the town is known as for its setting within a bowl-shaped valley which early miners thought was caused by the volcano. A early morning fog rising from a vale floor sole reinforced that belief. A spot was found within 1848 by Colonel Stevenson's men, who mined Soldiers Gulch within 1849. Around 1851 a post office was established and by April 1852 there were 300 houses. By 1853 the flats and gulches swarmed with men, & there were Xi places, Sixer hotels, Tercet bakehouse, & Terzetto saloons. Hydraulic mining operations, begun around 1855, brought thousands of fortune seekers to form the town of Xvii hotels, the library, the theater, & courts of quickly justice. In a period of the Civil War, Volcano's gold served the Union — Volcano Blues smuggled the cannon "Old Abe" in by hearse to quell rebels.

Although microscopic, Volcano occurs as town of numerous "firsts": 1854 First theater group in California 1854 Number 1 debating society in California 1854 Number 1 circulating library in California 1855 First private schools in California 1855 Number one personal law school in California 1856 First legal hanging in Amador County 1860 First astronomical observatory in California 1978 First solar still in California

A observatory was established by George Madeira and is where a Great Comet of 1861 was discovered (in the U.S.). These are registered when California Historical Landmark #715.

Volcano is as well house to [http://www.caverntours.com/BlackRt.htm Black Chasm Caverns], the National Natural Landmark.