“The History and Business Directory of Shasta County”

  Upon the subdivision of the State into counties in 1850, Mr. Wathall, member of Assembly of the delegation from the Sacramento district, which included the Sacramento valley to the Oregon line, proposed the name of Shasta for this section, and it was adopted by the Legislature.  The name is from a tribe of Indians who resided at the foot of the height or mountain by that name, which is at the source of the Sacramento river.  Its boundaries have been somewhat reduced since that date.
The county is the meeting point of the Coast Range and Sierra Nevada mountains, the first of which throws off an enormous spur called the Shasta mountain, whilst the second breaks up into a number of rough-sided buttes.  The topographical consequence is an immense number of canyons, gorges, valleys and ravines, through which is drained the whole northern section of the State.
Shasta county lies not far from midway between the two most important ports on the Pacific shore, i.e., San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, and directly on the overland route, which in the future will become the grand thoroughfare from Mexico to British Columbia.
The upper Sacramento, or Pit river, the McLeod – but more commonly called the McCloud – river, and innumerable creeks, form its fluvial system.  The Pit river is the principal tributary of the Sacramento, and the McLeod river is the loveliest of our mountain streams.  The latter rises in Mount Shasta (Siskiyou county), and after a troubled course of eighty or ninety miles, through rocky canyons, quiet valleys and between abrupt precipices, it empties into the Pit river a few miles above its junction with the Sacramento.
The McLeod is a favorite fishing stream, and has been selected by the United States Commissioners superintending the propagation of fish as the place of their operations in this State.
The Sacramento valley ends in this county, and is, with the many other nooks between the hills, the scene of much agricultural prosperity.  The valley commences to narrow about Red Bluff, and gradually closes in as you proceed and ascend.  Further north we have the Shasta valley, an extensive plain, chiefly used as a range for cattle and sheep.  But its soil of fertile, and the valley contains some good farms.  To the farmer the valley and foothill lands are attractive.  There are still large amounts unsettled, and it will be some time before the mountainous lands and pretty valleys will be fully occupied by settlers.
The Sacramento river rises in a large spring at the base of Mount Shasta, and has worn its way through the high mountains, and rushes down nearly a hundred miles of its course an impetuous, roaring mountain stream, abounding in trout at all seasons, and in June, July and August, filled with salmon that have come up here through the Golden Gate from the ocean to spawn.  It here runs between banks so steep that for miles together the river is inaccessible.  When this portion of the river was first “prospected” for gold, the miners had to build boats and descend by water, trying gold by the way, because they could not find land.
The stage road follows to its source the devious course of the river, and you ride along sometimes nearly on a level with the stream, and again on a roadbed cut out of a steep mountain side, one thousand or fifteen hundred feet above the water, through fine forests of sugar pine and yellow pine, many of the trees almost coming up to the dimensions of the great sequoias.  A notable stopping place is the Soda Springs, where there is a comfortable little mountain inn.  About ten miles south is Castle Rock, a remarkable and most picturesque mountain of white granite, bare for one thousand feet below its pinnacled summit.  Near the springs is a singular, almost precipitous mountain, which terminates in a sharp ridge at the top – one of those “knife-edge ridges” of which Prof. Whitney and Clarence King often speak in their description of this scenery.  This ridge is sharp enough to straddle, and on eitherside is an almost precipitous descent, with a beautiful lake in the distance.
With the above outlines and general remarks, copied partly from another publication, we will now proceed to speak of some of the events in the past, which will be found as correct as the records now to be had furnish us, and the memory of those who figured in the early history of our county serves them.
Major Pearson B. Reading was the first white settler of Shasta county.  His settlement was made in the year 1845, at the place now known as the Reading Homestead, near the junction of Cottonwood creek with the Sacramento river.
With the exception of Reading’s, there was no settlement made in Shasta county by white men until the arrival of the immigration across the plains in 1849.  There were a number of men from Oregon in the county previous to the immigration from the East, but they were moving about from place to place, and made no permanent location.
The immigration to Shasta county in 1849 came in principally by the Lassen route, now generally known as the “old Lassen trail.”  This trail came into the Sacramento valley at Lassen’s ranch, on Deer creek.  On the arrival of the immigration at Lassen’s, the great inquiry was as to where the best diggings were to be found.  The mines north of Lassen’s were classified as the Northern, and those south, as the Southern mines.  The accounts were, to some extent, conflicting, but the Northern mines were generally favorably mentioned, and many selected them because there were but few men in them.  There were three places which constituted the Northern mines (as the Shasta mines were then called), viz., the Upper Reading Springs (now known as Shasta), the Lower Reading Springs (now known as the Lower Springs), and the Clear creek diggings (now known as the Horsetown diggings).
These mines were all originally discovered by Major Reading, and he and his Indians did the first mining in each of them.  These three places became the headquarters of most of the immigrants, and there prospecting companies were organized during the winter of ’49 and ’50, who discovered most of the mines situated between the Sacramento river and Clear creek, from the mouth of Clear creek up to Spring creek and Whisky creek.
It is difficult for one who is not a pioneer to realize the situation of the immigrants of 1849.  They were in the land of gold; but to them it was a strange land, and everything was new.  They knew nothing about gold mining nor the country.  They would occasionally meet men of their own race who had “blazed the way” to the new El Dorado and knew the land – the pioneers of California pioneers – and in such men as Reading, Lassen, Sutter and Moon, they met men who could stand in the front among any pioneers the world ever saw.
The immigrants seemed to be regarded as intruders by a few of the old Californians, but they were generally received with kindness and hospitality by those who were here on their arrival.  Major Reading was particularly kind and generous; he sympathized with the immigrants and manifested a heartfelt and cheerful desire to aid and assist them by every means in his power, and he had words of kindness and of cheer that were often worth more than gold.  Many of the first settlers of Shasta county treasure among their most cherished recollections the kind words and kind deeds of Major Pearson B. Reading.  Whenever the early history of Shasta county is written, let his name be inscribed on its brightest page.
The first settlers of Shasta county were miners, almost exclusively, and an account of the mining operations of those who were at the three mining camps which have been mentioned above as the headquarters of the Shasta miners, will about contain the early history of Shasta county.
Those who made Clear creek their headquarters were probably the discoverers of more new mines than those of the Upper and Lower Reading Springs, as they had a wider field to operate in.  They had an equal chance with the settlers of the other two camps to prospect the country east of Clear creek, and the country west was entirely unexplored.  The Clear creek miners were the first prospectors of all that section.
We have a very few persons who came into Shasta county in 1849 who are still residing in the county, and have obtained from them the leading events which transpired in the early settlement of the county, as far as they could remember them; and, while they have been related from memory, we are satisfied that they can be relied upon as substantially correct.
Many of the ’49-ers of Shasta county have passed away, and with them have passed away many events which should be recorded in our history.

Horsetown, originally known as the Clear creek diggings, was principally settled by immigrants who came in on the Lassen route in 1849.  The flat upon which Horsetown is situated is as high up on Clear creek as wagons could be conveniently taken at that time; and there, in the latter part of September, 1849, the first explorers of Clear creek and the adjoining diggings by common consent pitched their tents.  At one time during the month of October, ’49, there were three or four hundred men at and about the Clear creek diggings.  The most of them were from Western States, and knew nothing about mining for gold.  Some of them had mined in lead mines, and their experience was somewhat advantageous in a business that was new to all.  There were Oregon men about the diggings, who had come into California that summer, who had some experience in mining for gold, and had learned something about where to mine, but had made little or no progress in the art.  They were generally churlish and selfish in their transactions with the Eastern immigrants, calling them “greenhorns” and treating them more as adversaries than as friends; so that they were more detrimental than advantageous to the immigrants.
