Camanche

The monument is built out of the wreckage of something else that drowned. Camanche was Limerick first, renamed in 1849 after Camanche, Iowa, and it peaked near fifteen hundred people before fire took its Chinatown in 1873. East Bay Municipal Utility District finished the dam in 1963 and the town went under. The plaque was moved half a mile east and set on hand hewn mortise stones salvaged from the south abutment of the Westmoreland suspension bridge, which the same water covered. The lower plaque casts FORMELY, missing its R.

What the plaque says

CAMANCHE NAMED CAMANCHE IN 1849 AFTER CAMANCHE, IOWA. ONCE CALLED LIMERICK. PEAK POPULATION 1500. RICH MINING AT NEARBY CAT CAMP, POVERTY BAR, AND SAND HILL. MOKELUMNE RIVER WATER BROUGHT IN BY LANCHA PLANA AND POVERTY BAR DITCH. FIRE JUNE 21, 1873, DESTROYED LARGE CHINATOWN. BUHACH MANUFACTURED ON THE NEARBY HILL RANCH. HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 254 MONUMENT AND PLAQUE ERECTED BY CALAVERAS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND RESIDENTS OF CAMANCHE, IN COOPERATION WITH THE CALIFORNIA STATE PARK COMMISSION APRIL 8, 1956 HISTORICAL LANDMARK PLAQUE NO. 254 WAS FORMERLY LOCATED IN THE NOW SUBMERGED TOWNSITE OF CAMANCHE ONE HALF MILE TO YOUR LEFT (WEST). THESE HAND HEWN BLOCKS ARE MORTISE STONES FROM THE SOUTH ABUTMENT OF THE WESTMORELAND SUSPENSION BRIDGE, CONSTRUCTED DURING THE GOLD RUSH ERA AND FORMELY LOCATED TWO MILES NORTHEAST OF HERE.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Lancha Plana — 2.4 mi
• Campo Seco — 3.9 mi
• Valley Springs — 5.1 mi
• Stone Corral — 6.5 mi