Copperopolis Carries Bret Harte Legacy

Throughout Calaveras County there lies a deep rooted literary history which we have wholeheartedly embraced. Our children are well versed in the humorist satire of Mark Twain and the poetic accounts of pioneer life by Bret Harte. To show our love for the written word, or the author, we have named schools, streets, housing communities, theatres, and even our county fair after characters and places depicted in the writings of these two great American authors.

Most everyone is familiar with the works of Mark Twain, but less familiar with the works of author Bret Harte. However, here in Copperopolis, Bret Harte has left his mark.

His famous book, “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” written in 1869, is set near a California mining community during November of 1850. Experimenting with the effectiveness of vigilante justice, the residents of Poker Flat hope to improve the town by expelling a group of undesirables. The outcome is not what is to be expected and this story lives on in the canon of American Literature.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat has become the cornerstone of a large section of our community. Within the gated subdivision of Poker Flat the streets are historically named after character’s from within the pages of Bret Harte’s famous novel; names like, Uncle Billy, Oakhurst, Mother Shipton, Duchess, and of course Outcast; names that transcend time through the pages of a great American novel.

For more information on Bret Harte and his many writings, visit our local library.

Francis Bret Harte 1836-1902