Major Reading and his Indians did the first mining on Clear creek, in the spring or early summer of 1849, on a bar at or near the place where the Horsetown bridge is now situated.  That bar was known as the Reading bar for some time; but few now – except the Clear creek pioneers – will remember it by that name.  The name of that bar is passing away, as the name of Reading is passing away at other places.  Are we about to be like one –
 

 
After Reading, Moon, or Moon’s ranch, and his Indians, mined on Clear creek, on a bar near Muletown.  The mining carried on by Reading and Moon was about all the mining done on Clear creek previous to the immigration of 1849.  Most of the immigrants commenced mining in a hap-hazard way, with a shovel, pick and pan, on bars on Clear creek, between the Reading bar and Muletown bar.  Others mined in what is called the “Dry Diggings,” with knife and spoon, in the crevices and dry gulches, where the gold was coarse.  Most of the dry digging was done in the Horsetown Dry-creek gulches, the Jackass-flat gulches and Buljin gulch.  Some little mining of that kind was done in Hardscrable gulch.  A portion of the immigrants did well, making from an ounce to $100 a day; but the most of them were prospecting, and could not find satisfactory diggings.  Many became dissatisfied and left Clear creek, and went to mines further south, leaving about 150 or 200 men, who spent the winter in the mining camp called the Clear Creek diggings.
There was considerable rain about the middle of October, ’49, and a heavy rainy season (probably as heavy as any we have had since that time) set in about the 1st of November.  There was water running in all of the gulches in the early part of November, and the miners left the bars and went to work in the gulches.  By this time they had made considerable advance in mining, and were much better equipped with rockers and other mining tools and utensils.  With a few exceptions, the Clear creek miners did well, after the water came in the gulches, making from an ounce (less than an ounce was not considered pay diggings) to one and sometimes two hundred dollars a day.
All of the creeks and gulches which empty into Clear creek, on the eastern side, from Briggsville up to a short distance about Muletown, were prospected and worked, many of them paying very well.  Buljin gulch and some of the Jackass flat gulches were the richest; but Horsetown gulch, Sheet’s gulch and some of the Dry-creek gulches furnished very good diggings for many miners.
The Clear creek miners did a great deal of prospecting during the winter of ’49 and ’50, and few of them worked at any one place for any great length of time.  They did considerable mining at the Centerville and Texas Springs mines, and some of them went as far over towards the Shasta and the Lower Springs mines as Olney creek and Oregon gulch; but there they found Olney and his Indians, and other Oregon men, at work, and very few, if any of them, did any mining at either of the latter places.
There was no way of crossing Clear creek, after the rainy season had set in, until a canoe was constructed (no light job then); after which, the Clear creek miners did considerable prospecting on the western side of the creek.  But, with the exception of some little mining in Hardscrable gulch, they did no mining, to amount to anything, on that side of Clear creek, until the discovery of the Arbuckle diggings.
The Indians were somewhat troublesome to the Clear creek miners.  They  came principally from the western side of the creek, and seemed to have given up the eastern side to the occupancy of the whites.  There was but little personal danger from them while the whites remained on the eastern side of Clear creek, but they frequently robbed the miners’ camps and stole their stock.  On the western side, between Clear creek and the North Fort of Cottonwood, the Indians were quite hostile and dangerous, and the miners had to be continually on their guard while in that locality.  West of Cottonwood was understood to be forbidden ground, and the Indians seemed to be determined that the whites should not cross the North Fork.
For these reasons, it is probable that the mines west of the Clear Creek diggings would not have been prospected to the extent they were, in the winter of ’49 and ’50, had it not been for a circumstance which occurred at Cottonwood to some of the men who first settled Clear creek.  These men met an Oregon man, named Engles, at Cottonwood, as they were coming up to Clear creek, who told them that he had discovered very rich diggings, from which he had been driven by the Indians after he had worked in them for a few hours.
This party of men procured a mule and a ’49 mining outfit for Engles, and he agreed to lead them to his diggings.  Engles started with the party, and went up Cottonwood for a few miles, where he slipped away, or got lost, from the party, and he was never seen or heard of by them afterwards.  This circumstance was commented upon by many of the Shasta county immigrants – particularly by those on Clear creek – and the idea became quite current that Engles had slipped away and was working at his diggings.  Several companies were organized to prospect for these diggings.
The first, or among the first, was a company of sixteen men, mounted and well-armed.  This company were the first white men that crossed the North Fork of Cottonwood.  They crossed at or about the Wheelock ford, and the Indians surrounded them in great numbers as soon as they got on the west side, and made such hostile demonstrations that the whites became alarmed and recrossed onto the east side to encamp for the night.
The Indians appeared to abandon all hostile intentions when the whites got back onto the east side; and the whites, apprehending nor further danger, camped where the Indians could crawl upon them in the brush.  That night the Indians took advantage of the situation of the whites, and sent several volleys of arrows in upon them from an ambush in the brush, and the whites were driven in confusion from their camp.  Several of the whites were wounded, and one of them was said to have been killed.  The whites got together the following morning, in rather a demoralized condition, fell back out of the Indian country, and made no further effort to prospect on the west side of the North Fork of Cottonwood.
This company were not Clear creek men, and none of them remained in these diggings to “fight their battles o’ver again;” but the foregoing account of their effort to prospect the Cottonwood country is the account which was current at Clear creek, and is believed to be, substantially, a correct history of it.
This attempt to prospect the Cottonwood country was made in October, ’49, and the action of the Indians, and the failure of the attempt, was the subject of a great deal of comment among the Clear creek miners.  Considerable prospecting was done afterwards on the east side of Clear creek by different prospecting companies, but none of them went as far as the North Fork of Cottonwood.
In February, or it might have been in the latter part of January, 1850, (the California pioneers are sometimes not accurate as to dates), a company was organized at Clear creek, to prospect for Engles’ diggings, or, more properly speaking, to prospect the country west of the North Fork of Cottonwood.  This company consisted of twelve men and, as they discovered a large portion of the mines situated between the North Fork and the Bee Gum Forks of Cottonwood, their names will be given as far as remembered, viz.: Abraham Cunningham, French Tuttle, Noah Batcheler, John S. Hittell, Samuel Nicholson, Joseph Voshee, Samuel McConnell, Alex. R. Andrews, -- Tomilson, -- Davis, and two others whose names are not remembered.  Several of them were good hunters and good woodsmen.  Tomilson had been with the Crow Indians for some time, and others had had considerable frontier experience.  There were no horses or mules left on Clear creek, at the time the company started – the Indians having stolen them all – and the prospectors had to pack their arms, prospecting tools, and all of the supplies which they took with them, on their backs.  They depended on the game which they might kill for meat.  Each of them was armed with a pistol, and six had rifles or shot guns.
They were a well organized company to accomplish the object they had in view, and they were determined that they would break the Indian blockade on the North fork and prospect the Cottonwood country.
