| Dogtown | |
| Settlement Type: | Unincorporated community |
| Pushpin Map: | California#USA |
| Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in California |
| Pushpin Image: | California Locator Map with US.PNG |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | California |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Mariposa County |
| Coordinates: | 37.7022°N -120.1281°W |
| Elevation M: | 787 |
| Elevation Ft: | 2582 |
Dogtown is a former settlement in Mariposa County, California, United States. It was located on Maxwell Creek 4miles east of Coulterville, at an elevation of 2582 feet (787 m).
Dogtown was a major hydraulic mining center in the late nineteenth century. At its peak, the town boasted numerous hotels, saloons, a dance hall, and a red light district. The town was supposedly named for the many stray dogs that roamed the area during the Gold Rush. A dam failure flooded much of the townsite in 1899; by 1989, only "scattered building foundations and half a dozen wooden structures on the verge of collapse" remained at the site.[1]
Several unrelated communities and mining camps in California also had the name Dogtown during the nineteenth century; including one in Mono County, one in neighboring Merced County,[2] another in Butte County (now Magalia), one in Calaveras County,[3] and a later settlement in Marin County.[4]