Town Of Placerville example essay topic

Approximately forty-five miles east of Sacramento, California, is the friendly town of Placerville, which marks a major "Gold Rush" historical landmark in the United States. In the early days of this small gold mining boom town, Placerville was known as "Hangtown". If you come into town, you will 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 firehouse 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, don't 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 one 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 back like a tiger, and with the help of others, the robbers were captured and beaten like pi~nat as.

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 'em!" The most historic location in Placerville is the 147-year-old Hangman's Tree Saloon. On the outside wall of the building is a weathered dummy in jeans, cowboy boots, and pink flannel shirt that dangles lifelessly from a wood block. Inside the saloon, where a noose swings on a fake tree, it is said that the hangman's ghost lingers there.

What used to be Elstner's 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 number 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 1840's. Gold was discovered in the tailrace at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, which is about ten miles from Old Hangtown, in 1848.

Subsequently, the migration of thousands in search for gold brought people to Northern California. During the Gold Rush, Placerville became an important supply center for the surrounding mining camps. This rich mining camp was established on the banks of Hangtown Creek in the spring of 1948. Millions of dollars in gold were taken from its ravines and hills, and it served as a supply center for mining camps and transportation station for the famous Comstock Lode. Throughout history, several famous entrepreneurs have conducted business in Placerville. The most well-known entrepreneurs in Placerville were John Studebaker, an auto maker; Mark Hopkins, a railroad financier; Phillip Armour, a meat packer; and John "Snowshoe" Thompson, who carried from sixty to eighty pounds of mail on skis from Placerville over the Sierra Nevada's to Carson Valley during winter months.

The most recent is an artist known worldwide as "the painter of light", Thomas Kinkade. Situated well, Placerville serves as a focal point for many nearby tourist locations such as Gold Bug Park, Gold Bug Mine, Apple Hill Ranches, Historic Coloma, the El Dorado National Forest, numerous wineries, Lake Tahoe, and the American River. Placerville is one of the most traveled valleys in California, located at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Highway 50, the longest highway in America, passes right through the center of Placerville. The length of Highway 50 is like a lifetime in which the end is unseen. The highway begins in Sacramento, California and ends in Ocean City, Maryland.

The highway runs a total of 3,073 miles coast-to-coast. Situated above the fog line and below the snow line, Placerville asserts an ideal climate with four distinct seasons. The winters are mild with average temperatures ranging from lows in the mid 20's and highs in the low 60's. Living in Placerville, I have seen the temperatures drop as low as eight degrees.

Very seldom do large bodies of water freeze over, which makes the winters agreeable. Springtime weather is like lavish luxury - abundant and perfect! In the springtime, the days get brighter as the shining sun is sitting on the skyline. You can see the grass get greener, buds on the trees and bushes turn from void to flowers and leaves of bright colors. Even the animals love the springtime. You can hear the volume of the voices of the animals in the void of the day get louder and louder.

Springtime is the best time of year. Placerville has warm weather in the summertime and is enjoyable for outdoor activities. Many people in the town and in the local area do some gold mining, hiking, bike trail riding, camping, river rafting, and fishing during the summer. The autumn weather is amazing as the leaves of the deciduous tree types change from green to different shades of orange, yellow, and red before falling to the barren ground. Autumn in Placerville offers festivities such as the El Dorado County fair, an Apple Hill festival, numerous wine tasting expeditions, and various parades. Placerville, being at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, provides overwhelming scenery in the distance of the snow-capped mountains.

The snow-capped Sierra's are like beautiful bald eagles that soar so high in the heavens. At an elevation of about 2000 feet above sea level, standing on the top of a large hill, you can look south and see the vast San Joaquin Valley of California. If you look north, you will see the different levels of the Sierra's. Like a stairway to heaven, the gradient of the mountains gradually get steeper and steeper.

Rivers and streams from the melting snow flow from the mountains down and through Placerville, making the scenery even more pleasant. Many people of Placerville enjoy living there but do not know or realize the historical aspect of the city they call home. Today Placerville is not commonly recognized as Hangtown. Many people still don't even know its original name. Back in the 1840's, Placerville was a boom town and it was the "happening" spot. It was a typical setting of a Hollywood "Wild West" western movie.

Today, that's not the case at all. Placerville is an easygoing town, and a nice place to rest, relax and raise a family. After all the excavation of gold in the late 1800's, gold is still found to this day, but it is not what people live there for these days. Today, besides gold, Placerville's healthy economy is in part due to its varied industries, including lumber, lime, slate, pears, apples, cherries, cattle, sheep, wine grapes, wineries, and Christmas trees. The town of Placerville is a friendly setting. Surrounded by the quietness of beautiful scenery and great year-round weather, Placerville is a great place to live.

Close to the mountains and close to the city of Sacramento, it provides for excellent fun in every direction. Although the thought of being in a town where people were really hung for their wrongdoings gives an odd feeling, overall, Placerville has lots of great history to it and is a fantastic place to gain knowledge of the history of the migration of settlers to the West.