The rolling hills that surround the country roads of Amador County are much the same as they were thousands of years ago when the Miwok Indians roamed the countryside. Hunters and gatherers, the Miwok lived on acorn, bird, deer and fish that were found in the bountiful fields and streams of the area.

The legacy of the Miwoks has ben preserved at Chaw-Se Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park, the only California park that focuses primarily on Indian culture. Just 15 minutes east of Jackson off Highway 88, the park offers a rare glimpse into a culture thousands of years old.

By the mid 1800s, many explorers including Jedadiah Smith and Capt. John Fremont traveled through Amador County on their way to Sacramento. The county was a welcome respite after their arduous journey through the Sierra Nevada. But no one could have guessed back then that the quiet Sierra foothills would become a focal point for the whole world just a few decades later.

When gold was discovered, the news traveled like wildfire throughout the world. The thought of quick riches drew more than 40,000 immigrants in 1849, many settling in Amador County. Men from as far away as Europe and China descended on the Mother Lode, a 120 mile section of gold veins along the western flank of the Sierra Nevada. One of the first to organize a workforce and dig through outcroppings along selected riverbanks was Jose Maria Amador, a wealthy rancher after whom the county was named.

Amador’s real gold wealth was discovered after the placer (surface) gold was finally depleted at the end of the initial Gold Rush. Looking underground, miners discovered quartz, a gold bearing rock with vast underground veins that snaked throughout the Mother Lode. The richest of these veins was under the ground in Amador. A second Gold Rush ensued - this time for hard rock mining operations resulting in thriving cities of saloons, dance halls and gambling parlors. It was the Wild West at its wildest.

For almost a century, Amador teemed with money, men and dreams. Not until WWII when many of the mines closed, did Amador County settle back into the peaceful backroads paradise of today. But if you stop for a while and listen, you can almost hear the rumblings of mining equipment and a chorus of men’s voices, echoing with the message: “There’s gold in them thar hills.”