Test Your Knowledge of Copperopolis

To celebrate the grand opening of our newest Sugar Pine Realty office in Copperopolis just this week, I'm coming at you again with quiz #9 in the Testing Your Knowledge of the Mother Lode series. (It's been a while since the last test. Did you miss me? Of course, you did!) Copperopolis is a wonderful community just to the west of Jamestown and Sonora. Yes, it gets just a wee bit toasty in "Copper" in the summer months, but there’s so much more to Copperopolis than that! Let’s find out how much you know about it's history…

1. A large discovery of the following mineral was made in Copperopolis (duh!). It is also the town’s claim to fame: (a) silver; (b) gold; (c) salt; (d) copper.

2. The following person played an integral part in the discovery of copper in Copperopolis: (a) Hiram Hughes; (b) Howard Hughes; (c) Charles Evan Hughes; (d) Robert Hughes.

3. The copper of Copperopolis was a boom for the city. During the 1860s Copperopolis’ copper would be used for the following: (a) piping; (b) frying pans; (c) bullets/shells in the Civil War; (d) electrical wire.

4. The population of Copperopolis (according to the 2000 census) is approximately 2,300. During the boom time of the 1860s, the population was a whopping: (a) 10,000; (b) 23,000; (c) 5,000; (d) 20,000.

5. Copper would be mined from Copperopolis to be used in both World War I and World War II as well. The mines would eventually be closed in 1946. The amount and value of the copper mined in Copperopolis over the years is said to have been approximately: (a) 720 lbs. worth 1,200 dollars; (b) 7,200 lbs. worth 120,000 dollars; (c) 7,200,000 lbs. worth 1.2 million dollars; (d) 72,000,000 lbs. worth 12 million dollars.

6. Bricks used to build some of Copperopolis’ first buildings were gained from another Mother Lode town which had suffered a destructive fire: (a) Sonora; (b) Jamestown; (c) Columbia; (d) Groveland.

7. The following outlaw began his career just four miles east of Main Street in Copperopolis where he would make the first stagecoach robbery in the history of California wearing an old linen duster coat, two wheat bags over his legs, a flour sack over his head with eye holes cut into it and a hat that had a large point in the center like a clown: (a) Jesse James; (b) Black Bart; (c) Billy the Kid; (d) Al Capone.

Answers: 1. (d) 2. (a) 3. (c) 4. (a) 5. (d) 6. (c) 7. (b)

(This test was developed and based on information from the following websites: Wikipedia - Copperopolis, Ghost Towns - Copperopolis, Saddle Creek - Historic Copperopolis and The California Gold Country.)