José
Amador Slept Here
Even before the
discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill at Coloma,
John Sutter had a lumbering operation a few
miles east of here, with a haul road crossing a
creek less than a mile east of the present site
of Amador City. The rough road was used by
Sutter's workers to transport logs to his
sawmills. It was at the crossing that
JoséMaria Amador and his companions set
up camp in 1848, to gather gold from the
creekbed. Amador was a well-known ranchero from
the Livermore Valley, where the city of Dublin
is now located, and left his comfortable home to
search for riches in this wild Sierra Foothills
countryside. The location of the mining camp is
called Amador's Crossing.
Amador
City Today
It's the
smallest incorporated city in California (if not
the world) with a population of 150, located in
a beautiful little valley with Highway 49
connecting the community with the rest of the
world. It's two miles north of Sutter Creek,
three miles south of Drytown, and about 35 miles
southeast of Sacramento. Amador City has no
supermarket, no liquor store, no movie theater,
and few other modern distractions. Instead, it
has retained its rustic Victorian charm from the
gold rush days, with its "downtown" district
intact, including original buildings such as the
historic Amador Hotel (now filled with
boutiques). The ancient Fleehart Building is
home to the Amador Whitney Museum. Other
historic buildings are now antique and specialty
stores, with the Buffalo Chips Cafe
retaining an early 1900s ambience. The Mine
House (the former headquarters for the
Keystone Mine) is a well-known bed and breakfast
inn. The Imperial Hotel is not only a
fine B&B, but has one of the finest
restaurants in California, noted for its
innovative cuisine. Visitors come here from
across California (and farther) to enjoy the
unruffled Gold Country atmosphere.
Amador City is
close to Amador Wine Country, with wineries in
the Shenandoah Valley, a few miles to the
north, and other wineries near Sutter Creek. We
can pop out for a few minutes to visit the
wineries, and bring home superb Zinfandel,
Barbera, Sangiovese, and other prize-winning
vintages from California's original wine
region.
Onroute.com
began its web life in Amador City.
