Jackson was founded in 1848 around a year-round spring by American pioneers stimulated by the discovery of gold in the Sierra foothills. The settlement was named for a local lawyer who was liked by miners named Colonel Alden Appola Moore Jackson. The camp grew quickly, as besides being a popular mining spot, it was also a convenient stopping place on the road from Sacramento to the Southern Mines and important supply and transportation center for the neighboring towns; by 1850 the population had reached an estimated 1,500. Jackson grew first as a watering hole for cattle, then as one of the earliest and most durable of the Mother Lode's hard rock mining areas.
In 1853, Jackson became the county seat of newly formed Amador County, California. Previously, from 1851–1852, it had been the county seat of Calaveras County. Jackson may therefore be the only city to have ever been county seat of two different counties at different times. Placer mining gave out by the 1860s, replaced by hard rock mining. One of the town's most prominent historical landmarks, the Kennedy Mine, began operation in 1860; at the time of its closure during World War II in 1942, it was the deepest gold mine in North America, at 1802 meters; (5912 ft). On August 27, 1922 47 miners in the Argonaut mine died in the worst gold mine disaster in US history. In Oct, 1942 the US government passed the War Production Board Limitation Order which signaled the demise of gold mining in California. The government needed men for the war and gold was not considered a strategic war metal. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson,_California

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Elevation 340 m

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Location: Jackson, Amador County, California, United States

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