It was not raining when the company started, and several days immediately previous had been fair, but the creeks were all full of water and high.  They struck Eagle creek about where the county road now crosses it, but had to go up it a distance before they found a place to cross.  They had still more difficulty in getting across the North Fork of Cottonwood, and cut several trees down before they got one to lodge so as to make a bridge.  They crossed near the mouth of Hoover creek, and neither saw nor heard Indians while they were getting across; but, as soon as they got upon the west bank, the Indians showed themselves in great numbers, and Indian yells could be heard from the high points in every direction.  As the prospectors moved out from the creek the Indians could be seen in greater numbers concentrating in front of them.  None of the Indians would show themselves within six or seven hundred yards of the whites, but signal smokes were to be seen in all directions, and their actions were so hostile that it produced a momentary excitement and indecision among the little band of whites; but Cunningham was cool and decided and the prospectors instinctively confided in him as their leader.  They counciled for a moment and at the suggestion of Cunningham and others they moved with one accord towards the place where the Indians were concentrating.  The whites were moving up towards the divide between the North Fork and Mitchell gulch and the Indians were collecting on that divide about where the wagon road from Bald hills to Watson gulch crosses the ridge, near the head of Duncan basin.  When the whites got to the point last mentioned not an Indian was to be seen or heard.
The prospectors moved on and struck the gulch, now known as Watson gulch, about where the wagon road now crosses.  They prospected the gulch at that point and got what was considered a paying prospect, but not the prospect they were hunting for.  One or two of the company suggested that the gulch above be thoroughly prospected, but, after prospecting until they were satisfied that the gulch would pay, it was determined to move on.  From about the place where Charles Mullavy’s house is now situated, to the place now called the “Sam Love Place,” there were a great number of Indian rancharias, but they were all deserted and not an Indian was to be seen as the prospectors passed through, except that a few could be occasionally seen dodging from their concealment, a half mile or more away.  The prospectors camped for the night near the rancharias, or Indian town as it might be called.  The ground for the camp was selected by Cunningham and was so selected that the Indians had no chance to get the advantage either by ambush or otherwise.  They constructed a small fort (as the prospectors called it), composed of manzinita and chaparral, so built that the Indians could not shoot their arrows through it and so situated that arrows could not be shot over it, so as to strike those within the fort.  The prospectors passed the night without being troubled by the Indians, and, on the following morning, continued on the route they had taken.  They struck was is now called the Duncan Fork of Cottonwood at the place now called the “Duncan Place.”  They found good prospects on a bar on the Duncan Fork and were pleased with the appearance of the country up the creek, and, after a conference, concluded to prospect in that direction.  Cunningham was opposed to going up into the Duncan creek canyon, as he said that it would give the Indians the advantage, but, as was rarely the case, his council was rejected, and the party started up the creek.  They had not got up into the canyon far until they were convinced that Cunningham was right.  The Indians came in nearer than they had been at any time previous.  They were above the prospectors where large loose rocks overhung them, and had the Indians taken advantage of the situation, that prospecting trip would there have ended in disaster.  On looking ahead the prospectors saw that the further they went in the direction they were going, the greater advantage the Indians would have, and they concluded to fall back; which they did, congratulating themselves on getting out of the close place they had been in, without injury.  They crossed the Duncan Fork and built a fort on a point between the Duncan and Middle Forks of Cottonwood, and camped for the night.
During that evening the prospectors held a council on a serious question –

They had been able to kill but little game since they started and their supply of meat was entirely exhausted, and they had but little breadstuff left.  The Indians had been continually around them and kept all kinds of game scared away, and the prospectors concluded that they would have to get a treaty of peace with them or return without prospecting the country further.  On the following morning a large number of Indians were to be seen on a ridge about three-quarters of a mile, on an air line, south of the prospectors’ camp, and the whites immediately commenced their efforts to bring about a treaty with them,  Tomilson and Jo. Voshee, acting as commissioners.  They commenced by hallooing and motioning to the Indians, and expressing, in every manner they could, their friendly intentions.  They then, in an impressive way, laid down their arms and went out towards the Indians, and selected a prominent position a short distance from their camp.  Tomilson then commenced swinging his cloak and motioning to the Indians to come to him, and hallooing to them in a mixture of Spanish and Crow, “O-ko-ho-ee! O-ko-ho-ee! Amigo! Amigo! Venga! Venga!”  After Tomilson had continued this for an hour, or more, two of the Indians laid down their bows and arrows and came towards the whites.  They seemed to be undecided and came slowly at first, but they soon lost all hesitancy and came boldly forward.  Tomilson and Voshee then went down to Duncan creek, (which ran between them and the Indians), and met the two Indians in a friendly manner, and the four then came up to the prospectors’ camp together.  The two Indians were young men, or just between boyhood and manhood, but they were self-possessed and manifested neither embarrassment nor fear when they came into the white men’s camp.  The elder was a fine and intelligent looking fellow for a Digger Indian, and was evidently a chief or leader among them.  He shook hands with the whites when he came into their camp, and then, in a striking and impressive manner, commenced the delivery of a speech to them.  He had a fine toned and powerful voice, and every word of his speech was evidently heard and endorsed by the Indians three-quarters of a mile distant, as they signified, by frequent ejaculations of approbation.  The occasion – the manner, gesture and expression of the speaker – together with the surroundings, formed a scene rarely witnessed among the California Indians.  He spoke as though he felt for his people and their melancholy fate.  As understood by the whites he said as follows:
“The white man takes the Indians’ hunting ground and his woman and drives the Indian away.  When the bad Indian steals from the white man, the white man kills all the Indians.  The Indian can’t fight the white man – he don’t want to fight – he don’t want the gold – he wants the fish – he wants the game – he wants his hunting ground and his women and children.  When the white man comes he takes all; he kills the Indian and drives him away.”
On the conclusion of the Indian’s speech, the whites explained to him, as well as they could, the object which they had in view, telling him that they were hunting for gold and desired peace and friendship with the Indians.  They assured him that they would do everything in their power to have justice done to the Indians, if the Indians would cease their hostility to them, and the young Chief (as they supposed the Indian to be) then agreed that his people should be at peace with the whites.
This was the first treaty made with the Indians in Western Shasta, (probably the first made in Shasta county) by the immigrants of 1849.
Immediately after the treaty was concluded a part of the whites went hunting with the Indians, and soon returned with three deer, which they had killed a short distance form their camp.  The Indians left, soon after the return, greatly pleased with the hunt and their share of the spoils; telling the whites that they would return in the morning and show them where to find gold.
The prospectors then had the first, last and only “square meal” of the trip.  The next morning they continued to “go west” accompanied by some of the Indians.  they found no prospects on the west side of the Middle Fork, which attracted their particular attention, until they reached the gulch now known as Arbuckle gulch.  They came upon this gulch at, or about, the place where the trail now strikes it, and found a very good prospect at that point.  They were about to camp there for the night, intending to prospect further at that place, but the Indians told them not to “sleep” there, and motioned to them to go further up the gulch.  They then followed the Indians up the gulch and came to, or near to, the place now known as Arbuckle.  The Indians said “sleep here,” and then they camped.
