The “Clampers” started durng the Gold Rush. You can see their pranks everywhere!
They wear red long-john shirts and call their leader the Noble Grand Humbug. They wear badges made from tin, and their motto is “Credo Quia Absurdum,” which means “I believe it because it is absurd.”
But the men who make up the groups called Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, more commonly known as Clampers, do more than poke fun at more staid, straight-laced and ritualistic groups. They keep history alive in the Western United . And the history they keep alive is the history of Highway 49 and the Gold Rush.
On E Clampus Vitus
