Located in the unincorporated mining town of Hawkinsville, California is the historic Church of the Immaculate Conception, a relic of the past Portuguese presence during the gold rush days of the region.  Across the way up the road is also the white Portuguese Community Hall.  A nearby historical marker reads:

Near this spot in 1851 Frogtown was founded.  It became the center of trade for the miners working on the nearby flats and gulches.  When the Oregon Stage Road was made the town was moved to higher ground and in 1852 was renamed Hawkinsville.  In 1858 a red brick church was erected in the center of town.  It is still standing.  This monument dedicated Sept. 8, 1977, E Clampus Vitus - Humbug Chapter 73

At the church itself is another plaque:

Church of the Immaculate Conception

Established: 1877

In memory of the Portuguese Community

Presented by the descendents of John and Gertrude Solus

Also from a website:

Hawkinsville Assumption Church

Gold and God -- Hawkinsville

The first church in California built by the Portuguese was Immaculate Conception located in the Siskiyou mining town of Hawkinsville

Year: 1877

While it was the whaling industry that brought the first permanent Portuguese settlers to California, large groups of immigrants did not arrive until after the discovery of Gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848.  By 1849, news of the gold strike in California had spread around the world. In Portugal, a tract describing opportunities in California spurred this first great push of Portuguese into the gold fields.  Ships sailing into San Francisco Bay were left abandoned by their captains and crew who went in search of gold.  Well over 800 Portuguese miners migrated to California by 1850.  In the early days, the miners were scattered throughout the gold fields, but soon Siskiyou County became the Portuguese mining capital of California.  The large percentage of those settled in Hawkinsville. By 1880, 11% of Yreka Township, which included Hawkinsville, was Portuguese.

In the spring of 1858, a brick building was constructed by a Henry Egbert. It was first used as a saloon and then a meat market.  In 1873, Manuel F. Fernandes left the Azores for California, worked in Siskiyou County as a shepherd and then became a miner.  After some success, he decided to return to the Azores to pursue a vocation as a priest.  Before departing, he sold his share in his mine and donated the money for the construction of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Hawkinsville.  By 1877, the Egbert meat market was purchased and remodeled by the Portuguese. The first mass was celebrated in 1878.  While the rest of the buildings were mostly miners’ shacks, the church was the most substantial structure in town.  It still graces the main street as it did when the first mass was celebrated.

Immaculate Conception Church acted as the magnet around which coalesced the Portuguese community of the gold fields, for soon the newly organized fraternal societies formed councils in Hawkinsville and nearby Fort Jones.  The first Holy Ghost festa was celebrated in Hawkinsville in 1900.  The Portuguese hall was constructed around 1900 and not only served the Portuguese population but was also the focus of community life for all of Hawkinsville.  Gatherings for dances, meetings, socials and traveling theater troupes helped bring people together to foster a sense of unity and purpose. At the time of the first festa, the committee sent away for a crown and scepter to be used to bless the first queen of the festa. That crown and scepter are still used today. In 1981, the church was in need of a new steeple.  Eddie Lawrence undertook the job and soon an elegant new spire graced Immaculate Conception Church.  

The Power of the Spirit as evinced in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Hawkinsville is that it has been the anchor of the small Portuguese presence in this remote part of California.  The generations of Portuguese descendants of those rugged Portuguese miners look to the Church of the Immaculate Conception with pride as they preserve their culture through the celebration of the Holy Ghost festival. 

From: https://portuguesemuseum.org/?page_id=1808&category=3&exhibit=&event=59