HISTORY OF COPPEROPOLIS
Discovery of Copper and
Establishing the Town of Copperopolis

In 1860, Mr. Hiram Hughes, who had prospected the Calaveras area then went further north to the Sutter area and rich Comstock silver region of Nevada, returned having being impressed with the resemblance of rock formations to those in Nevada. He was looking for silver when he discovered copper on Gopher Mountain at Quail Hill.

This is the story of the second copper find. Hughes’ son, William Napoleon Bonaparte Hughes, drove his pick into a ledge under a shade tree when he sat down to take a nap. After Hughes’ son woke up, he saw signs of the metal bearing mineralization on the point of the pick, and was anxious to find out what it was on the end of his pick.  Was it silver? Was it gold?  After having it assayed, Mr. Hughes and his son were surprised to find out it was high-grade copper ore. Mr. Hughes named the claim “The Napoleon” after his son and many thousands of tons of good copper shipping ore was mined from that fateful find.

In the summer of that same year William Reed, a miner from the copper rich mines of Wisconsin, set out on his own to find copper. About 8 miles from Telegraph City, he observed surface croppings of the same character as those at Quail Hill. He gathered specimens and took them to Thomas McCarty’s “Log Cabin,” a store and trading post along the Stockton road. There happened to be a mining engineer, Dr. Allen Blatchly, at the Log Cabin that day who took a look at the specimen and told Mr. Reed his sample was indeed copper ore. Thomas McCarty had previously discovered copper in the same area while traveling through mud in his wagon. The wheels became stuck and he dug them out with a shovel and discovered the copper ore. This site was to become the famous Union mine.

The next day William Reed, Thomas McCarty and Dr. Allen Blatchley went to the area and staked out a 2-mile long claim and McCarty and Reed became partners. This 2-mile site was to become the Union, Keystone, Consolidated, Empire and Calaveras mines. It was the copper rich Union mine that gave employment to a great number of miners, timber cutters, teamsters, and more, and led to the birth of Copperopolis.

The Importance of Copper

In the 1860s, Copperopolis was the second largest copper producing area in the United States--only the Lake Superior area produced more copper.  Copper was discovered at a time when the Mother Lode gold mines were becoming inactive and the nation was involved in the American Civil War (1861 to 1865).  Copper was needed for the war effort for making bullets and shell casings. When the ore was mined, it was loaded on wagons and carted to Stockton. After that it was placed on riverboats and taken to San Francisco.  From there it was loaded onto sailing ships for the long trip around the Horn to New York, Boston, and Wales for smelting and processing.  After smelting, the copper could be used for ammunition and armament.  In the early 1900s, some of the smelting was done in Copperopolis, which saved the mine owners thousands of dollars and months of travel time.

The U. S. Bureau of Mines credits the Copperopolis mines with 72,598,883 pounds of copper between the years of 1861 to 1946.  

The big piles of dirt and rock across the street from the Armory are called tailings.  This is the dirt and rock taken out of the mine that didn’t contain copper ore.  Believe it or not, these tailings are historic artifacts that need to be preserved.  The property they are on is privately owned.

This excerpt from the History of Copperopolis courtesy of the “School Tour” notes by Linda Beck, with permission taken directly from "Tools Are On The Bar" written by Charlie & Rhoda Stone.