Remembering

Remembering

Tuolumne City…..

By Joseph Celentano, June 2003

TCMM Research Committee

Tuolumne City?? Where is Tuolumne City?? Well, it isn't around here anyplace. According to an article written around 1986 by the late L.L. "Bill" Hodge, a distinguished Tuolumne Township resident, wrote that "…..over the years some people have been adding the word "City" to the name of the town of Tuolumne, saying they were doing so in order to distinguish it from the County of Tuolumne. As far as is known, the only Tuolumne City ever officially recognized by the U.S. Federal Government Post Office Department is in our neighboring county of Stanislaus. Tuolumne City was founded in 1850 on the north bank of the Tuolumne River, eight miles west of what is now Modesto. The confusion of this "Tale of Two Cities" is now so evident that even Cal Trans highway sign department does not know the difference between Tuolumne in Tuolumne County and Tuolumne City in Stanislaus County.

"The argument that calling Tuolumne by its single name would confuse it with the county does not bear closer examination. Out of 58 counties in California, a total of 33 have cities or towns with the same name as the county, such as Alameda, Fresno, Madera, Napa, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. How come none of these felt it was necessary to add "City" to its name to make a distinction?

"There are lots of towns and cities, which have "City", included in their names, such as Redwood City, Culver City, etc…, and there are seven towns with "City" added to the name of the county in which they are located. But there are five towns with "City" added to a county name, which are not located within that county. Butte City is in Glen County, not Butte; King City is in Monterey County, not Kings; Lake City is in Modoc County, not Lake; Yuba City is in Sutter county, not Yuba; and Tuolumne City is certainly in Stanislaus County, NOT Tuolumne."

Mr. Hodge continued his story with a personal opinion….."Over the ninety years that the Town of Tuolumne has existed, many fine people moved here and their children were born here, each contributing in their own way toward making it an outstanding community within which to live with friendly neighbors, to work hard, to raise a family, and to participate in the cooperative effort to make the town of Tuolumne a proud heritage. Likewise, in Tuolumne City, Stanislaus County, there were undoubtly many good residents who had the same goals. Is it being fair to the memory of these old pioneers and their descendents in both localities to have the name of Tuolumne changed to one already used by another community some 140 years before, and thus to detract from their heritage, as well as ours?"

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Now, some readers may ask the question…"why does the Tuolumne Museum's name have "City" in it. Well folks, that's another looong story and will be covered in a subsequent article, just as soon as I can find out why myself.

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The following excerpts are from an article written by Kathleen Gooch, a staff writer for The Modesto Bee, in the edition of June 24, 1986, entitled "The Puzzling Rise and Fall of a Twice Born Town".

"In the scramble for wealth during the gold rush of 1849, there were people who recognized the surest path to wealth was not with the gold pan but with feeding, clothing, and providing other supplies to the men who used them. Obviously, merchants who got their goods to the miners first would make the most money and one of the ways to do just that was to find a shorter route to the mines. This led to the establishment of communities all over the sparsely settled state. Tuolumne City was such a community.

In February 1849, they scouted the valley for a site on which to build a community to rival Stockton as a shipping point for passengers and freight to the southern mines. They settled on a spot on the north bank of the Tuolumne River, eight miles west of what is now Modesto. There was no reason why Tuolumne City wouldn't succeed. The river was navigable, there were good roads to the southern mines in both winter and summer and it was a naturally pretty place. People with high expectations settled the town. It soon had a public school with 30 pupils, an Odd Fellow Lodge, two hotels, three general stores, and four saloons. All seemed well.

The prosperity of the fledging community was short-lived. Low water caused by lack of rainfall in the winter of 1850-51 meant the riverboats had to cancel calls to Tuolumne City. The loss of business caused the town to collapse. Most of the inhabitants of the community left.

Tuolumne City remained virtually a ghost town until 1867 when wheat farming was started in the area. Being close to the fields and on a river, it was a perfect shipping point for grain. Before long, the community's population swelled to 300 people and more than one-half of the county's population lived within 12 miles of the town. Then in 1870, fate again seemed to intervene. This time nature was not to blame for the demise of the community. This time it was doomed by the coming of a new form of transportation--the railroad.

In 1869, the San Joaquin Valley Railroad started laying tracks south from Lathrop. By November 15, the rails reached to the newly laid out community of Modesto. People moved to Modesto with frenzied haste in order to take up the best lots in the new town. Disappointment again came to the river community. Whole blocks of Tuolumne City vanished almost overnight as people moved their homes and business by wagon the seven miles to the rail head."

..and thus, another page turns in the history of Remembering Tuolumne.

June 2003

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