Map of Volcano CDP, California

Volcano (formerly Soldier’s Gulch and The Volcano) is a census-designated place in Amador County, California. It lies at an elevation of 2070 feet (631 m). The population was 115 at the 2010 census. It is located at 38°26′35″N 120°37′51″W / 38.44306°N 120.63083°W / 38.44306; -120.63083, just north of Pine Grove. The town is registered as a California Historical Landmark. The community is in ZIP code 95689 and area code 209.

Volcano CDP overview:
Name:	Volcano CDP
LSAD Code:	57
LSAD Description:	CDP (suffix)
State:	California
County:	Amador County
Elevation:	2,070 ft (631 m)
Total Area:	1.501 sq mi (3.887 km²)
Land Area:	1.501 sq mi (3.887 km²)
Water Area:	0 sq mi (0 km²) 0%
Total Population:	115
Population Density:	77/sq mi (30/km²)
ZIP code:	95689
Area code:	209
FIPS code:	0683094
GNISfeature ID:	237127, 2583178

Online Interactive Map

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Volcano online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Volcano location map. Where is Volcano CDP?

Volcano location on the U.S. Map. Where is Volcano CDP. — Volcano location on the U.S. Map.

Volcano location on the California map. Where is Volcano CDP. — Location of Volcano in California.

History

The town is named for its setting in a bowl-shaped valley which early gold miners thought was caused by a volcano. Early morning fog rising from the valley floor only reinforced that belief. The area was first designated by Colonel Stevenson’s men, who mined Soldiers Gulch in 1849. In 1851 a post office was established and by April 1852 there were 300 houses. By 1853 the flats and gulches swarmed with men, and there were 11 stores, six hotels, three bakeries, and three saloons. Hydraulic mining operations, begun in 1855, brought thousands of fortune seekers to form a town of 17 hotels, a library, a theater, and courts of quick justice.

During the Civil War, Volcano’s gold served the Union. The “Volcano Blues” smuggled the 800 lb cannon “Old Abe,” into the town by hearse, to intimidate rebel sympathizers. The cannon was cast by Cyrus Alger & Co. in Boston in 1837 and is the first of two 6-pounders made on the same day to be stamped with serial number 4. The other cannon still survives at Shiloh Battlefield and is called “Shiloh Sam”. “Old Abe” was only fired once during the Civil War. The Confederate faction known as Knights of the Golden Circle owned many of the Main Street businesses. “Old Abe” was fired down Main Street causing windows to break in all the shops that had not been warned – the ones sympathetic to the South. Abe is the only cannon of that age in the U.S. still on a nineteenth century wooden carriage.

The landmark St. George Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Volcano almost became the county seat in 1854 and again in 1857, but the newspaper closed in 1857 and afterwards, the town began to decline.

Although small, Volcano is a town of many “firsts”: