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Collection: Directories and Documents > Pamphlets
An Illustrated History of California's Gold Rush by Wells Fargo Bank (PH 1-27) (34 pages)
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Page: of 34
Jence seems to have been a way of life in Mokelumne
Hill. For a period of seventeen weeks there was at
least one murder every weekend.
Things have calmed down since then. Most weekends there are no murders at all, and visitors are
greeted with hospitality at the renovated Hotel Leger.
Among the interesting sights in town are the I.0.0.E
building, which is the oldest three-story building in
the Gold Country, the Congregational Church built
in 1856, the Meyer Store and the old French Bakery.
One of the legends which persists about Mokelumne
Hill is the one which concerns a miner who, outraged by the exploits of the bandit Joaquin Murietta,
slammed down a bag of gold on the bar of the Zumwalt Saloon and declared that $500 said he would
kill that infamous villain the first time he saw him.
A Mexican rose from a table nearby, seized the bag
and said, “I’ll take that bet.” He ran out of the bar,
jumped on a horse and rode away with the gold. It
may have been Joaquin Murietta. Or it may not.
SAN ANDREAS The first town you will run into
after Mokelumne Hill on Highway 49 is San Andreas. The town was originally settled by Mexicans
who panned quite successfully. They were followed
by the Chinese who gleaned something from the
tailings. Again the I.0.0.F Hall is truly the historic
building. And again the legend of Joaquin Murietta
crops up. The legend says that here an unnamed
Frenchman offered Murietta a bullet-proof vest. He
accepted, and when the vest was produced, Murietta, just to assure himself that he was not being
palmed off with shoddy merchandise, stood the
Frenchman up in the vest and fired at him point
blank. The Frenchman fell to the floor and it was
some moments before it was determined that he
wasn't dead, but had fainted from fright. Murietta
bought the vest. Like most of the tales of the exploits of Joaquin Murietta, this one can be taken
with enough salt to make it palatable.
It was near San Andreas that another notorious
badman of the era was surprised while rifling the
Wells Fargo strongbox. Although he escaped, he
dropped his handkerchief and it was this clue which
finally led to the capture of the gentlemanly highwayman, Black Bart.
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