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{{Infobox settlement
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|name = Baltimore
|other_name =
|native_name =
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|unit_pref =US
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▲|subdivision_type = [[List of countries|Country]]
|subdivision_name ={{USA}}
|subdivision_type1 = [[
|subdivision_name1 = {{flag|California}}
|subdivision_type2 = [[List of counties in California|County]]
|subdivision_name2 = [[Nevada County, California|Nevada County]]
|subdivision_type3 =
|subdivision_name3 = |established_date =
|coordinates = {{coord|39|23|12|N|120|31|51|W|region:US-CA|display=inline,title}}
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▲|established_title = <!-- Settled -->
|elevation_footnotes = <ref name=gnis>{{gnis|1655811}}</ref>
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'''Baltimore Town,''' previously Wightman’s Camp, was a historic gold [[Mining community|mining camp]] in eastern [[Nevada County, California|Nevada County]], California that was founded in 1865. After [[gold mining]] stopped in the area, the town faded away around 1869.
Baltimore was situated in the [[Sierra Nevada|High Sierras]] at an elevation of 7,477 ft (2,279 m) about four miles north of [[Cisco Grove, California]], and about 10 linear miles west of modern Highway 89. Its history is intertwined with that of the Excelsior mining district whose principal town was [[Meadow Lake, Nevada County, California|Summit City]], California.<ref>Fatout, Paul (1969) Meadow Lake Gold Town, pp. 32-40.</ref>
== Boom ==
The Excelsior mining district was started by Henry Hartley, a [[Fur trade|fur trapper]] who built a cabin near [[Meadow Lake, Nevada County, California | Meadow Lake]] around 1860.<ref>Id. p. 29.</ref> In June 1863, he discovered gold and staked out several claims. Others followed and by the spring of 1865, rumors of gold in the area created a local [[gold rush]]. Not only was gold reported to be plentiful, unlike many mining districts, year-round water was readily and abundantly available. By the summer of 1865, hundreds of miners, many from the [[Virginia City, Nevada]] area, had flocked to the area, even though, as one historian observed, “[g]etting to the Meadow Lake country was no easy matter.“<ref>Id. p. 37.</ref>
In late 1865, the town of Baltimore was started about two miles southeast of Summit City on the northwest side of Old Man Mountain near Wagon Wheel Lake.<ref>Id, map p. 2.</ref> The town was connected by a toll road to Summit City.<ref>Id, p. 40.</ref> Initially called Wightman’s Camp, it soon became Baltimore since Wightman was a native of [[Baltimore|Baltimore, Maryland]].<ref>Morning Union, June 22, 1875.</ref> Sometimes, the word Town or City appears after the word Baltimore to distinguish it from the one in Maryland.<ref>Fatout, Ibid, p. 37.</ref>
Prospects for Baltimore initially appeared promising. It was located near the promising Baltimore ledge of gold-bearing [[granite]]. The principal mines included the Keystone and the Potosi, both owned by Hartley, the Sacramento and the Justice.<ref>Thompson, Thomas H. and West, Albert A. (1970 ed.) History of Nevada County -1880, p. 196.</ref> In November 1865, it was described as "a flourishing place, and in the spring many buildings for business purposes will be erected."<ref>Marysville Daily Appeal, Nov. 10, 1865.</ref>
== Bust ==
The gold rush in the Excelsior district soon proved to be a bubble that quickly burst. Though gold was there, it proved to be very difficult and expensive to extract..<ref>Fatout, Ibid, p. 103.</ref> Mining soon stopped and by 1869, the population of Meadow Lake had dropped from 4000 to 60.<ref>Comstock, David and Zimmerman, Bernard (2018 electronic edition, You Bet Press) Exploring Nevada County: Historical Landmarks, Site 143.</ref> It along with Baltimore and the other towns in the area were soon abandoned.
In 1880, Baltimore was described as a town “which once had five or six buildings, but whose site is now marked by one lonely and deserted house.”<ref>Thompson and West, Ibid, p. 196.</ref>
==References==
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{{Nevada County, California}}
[[Category:Former settlements in Nevada County, California]]▼
[[Category:Former populated places in California]]▼
{{authority control}}
▲[[Category:Former settlements in Nevada County, California]]
▲[[Category:Former populated places in California]]
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