Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Ione, CA

Ione is a small city in Amador County in California's Gold Country, settled in 1849 and incorporated as a city on March 23, 1953.

During the California Gold Rush, miners knew Ione by the unflattering names "Bedbug" and "Freeze Out" before the present name stuck.

Ione's name is believed to have been given by Thomas Brown around 1849, after a heroine in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's drama The Last Days of Pompeii.

Unlike the other Amador County towns founded on gold mining, Ione was a supply center, stage and rail stop, and agricultural hub on the main road to the Mother Lode and Southern Mines.

Ione is the historical home of the Sierra Miwok people, and in 1840 the future town site became part of the Mexican land grant Rancho Arroyo Seco.

Ione's most famous landmark is Preston Castle, the Romanesque administration building of the Preston School of Industry, built between 1890 and 1894 as a state reform school for boys and now a California Historical Landmark being restored by the Preston Castle Foundation.

Ione built its first school in 1853, and its Community Methodist Church, organized in 1853 and completed in 1862, is one of three California Historical Landmarks in the city.

The D. Stewart Company Store, built in 1855 as Ione's first brick building, is still owned and operated by descendants of the Stewart family.

Ione is home to Mule Creek State Prison and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Training Academy, two of the largest employers in Amador County.

The 2020 census counted 5,141 people in Ione living in 1,968 households, with about 74 percent of homes owner-occupied and an average household size of 2.48 people.