Angels Camp - Mark Twain and the Jumping Frog

Stop on Goldrush!, a free self-guided tour.

Meet the writer who made this town famous. The life-size statue of Mark Twain in Utica Park stands on the site of the Utica Mine, one of the rich quartz mines along the Mother Lode.

Twain passed through this area as a young writer in the mid-1860s. At the Angels Hotel on Main Street he heard a tall tale about a frog-jumping bet, and he turned it into a story first published in November 1865. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County made him a national name.

Here's where the movies come in. Warner Bros. donated this statue, and it was unveiled on May 25, 1944, timed to the premiere of the studio's film The Adventures of Mark Twain, starring Fredric March. The sculpture once had frogs leaping from the bulrushes at Twain's feet, but in 1957 members of a motorcycle club sawed them off.

Angels Camp still celebrates with its Jumping Frog Jubilee, a tradition that began in 1928, so look for frogs all over town.

Nearby: Park lawns and a drinking fountain here. Restaurants and cafes along Main Street in Angels Camp, steps away.