Swansea, Wales, once nicknamed "Copperopolis" for its copper production industry
Author K. Martin Gardner expounds on this literary history, and Twain's friendship with renowned scientist of the time, Nikola Tesla, in his novel Copperopolis.
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Copperopolis is famous for the shack on Jack Ass Hill, where Mark Twain is purported to have written one of his most famous works, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
The brick Greek Revival building was constructed in 1864 to house the Union Guard of Copperopolis, the town's regiment of the Union Army.
But the Calaveras and Tuolumne County Historical Societies and the Copperopolis Community Club, assisted by the Native Sons of the Golden West and many other state-wide groups, took an interest in saving the bridge.