Columbia

The state marked this town twice and the two bronzes do not agree. The one in Columbia credits the Hildreth party on 27 March 1850 and gives a town of 4000 to 5000; the one two miles out on the highway says gold was discovered through cloudburst and the population reached 6000 in six weeks. Both carry landmark 123. They are describing the same rainstorm, which held a prospecting party in camp long enough for one of them to try the gulch. Both agree Columbia never became a ghost town.

What the plaque says

COLUMBIA COLUMBIA, THE "GEM OF THE SOUTHERN MINES", BECAME A TOWN OF 4000 TO 5000 IN THE 1850'S, 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 HISTORIC STATE PARK WAS CREATED IN 1945 TO PRESERVE ITS HISTORIC BUILDINGS AND SITES. CALIFORNIA REGISTERED HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 123 PLAQUE PLACED BY CALIFORNIA STATE PARK COMMISSION IN COOPERATION WITH TUOLUMNE COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MAY 10 1958

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Columbia State Historic Park — 1.2 mi
  The Gem of the Southern Mines, still open for business on a car-free Gold Rush main street.

More markers nearby

• Springfield — 0.9 mi
• Sawmill Flat — 1.5 mi
• Shaw's Flat — 2.0 mi
• Parrott's Ferry — 2.9 mi