El Dorado County, California along with the population since the 1960 Winter Olympics, hosted at Squaw Valley Ski Resort in neighboring Placer County. The present-day site of El Dorado County was once home to the Maidu, Washoe, and Miwok Native American tribes, and is notable for being the site of the 1848 gold discovery that sparked the California Gold Rush. The County of El Dorado was one of California's original 27 counties created effective February 18, 1850 (the number has risen to 58 today). Its name is derived from the Spanish meaning "the gilded/golden". The final segments of the Pony Express mail route ran
Raleigh's El Dorado Expedition to Guiana" after his return. De Berrío the same year also set out with a Spanish expedition of his own with 470 men under command of to search for El Dorado. As they advanced further inland however the Amerindians now allied to England then attacked and destroyed Vera and Berrio's entire force losing 350 men. The rest tried to retreat but soon after disease and famine reduced the survivors to only a handful of men. In 1617, Raleigh having been released from prison by order of King James I returned to continue his quest for El Dorado on a second