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California State...
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California Counties
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California Counties
The U.S. state of California is divided into fifty-eight counties.
On January 4, 1850, the California constitutional committee recommended the formation of 18 counties. They were
Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mount Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San
Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter. On April 22, the counties
of Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba were added. Benicia was
renamed Solano, Coloma to El Dorado, Fremont to Yola, Mt. Diablo to Contra Costa, San Jose to Santa Clara, Oro
to Tuolumne, and Redding to Shasta. One of the first state legislative acts regarding counties was to rename
Branciforte County to Santa Cruz, Colusi to Colusa, and Yola to Yolo.
The last California county to have been established is Imperial County in 1907. |
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Amador County, California
Amador County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Jackson
Year Organized: 1854
Square Miles: 593 |
Court House: 810 Court Street
County Courthouse
Jackson, CA 95642-9534
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
The county is named for Jose Maria Amador, soldier, rancher and
miner, who was born in San Francisco in 1794, the son of Sergeant Pedro Amador,
a Spanish soldier who settled in California in 1771. In 1848, Jose Maria Amador,
with several Indians, established a successful gold mining camp near the present
town of Amador. In Spanish, the word amador means "lover of inanimate objects."
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick
Facts
History
Amador County was created in 1854 from parts of Calaveras and El Dorado Counties. In 1864, part of
the county's territory was given to Alpine County.
As early as 1843, John Sutter dispatched men - some with families - to stands of cedar and sugar pine on the ridge
between today's Amador and Sutter Creeks. He called the place "Pine Woods." Sutter's men worked there sawing wood,
producing charcoal, and manufacturing other items needed at Sutter's Fort. Even for a time after the gold discovery,
Sutter's men still worked at Pine Woods.
Before statehood, what is now Amador was part of the San Juaquin District and in 1849 had at least three precincts -
Drytown, Volcano, and Buena Vista Ranch - in the statewide elections of 1849. When California became a state in 1850,
Calaveras was one of the original 27 counties organized. But citizens northerly of the Mokelumne River were quickly
dissatisfied with being a stepchild province. After several years agitation, the county was finally divided in 1854 and
on June 14th, Amador was born.
In later years it acquired land north of Dry Creek from El Dorado County and gave up its easterly Sierra territory when
Alpine County was formed in 1863. Jackson, which had been the county seat of Calaveras for a time in 1851-1852, edged
out Volcano to become county seat of the new county. Volcano threatened to wrest the honor away in 1857, but the effort
was stymied in the legislature at the eleventh hour. Jackson may be the only city which has been the county seat of two
counties.
Amador County is the only county in the state named after a native Californian - Jose Maria Amador, a wealthy ranchero
before the gold rush, whose great ranch covered much of what is now Amador Valley near Danville. He and his employees
mined along a creek in this county in 1848 and 1849. That creek became known as Amadore's Creek, and soon after, camps
called Amadore Crossing and South Amadore or Amadore City were founded.
Miners in the latter camp in 1852 first petitioned that a proposed new county be called "Amador" In 1854, when
legislation dividing Calaveras was debated, a motion to name the new county Amador instead of Washington was adopted.
Geography
Amador County is located approximately 45 miles (72 km) southeast of Sacramento in a part of
California known as the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 605 square miles (1,566 kmē), of
which, 593 square miles (1,536 kmē) of it is land and 12 square miles (30 kmē) of it (1.94%) is water.
Neighboring Counties:
- Northeast: El Dorado County
- East: Alpine County
- Southeast: Calaveras County
- Southwest: San Joaquin County
- West: Sacramento County
Cities and Towns:
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- Amador City |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Ione |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Jackson
(County Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Plymouth |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Sutter Creek |
city |
Incorporated Area |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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