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| Landmark #407 | Tuolumne County | Visited: June 27, 2015 | Plaque? YES! 🙂 |
| What is it? | A plaque in the middle of Tuolumne! |
| What makes it historical? | THE GUIDE SAYS: The area’s first non-Indian settlers, the Franklin Summers family, arrived in 1854 and built a log cabin a half mile west of this spot, the geographical center of East Belt Placer Gold Rush from 1856 to 1857. In 1858, James Blakely discovered the first quartz lode half a mile east of here and named it “Eureka.” The mine became the nucleus of the town of Summersville, which was later called Carters and finally became Tuolumne. Other mining towns lively in gold rush days were Long Gulch, two miles south, and Cherokee, two miles north.
OTHER TIDBITS: Actually, Franklin Summers (who also had a brother named George) first arrived in the area in 1852 by rounding the Horn, then went back to Missouri to fetch his family, and they came back west via the Oregon Trail! Only a few years later, both brothers were shot and beaten by the Dickinson family in a land dispute; Franklin died at the scene, leaving his wife to raise their two small children alone in mining country! Elizabeth Summers eventually turned her home into a boarding house to stay alive! At one point, Mrs. Summers hosted the Blakely brothers, who struck it rich and wanted to name the town Elizabethville in her honor, but she preferred “Summersville” to honor her late husband. When the railroad came through in 1900, it named its regional station “Tuolumne,” which became the name of the town after a devastating fire destroyed most of it in 1905! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
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| Where is this place? | LISTED DIRECTIONS: In island Center of Carter St at intersection with Tuolumne Rd Tuolumne, CA 95379 ANNOTATIONS: From Los Angeles: ~338mi (544km) — 5.7hrs |
| When should I go? | Whenever the mood strikes you! |
