Clinton

The best line about this place is on the register and not on the stone. Clinton once decided Amador County elections, the state says, because its votes were always counted last. The granite panel here, cut in 2011, tells a different story: a market town of a hundred clapboard and canvas houses by 1852, worked mostly by Mexican, Chilean and French miners, and a church the Garbarini brothers built in 1877 that outlasted the town and was moved away in 2003.

What the plaque says

Clinton PROSPECTORS IN 1849 TRAVELED FROM THE MOKELUMNE RIVER THROUGH CLINTON ON THE WAY TO THE DIGGINS IN VOLCANO. IN THE EARLY 1850'S THE CAMP OF CLINTON BECAME A MARKET TOWN, SUPPLYING THE PLACER MINERS OF THE MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN FORKS OF JACKSON CREEK, AND LATER THE SHALLOW QUARTZ MINES AROUND IRISHTOWN AND CLINTON. AS A STOP ON THE STAGE ROAD BETWEEN JACKSON, AQUEDUCT CITY AND VOLCANO CLINTON GREW AND BY 1852 HAD 100 CLAPBOARD AND CANVAS HOUSES AND THE AREAS ONLY HOTEL. THE CAMP WAS PREDOMINANTLY OCCUPIED BY MEXICAN, CHILEAN AND FRENCH MINERS. THE SPAGNOLI FAMILY, PROPRIETORS OF THE MAIN MERCANTILE STORE AND RANCH, HELPED SECURE CLINTONS FUTURE BY ALSO DEVELOPING THE DITCHES THAT SUPPLIED WATER TO PLACER CLAIMS, AROUND THE CLINTON AREA. ONCE AMADOR COUNTY WAS FORMED IN 1854, CLINTON ENTREPRENEUR THOMAS LOEHR PETITIONED THE COUNTY TO DECLARE THE ROAD FROM JACKSON TO CLINTON A PUBLIC ROAD. IN 1877 CLINTON WAS STILL ALIVE ENOUGH FOR THE GARBARINI BROTHERS TO BUILD ST. PETER AND PAUL'S CATHOLIC CHURCH WHICH REMAINED. WHEN THE TOWN DISAPPEARED, IN 2003, DESCENDANTS OF THE GARBARINI'S RETURNED TO RESTORE THE SMALL CHURCH AND IT WAS MOVED TO THE KENNEDY MINE FOUNDATION'S GROUNDS IN THE JACKSON GATE AREA. CLINTON IS A REGISTERED AS CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL LANDMARK #37 THIS PLAQUE DEDICATED ON MARCH 19, 2011 AND YEAR OF OUR ORDER 6016 BY THE JAMES W. MARSHALL #49 OUTPOST OF THE YERBA BUENA LODGE #1 CAPITULUS REDIVIVUS OF THE ANCIENT AND HONORABLE ORDER OF E CLAMPSUS VITUS

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Columbia State Historic Park — 27 mi
  The Gem of the Southern Mines, still open for business on a car-free Gold Rush main street.

More markers nearby

• Irishtown — 1.0 mi
• Chaw Sé Roundhouse — 3.7 mi
• Glencoe — 4.7 mi
• Volcano — 5.0 mi