Calaveras
County is a county located in the Gold
Country of the U.S. state of California. As of
the 2000 census, it had a population of 40,554.
The county seat is San Andreas.Mark Twain set his famous story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, in the county. Each year, the county hosts its County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee, featuring a frog jumping contest, to celebrate the association with Twain's story. The celebrated California red-legged frog, feared absent from the county by 1969, was rediscovered in 2003.
The meaning of the word calaveras is "skulls." This county takes its name from the Calaveras River which was reportedly so designated by Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga when he found, on the banks of the stream, many skulls of Native Americans who had either died of famine or had been killed in tribal conflicts over hunting and fishing grounds.
Angels Camp is the only incorporated city in the county.
