Top of page

Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Weekly Calaveras Chronicle (Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, Cal.) 18??-1874

View All Front Pages

About Weekly Calaveras Chronicle (Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, Cal.) 18??-1874

The California Gold Rush was short lived, but its impact was profound and enduring. Between 1848 and the mid-1850s hundreds of thousands of people moved into the state in search of easily accessible gold deposits. Most of these “49ers” initially settled in the Sierra Nevada region of California, from Butte County in the north to Mariposa County in the south, establishing both mining camps and new towns in the area. Within a decade the majority of workable gold deposits were emptied and prospectors were replaced by mechanization and capital. Most of the “Argonauts” moved either out of the region or into nearby growing towns and cities.

California “mining newspapers,” as they were called by one of their first chroniclers, Helen Giffen, sprang up in these newly settled towns as the initial Gold Rush waned. Not only were they some of the earliest papers printed in the state, collectively they chronicled a region as it transitioned from often lawless and violent mining camps to permanent settlements with organized governments and law enforcement. They also recorded the changing nature of mining and, as Giffen notes, “advocated mining and land reforms that were later written into California law.”

Calaveras County, in the middle of the Sierra Nevada region, was home to at least two important gold rush towns. Mokelumne Hill had some of the richest surface deposits, or “placers,” in the state and was one of California’s principal mining towns. Two years after prospectors from Oregon discovered gold there in 1848 the population was nearly 15,000. People of numerous nationalities (there was rumored to be a German-language paper, the California Staats Zeitung, though no known copies survive) sought their fortunes on claims limited to 16 square feet in the hills around the town, with some claims reported to have paid up to $20,000. Perhaps not surprisingly, the lure of quick fortunes brought with it violence and crime. Like other towns, Mokelumne Hill’s population and importance had diminished by the early 1860s as the gold deposits ran out. As its fortunes faded, San Andreas, some 10 miles to the south, prospered. The placer deposits discovered by Mexican miners in 1848 lasted only a few years, but by the early 1850s rich deposits in ancient underground river channels would fuel the town’s growth for years. The success of “drift mining” made San Andreas one of the largest and busiest towns in the Calaveras County by the 1860s, and in 1866 it replaced Mokelumne Hill as the county seat.

Perhaps not surprisingly given its rapid growth, Mokelumne Hill had a newspaper early on. The first issue of the Calaveras Chronicle, a weekly publication, appeared on October 18, 1851, making it the second paper published in the southern mines, according to Giffen. The first owners were Henry Hamilton, James Joseph Ayres, and Harry A. DeCourcey. The latter, also the editor from 1851 to 1852, was wounded in a duel in 1852, reflecting the town’s early violent reputation. Throughout the 1850s the newspaper changed ownership numerous times. It continued into the 1860s as the Weekly Calaveras Chronicle, though only scattered issues survive for that decade.

Gold-Rush newspapers in San Andreas had a less colorful and shorter-lived history. The San Andreas Independent started publication on September 24, 1856. The initial owners were George Armor and Benjamin P. Kooser, who was also the editor. According to a contemporary journalist, Edward Kemble, the title was “untrammeled by party politics, and finds its most congenial occupation in the development of the resources of the county and the advancement of social and intellectual refinement.” The San Andreas Independent ceased publication on June 22, 1861, when Armor and O.M. Clayes, who had bought Kooser’s share, moved the paper to Stockton and renamed it the Stockton Daily Independent.

Provided By: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Weekly Calaveras Chronicle (Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, Cal.) 18??-1874

Dates of Publication

  • 18??-1874

Created / Published

  • Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, Cal. : Calaveras Chronicle, -1874.

Headings

  • -  Mokelumne Hill (Calif.)--Newspapers
  • -  Calaveras County (Calif.)--Newspapers
  • -  California--Mokelumne Hill
  • -  California--Calaveras County
  • -  United States--California--Calaveras--Mokelumne Hill

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  -v. 23, no. 52 (Oct. 17, 1874).
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from University of California, Berkeley.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 10, no. 6 (Nov 10, 1860).
  • -  Master negatives are available for duplication from: California Newspaper Microfilm Archive; for further information consult the CNMA at: http://cbsr.ucr.edu. External
  • -  Calaveras chronicle (Mokelumne Hill, Calif. : 1874) (DLC)sn 93052978 (OCoLC)27395268

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn93052977

OCLC Number

  • 27395259

ISSN Number

  • 2642-5483

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://aj.sunback.homes/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://aj.sunback.homes/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Weekly Calaveras Chronicle Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, Cal. 18??. (Mokelumne Hill, CA), 18??. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn93052977/.

APA citation style:

(18??) Weekly Calaveras Chronicle Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, Cal. 18??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn93052977/.

MLA citation style:

Weekly Calaveras Chronicle Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, Cal. 18??. (Mokelumne Hill, CA) 18??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn93052977/.