PLACER COUNTY
Placer, the county in the Sierras famous for its surface gold-mining, has a puzzling name for which no satisfactory explanation has yet been found. Although it has been used in Spanish countries for centuries in the sense of surface mining, dictionaries remain silent upon the subject. The theory often advanced that the word is a contraction of plaza de oro (place of gold), bears none of the marks of probability, and another that it means “a river where gold is found” is not supported by adequate authority. One old Spanish dictionary gives the meaning of placer as “a sea bottom, level and of slight depth, of sand, mud, or stone,” and states also that the word is sometimes used to designate places where pearl diving is carried on. It may be that the word was extended from this usage to include placer mining, since in that case the gold is found in shallow pockets near the surface. This theory is offered here as a mere suggestion.
Placer County has some of the most striking mountain scenery in the state, and has been the theatre of many remarkable events in its history, particularly those connected with the “days of ’49.” In the town of Placerville, the county-seat of El Dorado County, there is an instance of a change of name from English to Spanish for the better, for this place was originally called Hangtown, in commemoration of the hanging of certain “bad men” on a tree there.