California Historical Landmarks in El Dorado County
California Historical Landmark 570
Negro Hill
Green Valley Road at Shadowfax Lane
Folsom Lake State Recreation Area
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The marker is missing.
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17 October 2022
(Click Photos to Enlarge)
These historic mining towns, and other mining camps of the gold rush era now inundated by Folsom Lake, are commemorated by the nearby Mormon Island Memorial Cemetery. Here were reburied the pioneers whose graves were flooded when the lake was formed by Folsom Dam.
Citation from California Office of Historic Preservation
The only photograph of the missing bear flag plaque that we could find was at the website of the Center for Sacramento History, but because the image is under copyright, we could not reproduce it here.
The missing marker read:
Mormon Island, Negro Hill, Salmon Falls, and Condemned Bar
These historic mining towns, and other mining camps of the Gold Rush Era, now inundated by Folsom Lake, are commemorated by the Mormon Island Memorial Cemetery nearby. Here were reburied the pioneers whose graves were flooded when the lake was formed by Folsom Dam. Their memory is a reminder that what we are today we owe to those who came before us.
Registered Historical Landmarks No. 569, 570, 571, and 572
Plaque placed by California State Park Commission in cooperation with Marguerite Parlor No. 12, Native Daughters of the Golden West. June 9, 1957.
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Relocated Negro Hill Cemetery graves in the Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery
about 1,000 feet south of the missing marker.
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17 October 2022
(Click Photos to Enlarge)
When the Gold Rush began in 1848, the African population in California was no more than a few dozen.
Several men of African descent began mining near the South Fork of the American River. In 1852, two men from Massachusetts started a store and boarding house, around which the village of Little Negro Hill developed. A community called Big Negro Hill developed adjacent to Little Negro Hill. By 1853, the Negro Hill communities had over 1,200 inhabitants.
Thirty-six individuals were relocated from the Negro Hill Cemetery. There were no grave markers identifying individuals.
Adapted from a placard near the entrance to the Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery.
The damming of rivers and creeks inundated many 19th century cemeteries, buildings and entire towns.
Bagby (Merced River)
Bidwell's Bar (Feather River)
Camanche (Mokelumne River)
Condemned Bar (American River)
Jacksonville (Tuolumne River)
Middle Bar (Pardee River)
Mormon Island, (American River)
Negro Hill (American River)
Poverty Bar (Mokelumne River)
Reynold's House (Silver Creek)
Salmon Falls (American River)
Searsville (Corte Madera Creek)
Whiskeytown (Clear Creek)
The town of Volcano in Amador County had a close call in 1934 but was granted a reprieve and survives today.