County Histories

Trinity County

“Trinity County is situated in the Coast Range Mountains, just east of the northern end of the Sacramento Valley and is drained and watered by the Trinity, Mad, Eel and Van Dusen Rivers.  It is a mountainous region, its hills and peaks ranging in altitude from a few hundred to more than 9,000 feet.  Through these hills and mountains flow numerous streams, nearly all of which are a part of the watershed of the Trinity River, which rises in the northern and eastern part of the county, and leaving the county’s confines, empties into the Klamath River.

“Mining has been the principal industry of the county for more than fifty years.  Other industries are farming, grazing and lumbering.  Hydraulic, placer, drift, dredge and quartz mining are all followed with profitable results and there are still hundreds of acres of auriferous gravel awaiting exploration and many quartz veins that are untouched.  Hydraulic mining is vigorously prosecuted in various parts of the county under conditions which enable that branch of mining to be conducted more advantageously than in any other part of the State.  The placer grounds are so situated that the debris from their workings passes into the Trinity and finally into the Klamath River, which are unnavigable and hence are not injured by the operations.  The heavy grade of the streams, the abundant rainfall, the heavy depths of snow in the high mountains, the temperate climate, the abundance of timber and the favorable character of the gold bearing gravel, make Trinity ideal for the hydraulic miner.

“A number of the best equipped and among the largest hydraulic mines in the world are in operation in this county.  A great many mines have been constantly worked with favorable results for many years.  The large bodies of undeveloped ground present a promising field for investment.  Ledges of gold bearing ores have been discovered at nearly every point where paying gravels have been worked and new prospects are being constantly found in various parts of the county.  Improved methods of working and milling have attracted attention to bodies of low grade ore not regarded formerly as profitable.  Quartz mining, therefore, is being developed and the county is destined to become one of the leading quartz mining counties in California.  As in hydraulic mining, conditions are favorable for quartz mining, there being an abundance of timber and of water and the climatic conditions being favorable.

“Along the Trinity River and its tributaries are numerous bars of rich gravel.  They are at too slight an elevation to be successfully worked by hydraulic method, but offer a successful field for dredge mining.  With the aid of electric power, dredge mining promises to take its place in Trinity County with the hydraulic and quartz industries.

“Extensive bodies of Cinnabar ores have been found and worked in the northern end of the county and Cinnabar has been found near Weaverville and on Canon Creek.

“Near Trinity Center, Weaverville and Douglas City, deposits of asbestos have been uncovered.  A considerable amount of platinum and iridium is found with the Placer gold in the Hay Fork, Junction City and Lower Trinity districts.  Copper ores of high grade values are found in the northern central portions of the county, which give every promise of being developed into extensive and profitable mines.

“While but little has been done toward the discovery and the working of any minerals other than gold, what has been done justifies further investigation as the prospects are favorable for opening up profitable bodies of valuable minerals.

“Though Trinity is primarily a mining county, there are large sections of tillable land which with irrigation during the Summer months will produce abundant crops of grasses, hardy fruits, berries and grains.  In the lower elevations and particularly along the Trinity River and in the southern end of the county, peaches, pears, plums, apples, apricots and grapes are produced which in flavor, quality and abundance of yield, compare with like fruits produced in any section of California.  The soil is adapted for the raising of alfalfa and grains.  Vegetables and berries of every variety thrive and there is a home market in the mining districts for everything that is produced.

“Nuts of all kinds do well – chestnuts, almonds, walnuts, hickory nuts, pecans, in fact all the common ones doing remarkably well.

“In the southern and western portions of the county olives have been successfully raised.

“There are excellent opportunities for dairying in the county and stock raising is now carried on in some sections on a large and profitable scale.  In the vicinity of Hay Fork, Heyampon and Trinity Valleys there are bodies of fertile, well watered soils.  Grasses grow abundantly on these lands and they are well suited to such industries as hog and sheep raising.

“Stock raising is remunerative and one of the great coming industries.  Range land is ample and there are many native grasses.  Climatic conditions are favorable and markets are close at hand.

“Throughout the county there are very extensive bodies of first-class timber and there are numerous small saw mills in operation during the Summer months.  Sugar pine, spruce, fir and yellow pine are the principal merchantable woods.  In the southern part there is also quite an area of tan bark oaks.

“Trinity County, owing to its never failing water supply and the steep grades of its water courses, offers great inducements for the construction of electric power plants.

“The county seat is Weaverville, a picturesque place in the heart of the mountains.  The county has a good school system and an efficient corps of teachers.

One branch of the State Highway passes through the county, connecting the Sacramento Valley with the Coast counties.  This road across the mountains is extensively traveled during the Summer months and is one of the scenic driveways of the State.

“As a Summer camping ground no place in the world can be found to excel this county.  Its altitude is all that could be desired, the wonderful scenery, clear running brooks teeming with fish, game to be had with little exertion, the wonderful scenic roads and trails, must be seen to be appreciated, and once seen will never be forgotten.”