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The center of the southern mining district is SONORA , set on steep ravines roughly a hundred miles east of San Francisco. This friendly and animated logging town boasts numerous Victorian houses and false-fronted buildings on its main Washington Street . The Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau, 542 West Stockton Rd off Hwy-49 (tel 209/533-4420 or 1-800/446-1333, ), is the best source of information .

Sonora's onetime arch-rival, COLUMBIA , three miles north on Parrots Ferry Road, is now a ghost town (and a state historic park), with a carefully restored Main Street that gives an excellent - if slightly contrived - idea of what Gold Rush life might have been like. In 1854 it was California's second largest city, and it missed becoming the state capital by two votes - just as well, since by 1870 the gold had run out and the town was abandoned.

The Railtown 1897 State Historic Park , on the corner of Fifth and Reservoir streets along the way to Sonora, in JAMESTOWN , holds an impressive collection of old steam trains including the one used in High Noon (daily 9.30am-4.30pm; ). Further south, after a breathtaking drive over the Don Pedro Lake and Merced River, is MARIPOSA , gateway to Yosemite and one of the last Gold Rush towns on Hwy-49. Its California State Mining & Mineral Museum ($1; daily 10am-4pm; summer daily 10am-6pm), south a mile or so of the historic downtown, has a working 1860s stamp mill model and hundreds of mineral samples.