San Andreas ( Californio Spanish for "St. Andrew") is an unincorporated

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Calaveras County, California. The population was 2,994 at the 2020 census, up from 2,783 at the 2010 census. Like most towns in the region, it was founded during the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

. The town is located on State Route 49 and is registered as California Historical Landmark #252.

History

Settled by Mexican gold miners in 1848 and named after the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

parish

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

, the town has been a noted mining camp since early days. It existed as a tent city for the first few years, and even included a tent church. A few miles outside of town is the Pioneer Cemetery, established in c. 1851. In August 1852, a nugget of gold was found here and was sold to Wells Fargo & Co. for US$12,000. The

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

from the initially discovered placers gave out after a few years, but the discovery of gold in an underground river channel in 1853 revitalized the camp and it soon became a town. Mining of the channels was lucrative enough for the town to completely rebuild after fires in 1858 and 1863. The gold discovered here contributed greatly to the success of the Union during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. In 1866, San Andreas became the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

of Calaveras County. It was said to be a rendezvous location for

Joaquin Murrieta Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (sometimes misspelled Murieta or Murietta) (c. 1829 – July 25, 1853), also called the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Mexicans, Mexican figure of disputed historicity. The novel ''The Lif ...

. Notorious highwayman Black Bart was tried here and sent to prison. The post office was established in 1854.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , of which, 99.81% is land and 0.19% is water.

Climate

San Andreas has a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

typical of the Sierra Nevada foothills. Winters are cool and wet with mild days, chilly nights, and substantial rainfall. Summers are hot and dry with very hot days, cool nights, and minimal rainfall. Due to the orographic effect, rainfall in all seasons is significantly greater than on the valley floor to the west.

Demographics

The 2020 United States census reported that San Andreas had a population of 2,994. The population density was . The racial makeup of San Andreas was 80.1%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.2%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.8% Native American, 1.8% Asian, 0.3%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 4.4% from other races, and 10.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.2% of the population. The census reported that 92.4% of the population lived in households, 1.0% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 6.6% were institutionalized. There were 1,172 households, out of which 24.7% included children under the age of 18, 37.3% were married-couple households, 8.6% were cohabiting couple households, 34.9% had a female householder with no partner present, and 19.2% had a male householder with no partner present. 33.7% of households were one person, and 20.0% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.36. There were 671 families (57.3% of all households). The age distribution was 20.2% under the age of 18, 5.9% aged 18 to 24, 22.6% aged 25 to 44, 25.6% aged 45 to 64, and 25.7% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 46.2years. For every 100 females, there were 97.5 males. There were 1,296 housing units at an average density of , of which 1,172 (90.4%) were occupied. Of these, 59.0% were owner-occupied, and 41.0% were occupied by renters.

Politics

In the state legislature, San Andreas is in , and . Federally, San Andreas is in .

References

External links

* {{authority control Census-designated places in Calaveras County, California California Historical Landmarks County seats in California Populated places established in 1848 Census-designated places in California