[5] Sonora was founded by Mexican miners during the California Gold Rush.

Named after their home state of Sonora, Mexico, it was once a booming center of industry and trade in California's Mother Lode.

Most of the gold that was removable with traditional mining techniques was quickly extracted, leaving miners to use more complex and expensive mining techniques to reach deep pockets of quartz and gold.

Sonora as well as other mining towns of the era experienced economic hardship when the value of gold decreased.

As "gold fever" died down, Sonora's size and population steadily decreased over the years.

[7][8] As detailed in the 2005 memoir of novelist David Carkeet, Campus Sexpot, Sonora was fictionalized as "Wattsville", the setting of Dale Koby's cult/underground classic (also titled Campus Sexpot).

[9] The sequel, From Roundheel To Revolutionary by Jeff Daiell, also takes place primarily in "Wattsville"/Sonora.

The Tuolumne County Museum and History Center preserves the town's Gold Rush legacy.

Sonora is located at 37°59′04″N 120°22′54″W / 37.984361°N 120.381767°W / 37.984361; -120.381767,[10] around the intersection of California State Highways 49 and 108 The altitude is 1,825 feet (556 m).

[11] Average annual rainfall is 32.79 inches (833 mm), almost all from November through April, although there are occasionally afternoon and evening thunderstorms in the summer months, which drift down from the Sierra Nevada.

The area economy was historically based on the mining and timber industries, but now relies on tourism.

[34] One of two active lumber mills in Tuolumne County was shut down in 2009, but reopened in July 2011.

It is the sole college in Tuolumne County and offers two-year degrees.

[46] Local museums depict the Gold Rush era and historic Sonora.

[48] The pilot, and various scenes, of the television show Little House on the Prairie was filmed in Sonora.