The prospectors had but very little to eat when they came to Arbuckle, and they ate their last crumb and drank their last tea and coffee that evening.  Notwithstanding their hunger they went energetically to work the next morning to prospect the gulches near the place where the Indians had told them to “sleep.”  Every place which they tried proved to be rich and the prospects became better as they went up Arbuckle gulch.  When they came to what is now known as “The Little Red Gulch,” they found it rich beyond anything that any of them had ever seen, and their hunger was forgotten in enthusiastic joy at their discoveries.  They found one piece weighing over an ounce, and several five and ten dollar pieces, in the Little Red gulch, lying in full view, where the water had washed the dirt and gravel away and left the bed rock bare.  They also found a branch of what is now known as the North Fork of Arbuckle, which heads near the head of Little Red gulch, to be very rich, and got one piece weighing over an ounce, and other coarse pieces, in that gulch.  The prospectors were delighted.  They had found that which they had dreamed of, and toiled for, and, for their success, they felt that feeling which has made many California pioneers prospectors for life, and which has lured many to death – “grasping for the golden fleece.”
They passed a second night at their camp at Arbuckle and concluded in the morning that they would prospect the country in the direction of the mountain now called the “Bee Gum.”  They went in the direction of, but not so far as, the Bee Gum Fork of Cottonwood, and finding that the prospects became less favorable as they got away from Arbuckle, they determined to return to Clear creek.  They camped for the night between Arbuckle and the Bee Gum Fork, and started on their return early the next morning.  Their camp was about thirty miles from Clear creek, but they estimated the distance at about fifty miles, and it was probably near that, by the route which they took.  They got back to Clear creek on the night of the day on which they started on their return; hungry and weary, but in triumph.  Acorns, roots and herbs were about all they had had to eat for the last three days they were out, but, buoyed up with their discoveries, they did not suffer greatly from hunger.
The prospectors did not see the trace of a white man, in all the country which they explored, from the North Fork of Cottonwood, until they came to about the place where they made their last camp near the Bee Gum Fork; and, it is most likely, that there had never been a white man there before.  They found the signs of white men in the neighborhood of the Bee Gum Fork, which had been made years before, probably by men who had been trapping on the Bee Gum Fork, and from there over on to Trinity river.
John S. Hittell, now residing in San Francisco, was appointed historian by the prospectors, and took notes of their trip, which were unfortunately lost.  He is now recognized as the historian of California, and his works have become standard.  Hittell was quite young when he helped to “blaze the way” through the Cottonwood country, but his comrades discerned in him, at that early age, a talent which has since made him a distinguished man.
Abraham Cunningham, who did so much to make that prosperous trip a success, and who was equally efficient on many other occasions, in the early settlement of Clear creek, is now a resident of Shasta county.  At one time, during the last winter, he was again prospecting at Arbuckle and other mines, which in the prime of his manhood he had been one of the first to explore.  Thirty-one years have made a great change at Arbuckle, and thirty-one years have brought with them many trials and hardships for Cunningham, which have to some extent, impaired his once excellent physique.  When this prospecting trip was made, Cunningham was in the very prime of his manhood.  Tall, and well proportioned for strength, activity and endurance, and otherwise peculiarly endowed by nature, he was a Boone in the woods.  He was wise and discreet in council, patient and long suffering in endurance, and cool, brave and decided in action.  He never gave way to excitement or anger, and was always just, honest, unassuming, guileless and true.  He was known among his associates by the sobriquet of “Old Buck,” and his rifle (a flint-lock) was known as “Old Scrape Fire.”  He had that firm gliding and noiseless step and alert bearing peculiar to the hunter, and on the hunt, on the Indian trail, on the attack or on the defensive, he was the beau-ideal of a woodsman. When the roll of California pioneers is called, if there is any who can stand erect, with a clear conscience, in the presence of his comrades and his God, and answer, Here! it is Abraham Cunningham.  When California’s history is written let his deeds be recorded  - when California’s poet shall come, let his praises be sung.
The discoverers of the Arbuckle mines began preparations for moving to the new mines immediately after their return.  Not being able to obtain either horses or mules to pack with, they had to transport their supplies, mining tools, etc., scanty as they were, with wagons and ox teams.  They started from Clear creek, soon after their return, and, piloted by Cunningham, had no great difficulty in getting their wagons to Arbuckle.  The wagon road now traveled from Horsetown to Arbuckle, is about the same as that which they opened.  The discoverers were followed by a great many miners from all parts of Shasta county, among whom were a number of Oregon men, and there was considerable excitement and came near being a serious difficulty, particularly with the Oregon men, about staking off the ground which the discoverers should be allowed to hold.  The matter was finally compromised by allowing each discoverer thirty feet on each side of the large gulches, and fifteen feet on each side of the small gulches discovered.  Among those who followed the discoverers was a man named Watson, who rather took the part of the discoverers in the controversy which occurred in relation to the amount of ground which they should be allowed to claim.  Watson and those with him went West beyond Arbuckle, with their wagon and ox team, until they got over near to the Hay Fork of Trinity.  This was probably the first wagon taken over the Trinity divide.
Watson and his party prospected the country through which they passed, but, finding no good mines, they returned to Arbuckle.  The discoverers of the Arbuckle mines, feeling friendly to Watson, then told him about the prospects which they had found on the gulch, now called Watson gulch, and advised him to go to that gulch and prospect above the place where they had prospected it.  Watson then went to the gulch and found and worked a very rich claim, and it has been called Watson gulch since that time.  With the exception of Watson, those who followed the discoverers found no diggings which suited them, and they remained in the new mines but a few days.  The discoverers mined at Arbuckle for a few months in the early part of 1850.  Part of them struck the main lead, or “pay streak,” and did very well, but they did not understand following it, and, in May, they deserted the diggings and returned to Clear creek without finding or working the richest of them.  The Indians were very troublesome to the whites while they were at Arbuckle, and seemed to have no regard whatever for the treaty which had been made with them.
After the discoverers left the Arbuckle mines, they were deserted by white men until the spring of 1851, when they were again worked by a man named Arbuckle, and they have been known as the Arbuckle diggings since that time.  They have been mined almost continuously since the time Arbuckle worked there, and a great deal of gold has been taken from them.  With the present improved facilities for obtaining water for mining there is little reason to doubt that the Arbuckle mines will yield largely in the future.
Many of the Clear creek miners went to other mines in May and June, 1850.  Those who remained on Clear creek, during the summer, were mostly engaged in turning and wing-damming the creek so that they could mine its bed.  The bed of the creek proved very rich in some places but the most of those who mined in it were unsuccessful.
In the years 1850, 1852 and 1853, many miners left Clear Creek during the summer and returned in the winter.  There was a continual change in the population, but there was what might be called the Old Guard who, for a number of years, looked upon “One Horse Town” (the name given the Clear creek camp in 1851), as their home.  That Old Guard “is scattered now” but they will remember with pleasure the early days of Horsetown wherever they may be.
There are a few of the Clear creek pioneers who are now residents of Shasta county, and among them there are a few ’49-ers, viz: Abraham Cunningham, now residing near Shingletown, O.H. Anderson, at the U.S. Fishery on the McLeod river, Nelson Waite, at Centerville, Alex. Andrews, at Shasta, and George Eberst near Igo.
The mines in what are now known as the Horsetown, Muletown, Piety Hill, Watson Gulch, Bald Hills, Gas Point, Roaring River and Arbuckle districts, were extensively and successfully mined from 1850 to 1860.
