the building is a weathered dummy in jeans, cowboy boots, and pink flannel shirt that dangles lifelessly from a wood block. Inside the saloon, where a noose swings on a fake tree, it is said that the hangmans ghost lingers there. What used to be Elstners Hay Yard is where the original tree used to stand, from which the people originally hung. The dummy still hangs from that same location to this day.
Actually, Hangtown conducted only a small number of hangings. Just one year later, in 1850, Hangtown was renamed Placerville and was named after the placer deposits of placer gold found in the river bed between Spanish Ravine and the town plaza. The town of Placerville began with the Gold Rush in California in the 1840s. Gold was discovered in the tailrace at Sutters Mill in Coloma, which is about ten miles from Old Hangtown, in 1848. Subsequently, the migration of thousands in search for gold brought people to Northern California. During the Gold Rush, Placerville became an important supply center for the surrounding mining camps.
This rich mining camp was established on the banks of Hangtown Creek in the spring of 1948. Millions of dollars in gold were taken from its ravines and hills, and it served as a supply center for mining camps and transportation station for the famous Comstock Lode. Throughout history, several famous entrepreneurs have conducted business in Placerville. The most well-known entrepreneurs in Placerville were John Studebaker, an auto maker; Mark Hopkins, a railroad financier; Phillip Armour, a meat packer; and John “Snowshoe” Thompson, who carried from sixty to eighty pounds of mail on skis from Placerville over the Sierra Nevadas to Carson Valley during winter months. The most recent is an artist known worldwide as “the painter of light”, Thomas Kinkade.
Situated well, Placerville serves as a focal point for many nearby tourist locations such as Gold Bug Park, Gold Bug Mine, Apple Hill Ranches, Historic Coloma, the El Dorado National Forest, numerous wineries, Lake Tahoe, and the American River. Placerville is one of the most traveled valleys in California, located at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Highway 50, the longest highway in America, passes right through the center of Placerville. The length of Highway 50 is like a lifetime in which the end is unseen. The highway begins in Sacramento, California and ends in Ocean City, Maryland. The highway runs a total of 3,073 miles coast-to-coast.
Situated above the fog line and below the snow line, Placerville asserts an ideal climate with four distinct seasons. The winters are mild with average temperatures ranging from lows in the mid 20s and highs in the low 60s. Living in Placerville, I have seen the temperatures drop as low as eight degrees. Very seldom do large bodies of water freeze over, which makes the winters agreeable. Springtime weather is like lavish luxury – abundant and perfect! In the springtime, the days get brighter