Second Garrote

The state cast an expiry date into the bronze. Part of which still stands, it says of the hangman's tree, and then in brackets, 1950. That parenthesis is doing the real work: the tree is the landmark, the tree was already going, and the year tells a reader when the sentence was last true. Miners spreading east from Big Oak Flat and Groveland settled this placer ground in 1849. The bronze was dedicated in September of the year it dates.

What the plaque says

MARK TWAIN BRET HARTE TRAIL SECOND GARROTE SIZEABLE SETTLEMENT ESTABLISHED AT THIS RICH PLACER LOCATION IN 1849 BY MINERS SPREADING EAST FROM BIG OAK FLAT AND GROVELAND. FAMOUS HANGMAN'S TREE, PART OF WHICH STILL STANDS (1950), REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN DEATH OF A NUMBER OF LAW-BREAKERS DURING HEYDAY OF THIS LOCALITY, HENCE ITS NAME. STATE REGISTERED LANDMARK NO. 460 TABLET PLACED BY CALIFORNIA CENTENNIALS COMMISSION. BASE PROVIDED BY CHARLES G. HALL POST NO. 3668 V.F.W. DEDICATED SEPTEMBER 17, 1950

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Columbia State Historic Park — 19 mi
  The Gem of the Southern Mines, still open for business on a car-free Gold Rush main street.

More markers nearby

• Groveland — 2.1 mi
• Big Oak Flat — 3.5 mi
• Coulterville — 7.8 mi
• Tuolumne — 9.9 mi