Horsetown was the principal mining town of Southwestern Shasta for a number of years, and was the headquarters of the miners of the neighboring districts.
Muletown was a very prosperous mining camp in early days and several gulches in that district were among the best of the Clear creek gulches.
Piety Hill, (now generally known as Igo,) which now holds the mining scepter in Western Shasta, has had a more permanent mining population than is usual in mining districts.  A great deal of gold dust has been, and is now being taken out in this district.  Piety Hill is, and has been, to a considerable extent, the headquarters of an agricultural, stock raising and lumbering population, residing in its vicinity.  The Ludwig place and the Turbush place, on Dry creek near Igo, were the first places cultivated in Western Shasta.
 W.K. Conger, E.R. Jones, Hayes Titus and other residents of the Piety Hill district, in early times, were much given to discussion on all subjects of current interest, and they were particularly given to the discussion of religion, and it was from this fact that the district received the name of Piety Hill.  If tenacious adherence to, and ardent advocacy of religious opinions, constitutes piety, the residents of Piety Hill in early times made the name peculiarly appropriate to that place.
The South Fork quartz mines, situated about three miles from Igo, are among the richest of the silver-bearing quartz mines of Shasta county.  These mines were discovered by Noah Batcheler, who has been heretofore mentioned as one of the twelve men who first prospected the Cottonwood country and discovered the Arbuckle and other mines.  Batcheler has been a prospector for more than thirty years, and we believe is still a prospector, and although he may not be individually greatly benefited by his work in that line, he is entitled to honor for having been largely instrumental in making discoveries which have enriched, and will continue to enrich, many others.
The population of the Watson gulch, Bald Hills, Gas Point and Roaring River districts is now more engaged in agriculture than mining pursuits.  These districts have furnished their full quota of the gold production of Shasta county; - their agricultural resources will increase, and they will yield more of the precious metal in the future than they have in the past.
The grazing and agricultural resources and the great mineral wealth of Western Shasta guarantees a large and prosperous population at no distant day.  When that day shall come let the pioneers of Clear creek be remembered.

The records and papers of the office of Alcalde at Shasta, (when that means of administering justice was the recognized law in California,) were destroyed in the great fire of June 14th, 1853.  These would have furnished many interesting incidents of the pioneer times whereof there is now no record.  In October, 1849, Shasta (then known as Reading Springs), was a busy village of tents.  There were then nearly as many people living on the hill as in the part of the town under the hill, where the chief settlement now is.  Among many others who were then living upon the hill, and who spent the memorable winter of 1849 there, were the late R.J. Walsh, of Colusa, and the late John S. Follansbee, of San Francisco.  Many of the first settlers were from Oregon.  Dick Christman, a native of Tennessee, but who came from Oregon to California in the spring of 1849, was camped on the hill in June of that year.  There were quite a number of Oregonians settled on the hill at that time who were attracted there by the pure air and excellent water.  These were all engaged in mining on Rock creek, Middle creek and Salt creek.  They came overland from Oregon as early in the spring of 1849 as the trails were open and the streams fordable.  In October of that year, several log cabins were being built, but none completed.  Several hundred people were then living in and about Shasta.  The rainy season commenced on the 2nd day of November.  It began to rain between two and three o’clock in the morning.  From that time it rained quite steadily and sometimes very hard through November, December, and the greater part of January.  February was fair, mild and pleasant.  The only rain prior to November, in the fall of 1849, was a light shower early in October – about the 6th of the month.  Not more than an eighth of an inch fell.  The rainy season produced a great panic in Shasta.  People feared that all communication would be cut off between that place and Sacramento, and that a famine would follow before communication could be opened in the spring.  Parties sold their provisions at ruinous prices, and hurried off to Sacramento and San Francisco.  Though freights had been forty and fifty cents per pound between Shasta and Sacramento, flour then sold for twenty cents per pound, and other things in proportion.  The keen, shrewd R.J. Walsh was the only man having money, who dared to invest.  He bought largely and when the deadlock came, in the travel between Shasta and Sacramento, through the impassability of Sycamore slough, made a corner on every article of merchandise in his store, and, within thirty days after he had purchased flour at twenty cents, was selling it at $2.00, $2.25 and in several instances as high as $2.50 per pound.  He was known to sell many a one hundred pound sack of Chili flour cash down in glittering gold-dust for $225 or at the rate of $450 per barrel.  Those were flush times when men made their money easily, and the price of a sack of flour then was as little considered as at the present day.  Dr. Benj. Shurtleff, his cousin Harrison J. Shurtleff, Dr. Hall from Vermont, and a man by the name of Belcher from Chelsea, Mass., were living and messing together at the time.  Occasionally they indulged in the luxury of a peach pie, made in the lower part of the town where the Union Church now stands.  They cost $1.50 each and were excellent pies, their only fault being in the fact that the upper and lower crusts were a little too near together.  This was owing to the high price of dried peaches.  The Pioneer Pie Factory was run by the late Benj. F. Washington, Vincent E. Geiger and William S. Lany.  Geiger cut the wood, Washington made the pies, and Lany was the salesman.  Mrs. Carthy, the wife of John Carthy, probably gave birth to the first white child born in Shasta county – a girl.  This was early in 1851, probably in February or March.  This child only survived a few weeks.  C.F. Montgomery, now a resident of Arizona, and business manager of the daily and weekly Nugget, published at Tombstone, was born at French Gulch in Shasta county, April 24th, 1851.  He is the oldest surviving white person born in Shasta county and probably the first white male child born in the county.
The late Chief Justice Royal T. Sprague came to Shasta in September, 1849.  He, with a  number of other emigrants, who came overland from Ohio, forded the Sacramento river at Moon’s ranch and built a log cabin just North of the Potter place, where they spent the winter.  In the spring and summer of 1850, Sprague mined on Clear creek at Grizzly gulch.  The late Gen. Joseph Lane was also once a Shasta county miner.  In the summer of 1850 he came overland from Oregon, arriving in Shasta in June.  He mined in the vicinity of Olney creek and Oregon gulch.  He was a plain, agreeable, affable gentleman; endowed with a good degree of strong, practical common sense.  His reminiscences of the Mexican war and description of Oregon were very entertaining.  He returned to Oregon in the fall of 1850.
Reading Springs was named Shasta by a mass meeting of its citizens, who met in front of the store of R.J. Walsh, where Armory Hall now stands, on the 8th day of June, 1850.  Mr. A. Grotefend is the only person now living in Shasta, who was there during the memorable winter of 1849.
Much of the history of Shasta county passed into oblivion in 1868, upon the death of its Nestor of pioneers, (Major Pearson B. Reading.)  The demise of Chief Justice Sprague, R.J. Walsh, J.S. Follansbee, Joseph Isaacs, Levi H. Tower and many others deprives us of much valuable information.  The St. Charles Hotel, built by James Macly & Co., and the Trinity House, built by W.S. Bonifield and David Cassant, were the first frame buildings built in Shasta.  The lumber from which they were constructed was whip-sawed by Jonathan Otie and his partner, and cost one dollar a foot (or at the rate of  $1,000 per 1,000 feet.)  These buildings were erected in the summer of 1850.  Macly was a man of great energy and enterprise.  He subsequently went East and while on his second trip across the plains to California, was killed by the Indians in Honey Lake valley.  His remains were brought to Shasta and buried in the old cemetery.
