Golden Days of Placerville :: essays research papers

Approximately forty-five miles east of Sacramento, California, is the friendly town of Placerville, which marks a major Gold rushing historical landmark in the United States. In the early days of this small gold mining boomtown, Placerville was known as Hangtown. If you come into town, you allow see the sign of Placerville, and underneath it you will see its nickname reading, Old Hangtown. Nooses can be seen all over town, on police cars, on historical landmark signs even at the fire station and on the Placerville City Seal. Placerville has a great deal of history behind its name. Many people who pass through the town, or even those that live there, simulatet realize the history behind the town. There are different accounts on how Placerville attained the name of Hangtown, but the most famous is an episode that occurred integrity January night in 1849. A gambler named Lopez hit it rich at a local saloon. After he retired for the evening, several robbers tried to overpower him. Lopez fought tail end like a tiger, and with the help of others, the robbers were captured and beaten like piatas. Three of the robbers had been wanted for previous robberies, as well as for murder at a gold camp on the Stanislaus River. A thirty-minute trial was held for the robbers and after a unanimous guilty verdict, the crowd called out, Hang em Hang emThe most historic jam in Placerville is the 147-year-old Hangmans Tree Saloon. On the outside wall of the building is a weathered dummy in jeans, cowboy boots, and pink flannel tog that dangles lifelessly from a wood block. Inside the saloon, where a noose swings on a fake tree, it is said that the hangmans ghost lingers there. What used to be Elstners Hay Yard is where the original tree used to stand, from which the people originally hung. The dummy still hangs from that same location to this day. Actually, Hangtown conducted only a small second of hangings. Just one year later, in 1850, Hangtown was renamed Placerville and was named after the placer deposits of placer gold found in the river bed between Spanish Ravine and the town plaza. The town of Placerville began with the Gold Rush in California in the 1840s. Gold was discovered in the tailrace at Sutters Mill in Coloma, which is about ten miles from Old Hangtown, in 1848.