Mokelumne, an Indian word first applied to the nearby river, grew from the earliest settlement at Happy Valley by French trappers after gold was discovered by discharged members of Stevenson's Regiment in 1848. It became the center of the richest placer mining section of Calaveras County and one of California's principal mining towns, while Corral Flat produced over thirty millions in gold and a claim measured sixteen feet square. The so-called French War for possession of gold mines occurred in 1851, the Calaveras Chronicle was established in 1850, fights between grizzly bears and bulls amused early residents, and the town was at one time the headquarters of Joaquin Murieta. The town was destroyed by fires in 1854, 1864, and 1874, and it served as the county seat of Calaveras County from 1853 to 1866.