Last time we looked at the famous hanging that changed the name of Placerville, then Old Dry Diggings, to Hangtown, as it was written by Edward Gould Buffum in his book, “Six months in the gold mines: from a journal…
Month: June 2012
Why Did They Call It Hangtown? – Part 3
As a part of the look at the various stories about the famous hanging that changed the name of Placerville, then Old Dry Diggings, to Hangtown, Edward Gould Buffum’s first-person account is one of the most important. In Chapter VI…
Why Did They Call It Hangtown? – Part 2
In Part 1 we looked at one version of the story that described the event that gave Placerville, then known as “Old Dry Diggins,” the name “Hangtown.” In Part 2 we continue with two other versions of the story from…
Why Did They Call It Hangtown? Part 1
During the early years of California, after the acquisition of the land by the United States and before and official state or local government was established, communities created their own laws. Normally they were the laws that were used in…