Jenny Lind is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Calaveras County Calaveras County (), officially the County of Calaveras, is a County (United States), county in both the Gold Country and Sierra Nevada, High Sierra regions of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It lies at an elevation of 253 feet (77 m) and is located at . The community is in ZIP code 95252 and

area code 209 Area codes 209 and 350 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California. Their service area includes Stockton, Modesto, Turlock, Merced, Winton, Atwater, Livingston, Manteca, Ripon, Tracy ...

. Located on the north bank of the

Calaveras River Lead The Calaveras River is a river in the San Joaquin Valley of California. It flows roughly southwest for from the confluence of its north and south forks in Calaveras County to its confluence with the San Joaquin River in the city of St ...

, Jenny Lind was a

placer mining Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit mining or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment. Placer mining is frequently used for precious metal deposits (particularly ...

town as early as 1849. Most of the placer mining was done along the hillsides above the river; later the river was mined with

dredger Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing dam ...

s. In 1864 the population was said to be 400, half of them Chinese. Being on the main road from Stockton, it was also an important freighting center for the area. The town is likely named after the Swedish singer

Jenny Lind Johanna Maria Lind (Madame Goldschmidt) (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in ...

, although there are several tales about its naming. One story claims it was really named for Dr. John Y. Lind. Another says that the braying of pack

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

s prompted the miners to use the singer's name in sarcastic humor. Most likely, it was named in the singer's honor, although she never came to California. The town today is registered as

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

#266. A post office operated at Jenny Lind from 1857 to 1944 and again from 1947 to 1951.

Politics

In the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

, Jenny Lind is in , and . Federally, Jenny Lind is in .

References

External links

* Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Calaveras County, California California Historical Landmarks Jenny Lind {{CalaverasCountyCA-geo-stub