The Story That Started It All

   In 1865 Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) visited the rough-and-tumble gold miners working the gold-rich foothills of Northern California in an old mining town of Angels Camp.  He allegedly heard a story in a tavern one night (the Angels Hotel now the site of Calaveras Coin & Pawn), then sat down and wrote "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."  Whether the tale is true or not is still debated to this day.  What is sure is that his story captured the popular imagination of the day, and leapt into newsprint across the country and abroad.  It launched Twain's writing career and inspired the Jumping Frog Jubilee that still happens annually in Angels Camp, Calaveras County, California.