Reflecting the Gold Rush

California 4 and 49 in Angels Camp

Here's an example of a typical sign assembly at the junction of two California state routes. This assembly in Angels Camp is especially appropriate because the numbering of Highway 49 was selected to commemorate the gold-rush miners, known as the Forty-Niners. Angels Camp was one of the gold-mining towns founded in the 1849 Gold Rush. Moreover, the shape of the California highway shield is suggestive of a miner's spade.