A Brief Look Back

Amador County is in the heart of the Gold Country, where Forty-Niners flocked to find their fortunes 150 years ago. Modern travelers come to enjoy historic buildings, lovely tree-covered hills, rich wine country, antique shops and a wide array of outdoor recreational opportunities for every season. Amador is blessed with spectacular scenery that changes with the season. Elevations range from 200 feet in the west, to over 9,000 feet in the east.

Visitors can enjoy everything from quaint country valleys to breathtaking mountain vistas as they make their way along the county's two primary roadways: historic Highway 49, which stretches generally north to south from El Dorado to Calaveras counties; and east-to-west Highway 88, which has been called 'the most scenic highway in America' and is popular with travelers on their way to Lake Tahoe.

Amador County is among the last in the state offering a genuine, non-commercialized glimpse of the past. The historic building and covered sidewalks are, for the most part, just as they were a century ago, not Hollywood-type reproductions. Everything about Amador County is authentic, and residents take great pains to keep it that way.

Amador County has it all: from the lush Shenandoah Valley wine country in the northwest region of the county, home to a host of award-winning wineries, to the central oak studded hillsides and the majestic Sierra Nevada mountains at the eastern tip of the county, where visitors find some of the finest skiing in California.

In the 1850's, just after gold was discovered at Coloma in nearby El Dorado County, Andrew Kennedy discovered the claim that was to become world famous as the Kennedy Mine in the area that is now the city of Jackson. It would turn out to be one of the richest in the Mother Lode. With its extremely deep mine shafts (the deepest plunged down 5,912 feet), it was to be productive for 50 years.

Amador County was established in 1854. Almost incorporated into neighboring Calaveras County, the new county narrowly missed being named "Washington" by the state legislature, but the name "Amador" was substituted in the State Assembly. The name paid homage to ranchero Jose Maria Amador, after whom Amador City is named, and as a translation from Spanish for "love of gold."

As the county developed, towns rose up around early mining settlements and homes and buildings reflecting the architectural styles popular in that time were built. Many still stand. Mining continued until 1942, when Presidential edict closed mines on behalf of the war effort. However, in recent years, shaft mining activity has been resumed between the towns of Amador City and Sutter Creek, and gold panning continues to thrill hobbyists and professional gold miners, alike.