Placerville, California

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Originally the town was named Dry Diggins; this was later changed to Hangtown, because so many unruly gold-diggers were hanged in order to maintain law and order. On a house in Main Street where the gallows stood, a life-sized figure of a "hanged man" can still be seen today. Little of its wild past remains in Placerville.

Today it lies in the middle of a fruit-growing area, where a big "Cherry Carnival" is held in the middle of June, and where the apple harvest is celebrated from September to December, during which period 45 farmers welcome visitors.

"From rags to riches"

Three famous Americans began life in Placerville: Mark Hopkins, a grocer who became a railway magnate and one of San Francisco's richest men (a hotel bears his name), the butcher Philip Armour, founder of one of the largest meat processing companies still in existence, and the coach-builder John Studebaker, one of the first important motor-car manufacturers in Detroit.

Placerville can be used as a base for trips through Mother Lode County. Anyone who feels like looking for gold in one of the streams or rivers in the neighborhood can do so under the expert guidance of a gold-digger.