There was a great celebration of the 4th of July at Shasta in 1851.  Judge Sprague read the Declaration of Independence, and Judge W.R. Harrison delivered an oration.  Major Reading and many others from remote parts of the county were in attendance.  A sumptuous dinner was served at the St. Charles Hotel.  The first general election was held in Shasta county in September, 1850.  The first county officers were then elected.  W.R. Harrison was elected County Judge.  In the following winter he traveled on foot to Hamilton, the county seat of Butte county, took the oath of office before Judge Bean, and returning to Shasta, proceeded to organize Shasta county.  The other county officers elect, also the Justices of the Peace, appeared before Judge Harrison and qualified for their respective offices.  Dr. Jesse Robinson, at that time a partner with Dr. Shurtleff, in business under the firm name of Shurtleff & Robinson, was County Clerk.  The law authorizing the organization of Shasta, fixed the county seat at Reading’s ranch, but power was vested in the Court of Sessions to remove the county seat to such point in the county as public convenience might require.  Shasta county at that time extended from a point near Red Bluff and from the Northern boundary of Butte county to the Oregon line.  It embraced all of the present territory of Shasta and Modoc counties, all of Siskiyou, except what it received from Klamath when that county disorganized, and a part of Tehama and Lassen.  For four years after the organization of the county, we had no Board of Supervisors, and the Court of Sessions performed the functions now vested in the Board of Supervisors.  On the 10th day of February, 1851, Judge Harrison and County Clerk Robinson, with Justices of the Peace enough to form a quorum, went to the residence of Major Reading and organized the Court of Sessions by electing two of the Justices of the Peace Associate Justices.  The Court of Sessions then removed the county seat to Shasta, bringing it home with them that night, so that the county of Shasta was organized on the 10th of February, 1851.  The removal was perfectly satisfactory to all persons, and particularly to Major Reading, for the old pioneer, unlike the most of Californians, cherished no hankering for a county seat within twenty mils of him.  The officers who removed the county seat had a much easier time than Judge Harrison had experienced in his trip to Hamilton, for they made the trip on horseback.  A great change came with the organization of the county government under the all Americanized system of government.  By an Alcalde we had no taxation and justice was dispensed in a short and summary manner.  When Peter Bergoon, a Shasta merchant, failed, Judge Sprague, attorney for the creditors, brought suit by attachment before Dr. Benj. Shurtleff, and also foreclosed a mortgage, winding up the affair within the short space of twenty-four hours.  When Bowles was tried for the murder of his partner on Clear creek, in May, 1850, Sprague conducted the prosecution and Judge Harrison the defense, a jury was empanneled, a large number of witnesses examined; both made exhaustive arguments in the case; Sprague overwhelming the court and jury with statutes of New York and Ohio, while Harrison was just as lavish with the laws of Indiana and Iowa, and yet the case was concluded in a single day, the jury having brought in a verdict of “not guilty” before midnight.  Investigation convinced the jury that Bowles’ partner had been brutally murdered by Ben Wright’s treacherous Oregon Indians, who were camped a short distance away, at that time, from the place where the crime was committed.
It was wise for the people to avail themselves of the more elaborate system of American law and government, but with it came a boundless amount of red tape, high taxes, licenses and oppressive debts.  And yet Shasta has been more fortunate than many of her sister counties.  Considering her resources in agriculture, minerals and lumber, she has a bright prospect for the future.  Shasta county also elected her first Assemblyman at the general election in September, 1850.  Party lines were ignored, as neither the Democratic nor Whig party was organized in that locality.  Some two weeks before the election a large number of business and representative men of the town, met at the St. Charles Hotel, and place in nomination Mr. Watson, of the well-known firm of Riddle, Weber & Co., as a candidate for the Assembly.  It was an excellent nomination.  He was a native of South Carolina, but when quite young emigrated to Illinois, and then, in 1849, came overland to California.  He was intelligent and consistent.  He was also a model Christian, who brought his Christianity to California and always kept it with him.  The early pioneers of Shasta county will remember that the house of Riddle, Weber & Co. always kept their store closed on Sundays, and never permitted goods to be purchased or delivered on the Sabbath day.  Watson would have been an excellent candidate in any of the older States, North or South, but he did not prove available for Californians.  A few days after the nomination of Mr. Watson, the people of Shasta saw a young, stoop-shouldered, lean, dangle-legged young man ride into town up Main street, upon a small, lean mule, his feet almost touching the ground.  He stopped in front of a saloon, dismounted and ties his mule to an awning post.  By this time, curiosity being somewhat excited, quite a little crowd had assembled; turning to the bystanders he said:  “I understand you had a meeting in town the other night, and nominated a candidate for Assembly?”  “Yes,” was the reply, “we nominated Mr. Watson.”  He then said:  “Boys, I’m a candidate for the Assembly.  My name is A.Z. McCandless, and whiskey is my platform, and whiskey is going to win this fight.  Let us all go in and take a drink.”  All joined him without a dissenting voice.  Thus started the McCandless boom, which kept rising higher and higher, and sticking to his platform, he was triumphantly elected.
San Francisco in July, 1849, probably contained some 4,000 inhabitants.  It was about the size that Red Bluff now is.  It was all bustle and activity.  Goods of all descriptions were piled along the narrow sidewalks.  The small houses which the Bay city then contained afforded but little room for storage.  Everybody seemed to be getting ready to rush off to the mines.  Schooners, boats and every variety of light-draft water craft, were in great demand to carry passengers into the interior, particularly to Sacramento and Stockton.  The Sacramento river was swarming with hopeful, song-singing gold hunters, pushing forward to grasp in substance all that had been pictured in their golden dreams of fortune.  Sacramento at that time, was a lively town of tents and canvas houses.  There were then but two or three frame wooden buildings in the town, but during a period of two and a half months Sacramento made a magic growth and had risen to the rank of a populous city.  The trip from Sacramento to Shasta in 1849, is described as follows by an old Shasta pioneer, Dr. Benj. Shurtleff:
“On the 1st day of October we left Sacramento, crossing the river on a ferry at the foot of I street.  We proceeded on our journey to Shasta, or Reading Springs, as the place was then called.  We camped the first night at Fremont, but there was very little sleep or rest for us that night.  On the East side of the Sacramento was the town of Vernon.  The Vernon people came over to Fremont and sat up nearly all night discussing the future of the two young cities.  Both the Fremont and Vernon people agreed that neither Sacramento nor Marysville was an eligible site for a great city.  All agreed that a great city would rise up in the Sacramento valley at the mouth of Feather river, and, in a few years become one of the most wealthy and populous cities in the world.  But when they came to talk about fixing  the exact point of its location, violent, and at times angry discussion ensued; the friends of Fremont maintaining that they had founded the future great city of the Pacific Coast, while the Vernon men predicted the downfall of Fremont and a growth for Vernon that would astonish the world.  We made the entire journey to Shasta on the West side of the Sacramento river, and I do not recollect seeing a panel of fence on the route except in three small corrals, one at Moon’s ranch, one at Ide’s and the other at Reading’s ranch.  The Sacramento valley seemed a vast waste.  There was grass, but it was all dry and dead.  Occasionally we saw in the distance a herd of Spanish cattle or an antelope, and as we approached them it was difficult to tell which ran the faster, cattle or antelopes.  We passed over the rich, productive lands of Stoney creek, or Northern Colusa and Southern Tehama, which, including the Butte creek valley, on the East side of the Sacramento river, is the best grain belt in California.  But, so little did we know about their value, that we would not have given ten cents an acre for a clear title to the best land we saw.  In looking back now, the only consolation I have, is the poor one, that the balance of the pioneers of that day knew no more about the rich, alluvial lands of California than I did.  We knew nothing of the productiveness of the soil, and had not learned that the season for growth of the more hardy crops of the more hardy crops, such as grain, grass, etc., was in the winter and early spring.”
