Amador County, California

Amador County, officially the County of Amador, is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2010 census, the population was 38,091. The county seat is Jackson.

Amador County bills itself as "The Heart of the Mother Lode" and lies within the Gold Country. There is a substantial viticultural industry in the county.

History

Amador County was created by the California Legislature on May 11, 1854. The county later split into Amador, Calaveras, and El Dorado Counties. It was organized on July 3, 1854. In 1864, part of the county's territory was given to Alpine County.

The county is named for José María Amador, a soldier, rancher, and miner, born in San Francisco in 1794, the son of Sergeant Pedro Amador (a Spanish soldier who settled in California in 1771) and younger brother to Sinforosa Amador.

In 1848, Jose Maria Amador, with several Native Americans, established a successful gold mining camp near the present town of Amador City. In Spanish, the word amador means "one who loves". Some of the Mother Lode's most successful gold mines were located in Amador County, including the Kennedy, Argonaut, and Keystone.