El Dorado (Originally Mud Springs)

The town changed its name from what the place actually was to what the miners hoped it would be. Mud Springs was named for the quagmire stock made of the watering hole on the Carson Emigrant Trail, and the plaque translates the replacement without embarrassment: El Dorado, the gilded one. The camp had reason for confidence. By 1850 it sat at the crossroads of the freight and stage lines and the center of a mining district, with several thousand people. Both names outlived the gold.

What the plaque says

El Dorado El Dorado, meaning "The Gilded One", was first known as Mud Springs from the boggy quagmire the cattle and horses made of a nearby watering place. Originally an important camp on the old Carson Emigrant Trail. By 1849-50 it had become the center of a mining district and the crossroads for freight and stage lines. At the height of the rush its large gold production supported a population of several thousand. Historical Landmark No. 486 California State Park Commission Monument base erected by the Mother Lode Lions Club of Diamond Springs and El Dorado.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park — 8.6 mi
  The tailrace at Coloma where a carpenter found gold in January 1848 and the world came running.

More markers nearby

• El Dorado-Nevada House (Mud Springs)-Overland Pony Express Route in California — steps away
• Diamond Springs — 1.9 mi
• Placerville-Overland Pony Express Route in California — 4.0 mi
• Hangman's Tree — 4.0 mi