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Amador County About Amador County - The Heart of the Mother Lode
Amador County covers 568 square miles ranging from gently rolling slopes in the west to rugged mountain terrain in the east. Elevations range from 200 to 9,000 feet.
The county seat is the town of Jackson, incorporated in 1905. Other incorporated communities are Amador City, Ione, Plymouth and Sutter Creek. Key state highways through Amador County are Highways 49, stretching generally north-south, and Highway 88 running east-west.
A scenic area with a rich Gold Rush History, Amador County is a favorite tourist destination. It is approximately 45 miles to the east of the cities of Sacramento and Stockton, and also draws tourists from San Francisco, 147 miles to the west, as well as Southern California. Other industries in the county include lumber, mining, and agriculture, including livestock and a booming wine industry.
Amador City
One of California's smallest incorporated cities, Amador City boasts a population of 212. Located on HWY 49, the community was named for the miner Jose Maria Amador, who mined the creek in town in 1848-49. The city encompasses a total of 187 acres, with 30 zoned for residential, 9 for commercial and 3 institutional. There are 131 vacant acres in the city. Total budget of city government is approximately $200,000. The city has a fire rating of 5.
Ione
Unlike other communities in Amador County, which were founded on gold mining, Ione was a supply center, stage and rail stop and agricultural hub. The population of the city itself is 2,667 and the city budget is approximately $1,400,000. The city covers 2,830 acres and has a fire insurance rating of 6.
Jackson
The largest city in the county, with a population of 3,877 - Jackson was founded as a gold rush camp in 1848. It was destroyed by fire in 1862 and rebuilt. Many of the existing historic Main Street structures date from that reconstruction era. The city of Jackson covers 1,940 acres, has a total city budget of $3,893,539 and a fire rating of 6.
Plymouth
Located on the northern edge of the county on HWY 49 near the El Dorado County line, Plymouth is the site of the Amador County Fairgrounds and the annual county fair each July. The town was born in 1871. The Empire Store Building is one structure remaining from mining days, along with the Methodist Episcopal Church, the first in the region when it was founded in 1853. The community occupies one square mile, with a population of 832. The city's annual budget is $773,306 and the community has a fire rating of 6.
Sutter Creek
The community is named for famed gold discoverer Capt. John Sutter, whose men found a small forest near there in 1844 overlooking a valley cut by a creek. The historic Main Street, with its original mining-era buildings, has in modern times become a Mecca for tourists who come to enjoy shopping for antiques and staying in the several bed and breakfast inns there. Sutter Creek covers 960 acres, with a population of 2,057. The city reports an annual budget of approximately $150,000 and has a fire rating of 6.
Unincorporated Communities
The most rapid population growth in recent years has been in the unincorporated areas of Amador County, particularly in the "Upcountry" region in and around the communities of Pine Grove and Pioneer. A number of unincorporated towns with rich histories of their own dot the area. These include the communities of Drytown, Fiddletown, Pine Grove and Volcano.
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