Sonora

This postcard image is looking north from the intersection of Stockton Road and Washington Street - Original location of marker.

"Sonora, California is the seat of Tuolumne County. In 1848 this was known as Sonorian Camp, settled by Mexicans from the state of Sonora, Mexico. The streets were packed with as many as 5,000 miners on a Saturday night. The town was organized in 1848 to establish a hospital to treat one-half of the population who suffered from scurvy. In June of 1850 the new "gringo" government, unappreciative of Sonora's pioneers, imposed a $20 tax on foreign-born miners. Alarmed at the Yankee treachery, Mexicans and Chileans, fearing an attack pulled down their tents and left for new diggings. When the excitement subsided, Sonora found itself with but a fifth of its former poplulation"...MP

Sonora is the county seat of Tuolumne. In 1848 this was a small camp settled by Mexicans from the state of Sonora. In June 1850 a tax of $20.00 was imposed on foreign-born miners. Mexicans and Chileans left the new town and went to Columbia where they hit it rich. The richest pocket mine was the Big Bonanza when three partners, who had acquired the mine at little cost in the 1870's, hit a deposit that produced $160,000 in one day, $500,000 in one week. There are a great number of old mining camps a short distance from Sonora...MP

Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Joseph Palermo was in the service of the CCC in the early 1930's. This photo was taken while he traveled through the Mother Lode and shows the buildings at that time.