Also in Amador, we think this town had the most original buildings we saw in any one place, although there are a couple of others that would be close behind.

Amador also had a craft shop displaying these beautiful handmade quilts.

There were several on display outside, this is a wee sample.

Outside Diamond Springs is this old barn. There were many more like it along the highway.

Here we are deep in the bowels of Sutter Gold Mine on tour. We can't remember his name but he was a real character! Sorry, no pic of us in our hardhats, Rod wouldn't have it...!

YES!! there is gold in them thar hills...!!!

One of the displays of mining equipment in the mine, it shovels the ore into the cart and held a lot more than any amount they originally could do by hand.

Even more modern is this beastie. The lucky driver gets to sit sideways. There was a good reason for this but we can't remember why exactly (way too many facts and figures to absorb through the tour!).

Another of the towns we went past on our tour of Highway 49, not much to see really...!

We stayed in Jackson on Saturday night. This town had lots of original old buildings and a couple of hotels we thought were just a tad rowdy! They seemed a bit too wild west for us, so we went to a small and very flash restaurant instead and wiled away the evening in style.

Couldn't resist a pic of this letterbox just outside Jackson... too cute, and so patriotic!

The next town, Mokelumne Hill was almost blink-and-you-missed-it small. We drove down a side road but couldn't find the main street so this is it.

The next town on Highway 49 is San Andreas. We chatted to an interesting old character at the Calaveras County Museum. This is a photo of the foyer of the musuem, the original courthouse, built 147 years ago, is through the door at the right.

Judge Karen Boyce presiding over the courthous.

“All rise... order in the court!”!!!!

After restoring order in the Calaveras County court, we went on to Angels Camp. This is a reasonable size town compared to most of them on Highway 49. We made a detour to Murphys from here. Murphys is very close to Mercer Caverns which was discovered in 1875 and opened to the public around the turn of the century (and is still open today for tours).

Carson Hill was another blink-and-you'll-miss-it town, I think this one didn't have a main street just a collection of houses. Behind the sign is a rather large quarry.

You guessed it, another road sign, this time Sonora, one of the main towns along the way. Nearby is another town called Columbia that has a historic gold rush era town that is preserved, much like the one we saw at Coloma. It was extremely hot so we didn't stop at that one! I promise the next page is more interesting (not all road signs) - Rod, don't give up your day job...!

This town is near the end of Highway 49. As it's name suggests, a lot of chinese miners settled around here. It became know for wars amongst chinese gangs of the day. We didn't see any suspicious characters on our way past.

Coulterville was big on homeland security so we passed by on our best behaviour trying not to look like iraqis or break the speed limit!! Of all the towns, this one seemed to have the most greenery, lots of trees etc.

Here is a hydro-electric power station at Moccasin Creek. Still on Highway 49, this was just before a very windy spectacular scenic section of the highway.