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
El Dorado Lake Area includes an amphitheater and swimming pond. El Dorado Lake is open for sport fishing. Hunting is permitted in the El Dorado Wildlife Area as well as on of land in El Dorado State Park. Fish species resident in El Dorado Lake include blue and channel catfish, rainbow trout, walleye, white bass, white crappie, and wiper. Two invasive species, the white perch and the zebra mussel, live in the lake as well. Game animals living on land around the reservoir include beavers, bobcats, coyotes, deer, doves, pheasants, prairie chickens, quail, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, and turkeys. El Dorado Lake El Dorado