Dog Town, California

For the community in Amador County formerly with this name, see Bunker Hill, Amador County, California. For other uses, see Dogtown (disambiguation).

Dog Town
—  Ghost town  —
Site of Dog Town
Dog Town Location in California
Coordinates: 38°10′13″N 119°11′51″W / 38.17028°N 119.1975°W / 38.17028; -119.1975Coordinates: 38°10′13″N 119°11′51″W / 38.17028°N 119.1975°W / 38.17028; -119.1975
Country	United States
State	California
County	Mono County
Elevation[1]	7,057 ft (2,151 m)
California Historical Landmark
Reference #:	792

Dog Town (also, Dogtown^[1] and Dogtown Diggings^[2]) is a ghost town in Mono County, California.^[1] It is located on Dog Creek about 6 miles (10 km) south-southeast of Bridgeport,^[2] at an elevation of 7057 feet (2151 m).^[1]

Today, Dog Town is a defunct gold rush era town in Mono County, California. It is located at 38°10′13″N 119°11′51″W / 38.1701984°N 119.1973749°W / 38.1701984; -119.1973749, on Dog Creek, near the junction of Clearwater and Virginia Creeks. The town was established in approximately 1857 by Carl Norst as a placer mining camp.^[3] By 1859, a group of Mormons had arrived as miners at the site and a mining camp arose.^[2] The name "Dogtown" was often applied by miners to camps where living conditions were miserable.^[2] Dogtown survived briefly before being abandoned.

Dogtown was the first gold mining camp in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Although its deposits were minimal, Dogtown did attract attention to the area as a whole, including the subsequent discoveries of much richer gold deposits in nearby areas such as Bodie, Aurora and Masonic.

As of 2005^[update], the surviving remnants of Dogtown are the walls of several stone huts, a few roof timbers, and a single gravesite. The ruins have been mildly vandalized.

The site is registered as California Historical Landmark 792. A landmark plaque by the side of nearby U.S. Highway 395 marks the location.

Gallery

• 

  The California Historical Marker plaque for Dog Town.

• 

  Ruins of a stone hut

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Dog Town, California
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Quill Driver Books. p. 1160-1161. ISBN 9781884995149. 
3. ^ Gudde, Erwin. 1975. California Gold Camps. University of California Press: Berkeley. pp.97-98.

• ghosttowns.com discussion of Dogtown
• California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES) Record
• Rand McNally The Road Atlas 2006: US, Canada, Mexico ISBN 0-528-95795-3