Colusa, at the date mentioned by the pioneer above quoted, was a beautiful forest and was called Salmon Bend.  Its only inhabitants were a tribe of Indians, but the town was settled a short time subsequently and soon grew to be a lively place.  The steamer Orient began making trips between Sacramento and Colusa probably in September, 1851, and soon after the Capt. Sutter began on the same line, which gave a great impetus to the new town.  The enterprising R.J. Walsh, at Shasta, was a part owner of the Capt. Sutter, and his own heavy shipments on her made up a great part of her lucrative business.  We are informed that in October, 1849, ex-Gov. Wilson Shannon, Ohio’s first native born Governor, was negotiating the purchase of the Reading ranch, and that Major Reading’s price was $10,000.  At the rate R.J. Walsh sold flour in the following December, twenty barrels of his flour or 10,000 feet of Jonathan Otis’s lumber, (mentioned before), would have purchased the entire grant.  The winters of 1850 and ’51 were comparatively dry in Shasta county, but there was a pretty good rain in September.  It began to rain soon after dark on the evening of the 10th, and continued steadily nearly all night.  All enjoyed it, for with it was a fine exhibition of thunder and lightning, reminding the pioneer of his far-off home in the East.  There was very little more rain until early in the spring.  One word about rain, as it figures largely in the interests of California and is prolific of much good.  The 49-ers had seen one California winter, and pitied the immigrants of 1850, for they knew nothing of the rainy season.  They knew that in the preceding year the rain had commenced on the 2d day of November, and they confidently expected to see it begin about the same time in the approaching fall.  One day Major Reading was asked what time he thought the rainy season would commence, and replied that the rainy season was very indefinite and uncertain in its commencement, it might begin in November, sometimes there was very little rain before Christmas, and some years it was as late as the 20th of January before any heavy rains came, and occasionally an entire year passed with but very little rain.  Several pioneers of thirty years standing give it as their opinion that Major Reading’s description of the seasons is the best that can be given.

As it is better known, is a large area of territory about twenty miles east of the Sacramento river; and as a district has for its western boundary, commencing on Oak Run at the Wilkinson hill, and extending to Pit river at the mouth of Sugar Pine gulch, and includes Cedar, Montgomery and Hatchet creeks, and the upper parts of Oak Run, Clover and North Cow creek.  The district is hilly and mountainous.  There are many pretty mountain valleys, some of considerable extent, and all highly productive.
Water for irrigating as well as for other purposes is abundant.  There are vast forests of stately trees of the different varieties found in the California mountains; the oak openings furnish a superior range for cattle, sheep, hogs and other stock.  The different tests that have been made of the ores and minerals, that so freely abound in the district, show the same to be of a good character, and if properly worked will make good returns.  Here can be found gold, silver, copper, lead, antimony, zinc, cinnabar, arsenic, sulphur, graphite or plumbago, and in such a confused combination that the result of any process that has ever been used here, has resulted in no dividends, though large amounts of money have been invested in erecting works, and opening the mines.  At the present time there is but little doing in the mines.  The first real discovery of mineral ledge matter was made on Silver creek, a tributary of Cow creek, by G.W. Brown and Mr. Bacon, about the same time that Copper City prospecting was first commenced.  Considerable excitement ensued, mining locations were made in all directions, a town staked off called Silverton, on Cow creek, below the mouth of Cedar creek, forty or fifty buildings erected, two stores, three boarding houses, livery stable, meat market and, of course, saloons; an extensive and costly furnace building, with all the requisites for working was erected, a ditch constructed from Cow creek, conveying a large amount of water to the furnaces for a “water blast,” and working an arastra, with John Kosk – a Russian, now of Big Bend, as Superintendent.  Stock was above par.  When the furnaces were in complete running order, a considerable quantity of rich (according to assays) argentiferous galena ore was introduced and worked, and upon cleaning up, after a run, nothing but a black, villainous looking mass was brought to view, and upon being taken to San Francisco, was pronounced to be nothing but pot metal, the report cast a gloom over Silverton, in fact, it was the death knell to the camp.  A few days before the “clean up” all was life and hilarity, even Gov. Moody and Kelsoe, sanguine of success, had started an opposition saloon in the chaparral; but upon the receipt of the news that the works had closed, they immediately took up their blankets and left, as also did Bill Gooch and Dave Mills, and soon not a soul occupied the once lively village.  No more was the dinner bell heard; the bat beeves were driven to another pasture, and the natives were well pleased that many a fine domicil was now at their command.  Nature smiled that through heavy assessments she had wrested from the intruder her own domain.  Some of the buildings were torn down and removed to other places, and a mountain fire soon occuring, placed the other buildings, with the valuable furnaces, in ashes, and Silverton was a thing of the past.  Many such enterprises have had a like result on the Pacific coast.  Mr. Kosk, the superintendent and a shareholder, was, at the time of the “shut down,” threatened with summary punishment.  Nothing was done, however, but in after years he publicly stated that he made the “blast” too great, in a spirit of revenge, from remarks that he heard made by some stockholders, that as soon as the works were running they “would freeze the d-d Dutchman out,” and he concluded to play a general freeze out game; but such history is liable to have two sides.  In 18—Gov. Moody and John Seaman discovered at the head of Seaman gulch, a body of decomposed gold bearing quartz, which yielded several thousand dollars, but failing to pay further, was abandoned.  Since then several attempts have been made to trace an extension but without success.  A considerable amount of “dust,” consisting of nuggets and fine gold has been taken out of the gulch below the quartz find.  About 1857 the Huffords, now of Millville, worked what at present is called “Miner’s Gulch,” but then known as “French gulch,” and did well.  Since then some work has been done with fair returns.  At an early day some Frenchmen located in the district, and worked in the placer mines, taking out some gold on Cow creek, one piece weighing $112, the largest piece reported in the district.  Some other placer mining has been done, but not amounting to much.
