Tales From the Road: The Calaveras Jumping Frog

I had no idea what to expect when Carol and I came to San Andreas to visit our son and his family. Our first three nights were in Angels Camp, just 11 miles south.

No, that isn't a place where celestial beings hunted and camped out. It is a town started by Henri Angell in 1848 as a gold mining town. Originally named Carson's Creek, the town was incorporated under the name Angels in 1912 (located in Calaveras County) and eventually renamed to Angels Camp.

Although more than $20 million in gold was processed there in the middle to late 1800s, one thing brought fame to both the town and a man: a story about a frog.

Sam Clemens, under the pen name of Mark Twain, was down on his luck and came to try his hand at panning for gold in the winter of 1864-1865. He didn't do very well during his 88 days in the California hills, but he heard a story in one of the taverns about a jumping frog. The veracity of the story is questionable but, embellishing it even further, Mark Twain wrote it up and sent it to his newspaper, The Territorial Enterprise, in Virginia City, Nev.

That story, only 2,637 words including the title, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain, brought him immediate fame and fortune. That story became his "gold mine."

Our son, Ron, took me to visit the site of his cabin on Jackass Hill where Mark Twain lived for almost three months. The hill received that name because, at least once a week, a caravan of up to 200 donkeys with supplies for the miners in Carson Creek (Angels Camp) would stop there for the night.

Today, the main feature of the Calaveras County Fair is the frog-jumping contest. It is called the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee, and is one of the longest-running events in the state of California -- going back to 1893. Of course, as with any good county fair, it includes entertainment, livestock, food, music and crafts.

The frog jumping contest is usually in the third weekend of May and, in a town of about 3,900 population, about 50,000 visitors attend the jubilee. People can bring their own frogs or rent them from a company in town (who catch the amphibians in the local ponds). The winner of the contest each year gets a plaque and $900 in cash. But if a frog beats the world record of 21 feet, 5 ¾ inches, the owner gets a World Record Holder title and $5,000 cash. Now, maybe you can see why this is a big deal in Calaveras County.

Frogs are placed at the starting line. They get three jumps. The actual distance they jump is immaterial -- it's how close the critter gets to the finish line that counts (and they seldom jump in a straight line).

Another event that takes place is the Mark Twain Wild West Fest on the third Saturday of October. Gold Rush village is a kid's area with fence-painting, knot-tying, a petting zoo, historic town with candle and soap-making, and more. There is gold-rush era music and, in honor of Mark Twain, a liar's contest. That's a real hoot!

Mark Twain was a good story-teller. In 1899 he wrote an article titled, "How to Tell a Story." He said, "The humorous story is American, the comic story is English, the witty story is French. The humorous story depends upon the manner of the telling for its effect; the comic and the witty story upon the matter."

Twain learned to tell stories in a deadpan manner. The audience would be in a gale of laughter while Twain would sit there and watch them. That made it even funnier.

Mark Twain sent his story about the Calaveras County frog contest to The Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nev. I read recently that although the paper had gone out of business some time ago, it is now back in operation. It was in this newspaper that Twain wrote, "If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you're misinformed."

However, keep reading the Weekly Vista; you'll be well-informed.

Angels Camp is about 132 miles east of San Francisco by road and about 80 miles southeast from Sacramento. My favorite eating establishment in town is called Round-Table Pizza, and the best ice cream place is called Yummy Ha-Ha (I'm not kidding).

Gene Linzey is a speaker, author and mentor. Send comments and questions to [email protected]. Visit his website at www.genelinzey.com. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 02/20/2019