Melones was founded on the site of a ferry operated from 1848 by John W. Robinson and Stephen Mead.

[2] In January 1923 Paramount Pictures chose Melones to construct a complete 1849 mining camp set there for the motion picture The Covered Wagon.

The studio sent an authentic Sierra Railroad train built in 1897 to the location via the Angels Branch line to Melones.

[citation needed] The site was submerged under New Melones Lake when the New Melones Dam finished construction and began to fill in April 1, 1978.

This Calaveras County, California–related article is a stub.