114 



GEOLOGIC GUIDEBOOK ALONG HIGHWAY 49 



[Bull. 141 



FIG. .">.">. Stone house on Pendola ranch, Melones, DMBS Cal-Hl 





FIG. r,(i. Slone building, Carson Hill, DMItS Cal-H2. 



TUTTLETOWN 



The very -well preserved and neatly built stone building which 

 stands in Tuttletown was a store, built by W. Swerer in 1852, and 

 patronized by Mark Twain during his sojourn at Jackass Hill. It is made 

 of quarried and dressed blocks of Calaveras schist (Fig. 54). A schist 

 quarry can be seen on the north side of the highway a half mile west of 

 the store. Tuttletown was first settled by a group of Mormon prospectors 

 in 1848 and then named Mormon Camp. 



MELONES 



The old town of Melones, at various times also called Roaring Camp 

 and Slumgullion, lies on the north bank of the Stanislaus River. Melones 

 was first settled by Mexican placer miners in 1848. To the east of the 

 highway, several ruins of former schist buildings are to be seen including 

 the Vignoli Gaming House built in 1850 and the homestead house on the 

 Pendola Ranch (Fig. 55) about a mile northeast of town. 



CARSON HILL 



A few stone buildings made of fiat Calaveras schist laid up with mud 

 mortar (Fig. 56) may be seen. The famous Carson Hill mine, still in 

 operation, is nearby, as is the site where the largest California gold 

 nugget ever found was picked up in 1854. It weighed 195 pounds troy 

 and would be worth roughly $73,710 at the present price of gold. 



ALBANY FLAT 



Between Carson Hill and Angels Camp near Frogtowii in what was 

 called Albany Flat stands the James Romaggi Fandango Dance Hall 

 built in 1852 (Fig. 57). It has several rooms and is two stories high in 

 the front. The walls are of selected coursed slabs of amphibolite schist. 

 Few buildings in the entire Mother Lode can match this for size, 

 excellence of construction, and elaborateness. 



ANGELS CAMP 



The modernized town of Angels Camp is built around a core of 

 eighteen-fifty period stone structures. The Angels Hotel built in 1855 

 now bears a new facade, but is still recognizable in its earlier style shown 

 in Fig. 56. It is built of dressed rhyolite tuff blocks, as are at least a 

 dozen other buildings in town of equal age. Examples which show rhyo- 

 lite block construction are the Stickle Store, Scribner's Store, the Wells 

 Fargo Building and the present Sierra Club. Source of the tuff was the 

 quarry east of Altaville (Fig. 63). A Chinese store built of brick is 

 referred to locally as the "Chinese Calaboose." 



