Drytown

History

Drytown is the oldest community in Amador County, and the first in which gold was discovered. It took its name from Dry Creek, which runs dry during the summer. However, it was certainly not "dry", as stories tell of there being up to 26 saloons, of which just one remains, The Drytown Club. The gold started to peter out by 1857 and when a fire destroyed most of the town that year, most of its inhabitants packed up and moved to more successful mines elsewhere in the county. The town was only saved by the construction of State Route 49, which went through it, in 1920. See the Drytown, CA website for additional history and current information. A U.S. Post Office opened at Drytown in 1852. In the 1960s the post office was located within the Drytown General Store operated by the Bruns family. A visit in January 2010 revealed that the general store building is now occupied by an antique shop, the Drytown Post Office is housed in an adjacent, newer building which is also an antique shop, and the Drytown general store is now in a second separate, newer building nearby. At the time of the January 2010 visit there was a sign on the door of the post office building stating that the post office was closed in April, 2009, and efforts were being made to reopen it. From 1959 to about 1994 — before the Mother Lode tourist boom — a summer theater company called the "Claypipers" staged comedic melodramas interspersed with "olio" (song and dance) acts to mostly standing room only audiences. Musical accompaniment for both was provided by the incomparable Dottie Rodgers on the piano at stage left. The name Claypipers was taken from the clay pipes used by miners in the deep tunnels of hard rock gold mines — not only for smoking, but also (it is rumored) to sneak nuggets out of the…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,475
• Acorn Woodpecker

  Melanerpes formicivorus (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  2,427
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  1,924
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  1,718
• Western Meadowlark

  Sturnella neglecta Audubon, 1844 · Aves
  1,704
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,695
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,623
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,613