El Dorado canoe and land passages towards a large body of water on the shores of which he supposed was located Manoa, Golden City of El Dorado. Though Raleigh never found El Dorado, he was convinced that there was some fantastic city whose riches could be discovered. Finding gold on the riverbanks and in villages only strengthened his resolve. In 1617, he returned to the New World on a second expedition, this time with Kemys and his son, Watt Raleigh, to continue his quest for El Dorado. However, Raleigh, by now an old man, stayed behind in a camp on the island
El Dorado County, California through El Dorado County until its replacement with the telegraph service in 1861; U.S. Highway 50 follows the Pony Express route today. The "Placerville Mountain Democrat", California's oldest surviving newspaper, serves El Dorado County. The El Dorado County Sheriff provides court protection, county jail administration, and coroner service for all of the county and provides patrol and detective services for the unincorporated areas of the county. Placerville, population 11,000, has a municipal police department, as does South Lake Tahoe, population 22,000. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and