Camptonville

History

Gold was discovered here in 1850, and the place became known as Gold Ridge. The name was changed to Camptonville in 1854 when the first post office opened. A plaque in Camptonville says the roaring town had over fifty saloons had brothels and even a bowling alley at one time. However, by 1863 William H. Brewer passed through Camptonville and described it in his journal as follows: , a few miles, a fine town in a rich mining region, then to San Juan North (there are several other San Juans in the state), then to Camptonville, a miserable, dilapidated town, but very picturesquely located, with immense hydraulic diggings about. The amount of soil sluiced away in this way seems incredible. Bluffs sixty to a hundred feet thick have been washed away for hundreds of acres together. But they were not rich, the gold has “stopped,” the town is dilapidated--but we had to pay big prices nevertheless. As gold mining in the area waned, the local economy depended on the timber industry. When Sierra Mountain Mills closed in 1994 putting 75 people out of work, many people moved away. Today the town includes a post office, Camptonville Elementary School; a monument to the Pelton wheel, the inventor of which lived here in the 1860s; and the original Mayo Saloon, currently home to a restaurant and bar, and the Yuba River Ranger District Office of the Tahoe National Forest, which is also the headquarters of the Tahoe Hotshots fire crew.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 0.9 square mile (2.2 km), all land.

Most-observed species

• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  1,822
• Acorn Woodpecker

  Melanerpes formicivorus (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  1,537
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  1,490
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,422
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,368
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,307
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  1,300
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,092

Most recent

• M 2.59 — 2026-08-04
  16 km ENE of Willows, CA
• M 2.56 — 2026-07-24
  8 km NE of Lake Davis, CA
• M 3.01 — 2026-06-27
  4 km WSW of Johnsville, CA
• M 3.2 — 2026-06-14
  2 km ESE of Prattville, CA
• M 3.34 — 2026-05-22
  9 km NNE of Truckee, CA
• M 2.53 — 2026-05-22
  9 km NNE of Truckee, CA