Amador City
Amador City began life as a mining camp in 1848, with placer mining in the surrounding creeks. In 1851, a vein of quartz was discovered, and hard rock mining began. The Bonanza mine, opened in 1869, yielded $40,000 in its first month of operation.
A fire in 1878 destroyed the original wooden buildings, leaving behind only the brick structures. Amador City was incorporated in 1915 despite its tiny size and remains the smallest incorporated city in California.
