| In the early 1850s and 1860s, Fiddletown was the trading center for a number of rich placer mining areas in Amador County such as American Flat, American Hill, French Flat, and Loafer Flat. Besides local mining and trading operations, a steam-powered sawmill was built in 1853 to provide lumber from local forests. Chinese immigrants first came to Fiddletown to seek gold. Although it is said that Fiddletown had a Chinese American population of between 3,000 and 12,000 and that it once was second only to San Francisco's Chinatown, the U.S. Census records do not substantiate this. The Chinese American population dwindled due to the decrease in mining activity and racism, including enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Law of 1882. By 1900, only 11 Chinese Americans lived in Fiddletown. |
