Columbia, California

In March of 1850, Dr. Thaddeus Hildreth led a prospecting party that discovered gold at this location. When word of the discovery spread, hundreds of miners started arriving at the scene. "Hildreth's Diggings" was the name of the original camp, and by mid-year thousands of miners were working the gold placers here.

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Columbia's just up the road a ways from Riverbank City of Action, where I used to live. It's mostly a tourist destination nowadays, but still has a large number of original structures.