RV Lifestyle San Andreas was settled by Mexican Gold Miners in 1848. By 1850, more than 1,000 tents dotted the hillsides as miners worked the gullies and washes. In August 1852, the large San Andreas Nugget was found in a claim just north of where the town is located and sold to the Wells Fargo company for $12,000. In 1859, more than $500,000 in gold dust was shipped. An infamous name from the Gold Rush often tied to San Andreas, is Black Bart. Handsome and debonair, Black Bart was a gentleman bandit who never harmed drivers or passengers and left bits of original verse behind signed “P08.” Black Bart held up the Milton-Sonora stage at Funk Hill on November 3, 1883, leaving several articles behind in his hurried flight. One of these was a handkerchief with a laundry mark traced back to a San Francisco laundry, where the mark was identified as belonging to C.E. Bolton, one of the city’s leading citizens. He was arrested and brought back to San Andreas, where he confessed to the robbery. His trial was held in the courtroom in San Andreas and he was sentenced to six years in San Quentin State Prison. It’s nine miles up Highway 4 from Angels Camp to the neighbouring mining town of Murphys, founded in 1848 by John and Daniel Murphy. Murphys’ rich and colourful past came alive in 1848, when John and Daniel Murphy established a trading post and gold mining operation in the area that is now their namesake. It is reported that the brothers took two million dollars in gold ore from the Murphys Diggins in one year’s time, making them millionaires before the age of 25. During the first year, 50 tents, several lean-tos, and two blockhouses were erected and, by 1850, the camp had a population of 1,200. In 1852, there were 3,000 people…close to the present-day population. Murphys was one of California’s richest diggins. During one winter, five million dollars’ worth of gold was taken from a four-acre placer area and the town grew prosperous, despite the usual cycle of devastating fires and rebuilding. Once a hodgepodge of miners’ tents and leantos, Murphys has aged well. The picturesque village is known today for its many natural attractions including caverns for public viewing, a charming Main Street with friendly merchants, unique shops, spectacular wineries and art galleries. A stroll down tree-linedMain Street transports visitors back to the mid-1800s with buildings bearing thick-stoned walls, iron shutters and pastoral gardens. Its leafy streets are lined with white picket fences, oaks and sycamores, eateries and tasting rooms. Murphys 40 | www.snowbirds.org
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