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Place Name
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Mother Lode
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Place Status (Type)
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belt
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Location
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California, United States, North America
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Latitude
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unknown
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Longitude
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unknown
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Mother Lode
, belt of gold-bearing quartz veins, Mariposa,
Calaveras, Amados, El Dorado, and Placer cos., central Calif., along
the W foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The term is sometimes limited to
a strip c.70 mi/113 km long and from
1 mi/1.6 km to
6.5 mi/10.5 km wide, running NW from Mariposa.
Popularly it is used to mean the gold-bearing area E of the Sacramento
and San Joaquin rivers and W of the Sierra Nevada. The discovery of
alluvial gold at Sutter's Mill on the South Fork of the Amer. R. in
1848 led to the gold rush centered on this territory in 1849. Those
traveling here to seek gold were nicknamed “The Fortyniners” and
constructed the lawless boom towns of Angel's Camp, Volcano Eruption,
and Sonora. Mark Twain and Bret Harte helped make the Mother Lode
famous. Highway 49, named for the 1st year of the Gold Rush, runs
through most of the historic towns. The area around Sonora and Tuolumne
cos. is now middle-income suburbs.
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