El Dorado County is at the heart of California's Gold Rush country, often called the "Mother Lode." El Dorado County is just 30 miles east of Sacramento, California's State Capitol. El Dorado County is growing. In 2001 El Dorado's population increased at a rate more than double of that for the whole state of California. Similarly, for the decade of 1990-2000 El Dorado's population grew at a rate nearly double that of the state of California.

Moreover the region sports a great variety of recreational activities. These areas and other local parks offer outstanding facilities for hiking, camping, horseback riding, boating, fishing, mountain biking, and a host of other activities. Visitors enjoy the many local wineries that have become famous in El Dorado County The congeniality of county's small wineries will make you feel as if you are visiting old friends! El Dorado County has top rated schools in general. It has excellent public schools, as well as many fine charter schools and private schools. Fifteen school districts serve over 28,000 students in El Dorado County.

EL Dorado county communities include Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Placerville, and El Dorado Hills. The communities of El Dorado County offer an abundance of resources for business, recreation and residential purposes.

A Brief History of El Dorado County

El Dorado was one of the original 27 counties of California. It is located between rivers that flow from east to west, from the mountains to the valley floor. The Rubicon, then the Middle Fork of the American River, is to the north. The Carson range and the South Fork of the Cosumnes River are the southern boundary. The county stops at Folsom Lake in the west and Lake Tahoe and the State of Nevada in the east. Highway 50 runs through the county east and west, and Highway 49 runs north and south. The elevation rises from 200 feet near the valley in the west to 10,881 feet at the highest peak in the east.

El Dorado means "The Gilded One" in Spanish and, indeed, the county yielded millions of dollars in gold from its mines and rich placer deposits during the Gold Rush.

But, first were the Indians that lived with nature and disturbed the land very little. The Maidu and Miwok Indians lived in the El Dorado County area and lived on the abundant game, waterfowl, fish and plants. Because they dug for roots to eat, they were called "Diggers" by the whites. Though the Spanish were the next people to settle in California, they didn't settle in the El Dorado County area nor did the Mexicans.

The next big immigration of people to California was brought by the discovery of gold at Sutter's sawmill in Coloma (Indian word for beautiful valley), El Dorado County on January 24, 1848 by James Marshall. It lasted from 1848 to 1857 and produced about $500 million in placer and quartz mining, but most of the prospectors didn't "strike it rich". The Gold Rush era left many physical scars in El Dorado County.

The Pony Express ran through the county approximately where Highway 50 is today, from April 3, 1860 to October 26, 1861. It was no longer needed when the transcontinental telegraph system was completed on October 24, 1861.