Volcano, California
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Volcano is an unincorporated community in Amador County, California. The town sits at 2,200 feet above sea level and the current population is approximately 85. It is located at , just north of Pine Grove. The town is registered as California Historical Landmark #29.
The town is named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley which early miners thought was caused by a volcano. The early morning fog rising from the valley floor only reinforced that belief. The spot was discovered in 1848 by Colonel Stevenson's men, who mined Soldiers Gulch in 1849. In 1851 a post office was established and by April 1852 there were 300 houses. By 1853 the flats and gulches swarmed with men, and there were 11 stores, 6 hotels, 3 bakeries, and 3 saloons. Hydraulic mining operations, begun in 1855, brought thousands of fortune seekers to form a town of 17 hotels, a library, a theater, and courts of quick justice. During the Civil War, Volcano's gold served the Union — Volcano Blues smuggled the cannon "Old Abe" to quell rebel sympathizers. The cannon was cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. in Boston in 1847 and is the first of two 6-pounders made on the same day to be stamped with serial number 4. The other cannon still survives at Shiloh Battlefield and is called "Shiloh Sam". Abe is the only cannon of that age in the U.S. still on a 19th. Century wooden carriage, and has had an interesting history all on its own.
Volcano is the birthplace of Harry Liversedge, two-time track star at both the 1920 and 1924 Olympics and later Brigadier General best known as the leader of the regiment figured in the historic Iwo Jima flag raising, died in 1951 after almost 25 years of Marine Corps service.
Although small, Volcano is a town of many "firsts":
- 1854 First theater group in California
- 1854 First debating society in California
- 1854 First circulating library in California
- 1855 First private schools in California
- 1855 First private law school in California
- 1856 First legal hanging in Amador County
- 1860 First astronomical observatory in California
- 1978 First solar still in California
The observatory was established by George Madeira and is where the Great Comet of 1861 was discovered (in the U.S.). It is registered as California Historical Landmark #715.
Volcano is also home to Black Chasm Caverns, a National Natural Landmark.
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Amador County, California County Seat: Jackson |
|---|---|
| Incorporated places |
Amador City • Ione • Jackson • Plymouth • Sutter Creek |
| Unincorporated communities |
Buckhorn • Buena Vista • Drytown • Fiddletown • Ham's Station • Martell • Pine Grove • Pioneer • Volcano |
