Angels Camp and Copperopolis

Images of America: California

by Judith Marvin, Julia Costello, Salvatore Manna

The Angels Camp and Copperopolis regions offer a fascinating chapter in the history of the Mother Lode. Calaveras County's southwest corner has many tales to tell, including one of the earliest settlements of the Native American in California; two of the most famous names in Americana, Mark Twain and Black Bart; and two major events in national history, the Gold Rush and the Civil War. An important Gold Rush town, Angels Camp gained even greater fame through Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which inspired the world-famous Jumping Frog Jubilee. At the same time, Copperopolis became a critical supplier of copper to the Union during the Civil War. Legendary outlaw Black Bart made his first and his last stagecoach holdup here. Ferries and railways served the region that also included the settlements of Hodson, Milton, Felix, Carson Hill, Dogtown, and Lost City.

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 2009

Reviews

[Julie Capell · Rating 1 out of 5]

For a history book, this was not all that informative or well-researched, in my opinion. The book has chapters like "Stanislaus Gold" and "Copper Country." Each chapter begins with about a half-page summary of the topic, spanning 100 or more years. To call the summary a thumbnail would be generous. Barely any detail and only the most general level of information is contained in these extremely short sections. The rest of the pages in each chapter are filled with photos. All are period photos, but they are not connected in any meaningful way to an overall narrative and seldom impart any substantive information. All have captions that go something like this "Here is a photo from [year] of the ranch house of the [name] family. Mr. [name] built this house in [year]. He is on the far left, standing with his wife and children [names]. This house burned down in [year]."

The impression I got was that the authors had a pile of photos from local historical societies which they divided loosely into topics. Rather than deciding to actually tell about how Stanislaus gold was discovered, the ways in which it was mined, etc., and look for the photos and evidence to tell a coherent story, they just settled for the photos they had at hand. I am not a native of this area and was looking for more details about how the mines operated, what the miners lives were like, etc. and did not get anything of the sort from this book.

[Randi Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, like all in the series. Interesting little facts mixed with sepia-toned photos make the book interesting. This is not a guidebook for visitors, doesn't include information on attractions, restaurants, lodging and other travel resources.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. I would recommend if you're interested in learning about the history of the area, but it's a very brief history. I mainly enjoyed looking at the all pictures, but I also loved the chapters on Black Bart and Mark Twain.

[Truitti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent but brief historical information on Angels Camp and some of the surrounding area. Since The Butte fire is just mopping up, it was interesting to note that this area has gone through major droughts and fires in the last 150 years, yet the human spirit rebuilds its dreams and cuddles the memories of the past so that future generations can experience the western era. Some great black and white photographs included and helped me determine that if my progeny was dependent on me being a pioneer, that I would still live in England or Germany.