Amador County 



THE name of Amador now, as in the early gold days, is inseparably 

 associated with the mining interests of California. This county ranks 

 third in the State as a gold producer. Nearly all the quartz mines 

 are being profitably conducted, and several entered the dividend pay- 

 ing class within the year 1906. The gold production in this county 

 for the year 1904- was over two million dollars. Copper is also mined in 

 considerable quantities, and the western portion of the county is underlaid 

 with immense areas of soft or fuel coal. Many thousands of tons are 

 shipped to different parts of the State. Immediately accessible to the rail- 

 roads are unlimited beds of the finest potter's clay. The resources of the 

 county include several other wealth-producing minerals, such as fine build- 

 ing-stone, roofing-slate, and a beautiful quality of marble. 



Hitherto one of the chief expenses connected with mining in Amador 

 has been the cost of hauling timbers to the mines. Now, however, the 

 lone and Eastern Railroad is to be extended from Martell, the present ter- 

 minus, to a point thirty miles farther into the mountains. This extension 

 will tap some of the finest timber in the Sierras, and will make possible the 

 development of mineral properties that have heretofore lain idle. The addi- 

 tional lumber product for shipment will also add materially to the wealth 

 of the county. Large tracts of timberland have lately been purchased, 

 and options have been secured upon others. 



Amador County descends from the High Sierras of its eastern area to 

 a region of rolling hills in the west, through which are interspersed beauti- 

 ful little valleys, adapted to the growth of all kinds of agricultural products 

 — wheat, barley, oats, corn, potatoes, broomcorn, and alfalfa. All kinds 

 of vegetables grow in profusion. The rolling lands, which constitute the 

 greater portion of the county, are composed principally of a gravelly or red 

 loam soil, and covered more or less with open oak timber and an under- 

 growth of brush and wild grasses which makes them well adapted to the 

 raising of stock, this being, indeed, one of the leading industries of the 

 county. Horses, mules, sheep, hogs, and cattle are raised in considerable 

 numbers; especially cattle, of which many fine herds are owned in the west- 

 ern half of the county, where they are kept during the fall, winter, and 

 spring without other feed than the natural products of the soil. In the 

 summer they are driven to the alpine valleys of the High Sierras, where 

 a most succulent pasturage is found just at the edge of the melting snows. 

 Dairying is an important related industry. It centers around lone, which 

 has the leading creamery of this part of California. Poultry-raising is also 

 carried on to a considerable extent, and with profit. 



The climate and soil of Amador are equal to any in the State for the 

 growing of apples, peaches, pears, plums, prunes, quinces, berries in great 

 variety, and grapes. Oranges grow to perfection. In the foothills it has 

 been demonstrated that the olive is a successful crop. 



Seven miles east of Jackson is the plant of the Standard Electric Power 

 Company, which furnishes power and light not only for Amador County, but 

 for outside points as well. The plant is run by water-power, the supply 

 coming from the never-ceasing streams and melting snowbanks of the 

 highest Sierras, the water being stored in immense reservoirs. 



The annual precipitation in Amador is about twenty-three inches. The 

 farmers have not found it necessary to adopt a general system of irrigation, 

 although the supply of water is ample and to spare, if properly husbanded 

 in large reservoirs, for which there are many available sites. 



The area of the county is 568 square miles. Jackson is the county seat, 

 lone is an important town, and a railroad terminus. 



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