Contreras, Amador County Ghost Town

Photo of a Mine Shaft in the Contreras Area at the North Fork Bridge

Excerpt Ledger Dispatch - Sept 28, 1900
We understand that the Defender mine at Camp Contreras has passed by bond into other hands, under which management the shaft is to be sunk 300 feet which will make a total depth of about 700 feet.

The family was held in well-deserved affectionate regard and was even accorded a measure of respect by the rowdy and turbulent elements of the community

In this small account of Contreras, we have as good a place as any to pay tribute to our Mexican pioneers. When we apportion honors to each group and segment whose blood, sweat, and endurance built what we have today.

From records that we have been able to find these gold and silver handmade pendants supposedly fashioned in and dated "1854" in Contreras.

They not only purported to be from Contreras in 1854, but also from "Anns Saloon" in that place. History aside, do we not already have enough plot lines for a romantic novel set in the gold rush days? A patrician Mexican comes to a rough camp with beautiful but untouchable daughters, and a romance which kindles and culminates in Ann's Saloon? a sub-plot: the Baptist minister who discovered the vein is a winning suitor!