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Printable Version
Tuolumne County Timeline
Earliest to 1850 |
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Links to all timeframes for the
Tuolumne County Timelines
1851-1900
1901-1950
1951-Present |
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50M BC |
California gold came from
deposits in Sierra riverbeds during the geologic time-period
"Tertiary Age" |
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9.5M BC |
Table Mountain
formation,
result of lava flows in a pre-historic river during the formation of
Sierra Nevada |
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8,000 BC |
Native Californians arrive, Tuolumne County pre-history leaves
legacy of Me-Wuk Native Americans prior to Gold Rush
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300 BC
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Giant Sequoia “Tunnel Tree” in Tuolumne Grove spans all of
California history to 1881
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1542
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Cabrillo, Spanish explorer, sighted coast of then Alta California,
initially thought an island |
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1769 July
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Spanish, led
by Father Junipero Serra, begin colonization; first mission in San
Diego continuing chain of missions to Sonoma |
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1806
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1820s |
Mission system falls into
decline. Mexico becomes independent and takes control of
Alta-California |
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1827
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Jedediah Smith, first “white” mountain man and fur trader to cross
the Sierra
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1833 |
Joseph Walker Expedition of fur traders search for new route over
Sierra |
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1839 |
John Sutter arrives in California and develops Fort Sutter where he
is appointed Alcalde (mayor) |
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1840s
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Manifest Destiny-public
opinion supporting the idea of expansion from sea to sea, “a
continental nation”
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1841
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Bartleson-Bidwell
Expedition abandons all its wagons and equipment before reaching the
crest of the Sierra’s and continued through on foot to Tuolumne
County |
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1844
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President James K. Polk
elected on Manifest Destiny platform promises of land expansion into
western frontier
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1846 |
Mexican-American War
starts over control of Texas and California; war ends with U.S.
taking them over in1848 |
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1847, Aug. 17 |
John Sutter and James
Marshall become partners. Marshall contracts to build sawmill on
south fork of American River |
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1848, Jan. 24 |
James Marshall discovers
gold in the raceways of Sutter’s sawmill in valley called Coloma by
local Native Americans |
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1848, July |
Near Jamestown, gold
found by Benjamin Wood, James Savage and party in Wood’s Creek at
Woods Diggings; new arrivals establish mining at Jamestown, Mormon
Camp, and other sites |
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1848, Dec. 5
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President Polk reports
gold discovery to Congress, starting the great migration to the
California gold fields |
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1849, Mar. 17 |
Gold found in Sonora in
Woods Creek, area of Columbia Way, by Mexicans from State of Sonora,
Mexico |
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1849, Spring
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Waves of 49ers arrive in
Tuolumne County from around the world; large population of Mexican,
Chileans, and Chinese, along with Americans and Europeans |
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1849, Nov. 13 |
First general election
held in California. Voters approved state constitution. First
legislature later met in San Jose |
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1849 |
First steam-powered
sawmill, built by Major Henri Charbonell in Sonora opposite today’s
Opera Hall |
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1850, Feb. 18
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Tuolumne County
established by Court of Sessions; divided into six townships
spanning from crest of Sierra to crest of Coast Range |
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1850, Mar. 27 |
Columbia:Gold found,
originally called Hildreth Diggings; causing a major rush from the
surrounding areas
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1850, May
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Beginning of Foreign
Miner’s Tax-$20/mo. per non-American, crime in mining camps
intensifies. By 1851 the tax is reduced. |
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1850, Sept. 9 |
California becomes 31st state after 6 months of debates; Compromise
of 1850 allows California to be “free state”
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1850, Sept. |
First registered cattle
brand in Tuolumne County by Emanuel Linoberg – brand was “44” |
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1850 |
Harvard Mine originally
Whiskey Hill Mine, located in Jamestown; started placer operations |
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