After the failure at Silverton, the ownership of no claims was retained in the district, excepting what was known as Copper Hill mine, owned by the Johnson brothers, the two Pryors, and the two Williams’, who kept up their yearly assessments until 1873, when they sold to M.H. Peck, for $6,000.  Mr. Peck, being a man of great energy, started to work at once in the claim; but access to the claim being difficult, on account of its situation in a canyon, it cost considerable to get the ore to a shipping point.  He had in his employ D.A. Cronin, as good a man as ever breathed the air of Shasta county.  At first Mr. Peck and his employes would lash sacks of ore on their backs and pack it to the top of the hill near the Fort Crook road, to a point where wagons could be obtained.  A large quantity of the ore was shipped to Baltimore and other points; the returns were so favorable that Mr. Peck made improvements about the claim, built roads, and erected furnaces, at an expense that cramped him, and he finally disposed of the property to an English company, represented by St. Auburn & Co., and by them to the Afterthought Company.  After the favorable reports from the Copper Hill shipments, several locations were made in the district.  A.J. Cook, then of the firm of Winters & Cook, bought of Peck & Cronin the Donkey Mine, and after working it for some time, sold it to J.C. Gooch and others, who had it incorporated and patented as the Tehama Mining Company.  They had put up steam hoisting works on the claims, but fire destroyed them, and for some time no work has been done, though it is expected something will be done this season, as they have met with some good assaying ore in the claim.  Mr. Cook, after selling the Donkey, bought the old Jackson Mine from J.F. McComber and J.C. Scott, which he sold to Frank Washington & Co., then he bought the McComber and W.H. Fender claims on Cedar creek, and sold out to I.B. Potter & Co.  Mr. Cook was a stirring man and kept the camp alive.  Peck and Van Emon located and sold the Afterthought mine to Dr.Olendorf, A.J. Loomis, R.H. Campbell and others, who afterwards bought the Peck mine, brought on water in a flume 24x36 inches, over two miles in length, erected a 10 stamp mill with a calcining and chlorodizing furnace.  The first structure was burnt, a second one, much improved, was built, and is now standing idle and has been for some time.  It is a valuable piece of property, with all the modern improvements in machinery, but apparently on account of a lack of knowledge in working the rebellious ores, the returns have been small in comparison to the capital invested.  The property is in charge of Dunk McCallum, who attends to keeping the water running in the flume, and generally watching the property.  In two days the works could be started, all the necessary material being on hand, and the machinery in good working order.
Lu Eilers is one of the oldest residents here, and is the owner of the Grizzly Bear claim and the Graphite claim.  He is a thorough prospector, having some knowledge of the correct working of ores, and at the anvil, for rapid and good work cannot be excelled.  He owns one of the best mountain ranches, producing an abundance of good fruit, vegetables and hay, upon which, (the ranch), he has been living about sixteen years.  On his place is a large bed of fire proof clay, which has been tested and proved to be good for general use.  W.H. Fender & Co. own the Ophir mine, and have done some work with fair prospects.  Fender also has a chair factory, with water power, where for the last few years he has turned out a large amount of durable furniture.  He is a neat and good workman, and has a pleasant home on Cow creek, near the Kenyon sulphur springs, and near the place where the once famous Bullskin existed.  But alas! poor Bullskin!  The buildings are torn down and removed, and now nothing remains only in memory of the busy and lively times that were there.  At the sulphur springs in 1876, Frank Kenyon, at considerable expense, erected several buildings for a fashionable resort; the springs only are there now.  Extensive bodies of coal abound in the district, and considerable money has been used in working them; but the coal is inferior and will not pay for working.  The toll road, known as Reid’s toll road, was made in 1875, from Redding, to intersect the Big Valley road at the Buzzard Roost.  It has been kept in a fair traveling condition.  When the road was completed Furnaceville was started, and was a lively village for some time, containing one large store, two saloons, a hotel, and stabling accommodations, besides several residences; two other small stores were near by; but the mines ceasing work in a measure, the business settled down to one store, hotel and stable.  The store was first started by Breslauer & Rediker, who did a large business for some time.  D. Breslauer sold to W. Rediker, who still owns the property and carries an extensive variety of goods.  In addition to the store he has stabling accommodations at all times.  Mrs. Alexander is at present conducting the hotel with satisfaction to all; so that the traveler and visitor can find accommodation.
At the junction of the Oak Run and Reid’s roads, on Cedar creek, is situated the Buzzard’s Roost, where Lewis Ensign is keeping a stock of goods, hotel, saloon and horse restaurant.  The Major being a social and accommodating gentleman, attracts custom and is doing a fair business.  A goodly number of settlers are in the vicinity, and all the travel for the upper country goes by his place.  At the Roost Abe Linquist, a good workman, has a blacksmith and wagon shop.
At Montgomery creek Herbert Bass keeps a variety store, and traveling accommodations, also the Montgomery Postoffice.  He has some good farming and grazing land above his place on Montgomery creek.
On Oak Run W. Morley has a good stock of goods with a fair business; he has the stage station, and some good hay land.
There are but two saw mills in the district, the steam mill on the head of Oak Run and Chambers’ mill on Hatchet creek.  There is only a portion of the year that they can run, on account of the deep snow.  There is an abundance of timber from which the best lumber is made.  Mr. Chambers has a turbine wheel which works well.  From the best sugar pine a large amount of shakes are made, but a vast amount of good timber is wasted.
There are five public schools in the district, Round Mountain, Mineral, Montgomery, Hatchet creek and Phillips’.
In the Cove and at Big Bend several small ranches or farms are located and improved which raise good vegetables and hay, but on account of the distance from market, are not very profitable.  The settlers have a superior stock range; the Hawkins’ place on Montgomery is of considerable extent; good fruit is raised on the farm.  At Montgomery creek John Jackson’s toll road, leading to Burney Valley, commences, and is kept in good condition under the care of Theodore Pleisch.  From Montgomery to Millville the road is free; this road was made in 1858 by Van Middlesworth and Al. Thomas, to Thomas’ ferry on Pit river, and has been the main road for the whole upper county; a daily mail is now conveyed over it.
The farms of Round Mountain on the main road, owned by the Holcomb Brothers, John A. Hendricks and A.C. Fite, are among the oldest locations in the district, and each contain a larger number of acres of cleared up mountain valley than any other places here, and produce a large amount of excellent hay and grain.  East a short distance are the farms of the Calkins Brothers, G. Klingler, J.K. Smith, S.P. Randall, each having considerable land improved, well fenced, and yielding good crops.  Mr. Klinger has a large area of superior dairy range, in fact there is good stock range all through the hills and well watered; near by are several smaller places, that have all required a large amount of work to bring them to their present state.
Uncle Ben Jenkins during the last year has labored hard and has made a good showing, with a prospect of good returns in hay, etc.  I.W. Phillips has considerable alnd under fence and cultivated, which on account of abundant feed and water would make a good dairy farm.  Phil. Blodgett and Dave Robbins have farms on upper Clover creek, but both depend more on stock raising than farming.  On upper Oak Run are the places of Tom Arthur, Jim May and S. Alpaugh, who have nice homes.  Mr. May is an old north Californian, having for a number of years been engaged in mining, but is now advanced in years, and has settled down on a pretty place where he can rest under his own vine and fig tree, and makes a good living.  Near by is the residence of Aaron Fender, Esq., one of the oldest residents of this part of the country, a true gentleman in every sense of the word; nearly seventy birthdays have been his, and still he is hale and hearty.  With such a pure spring near his house, pure mountain air, and superior fruits, he may remain another decade.
Mrs. Preadmore has a good farm and a valuable orchard.  Her late husband J.H. Preadmore was a man of great energy, always trying to do something, particularly in the sawmill business, yet was never what might be considered successful; he experimented rather too much with new machinery.  He was big hearted, and latterly he had a hobby, a strange theory on financial affairs; he had two numbers of the Financier issued in Sacramento, but he left his wife and daughter well situated in a pleasant home.  Adjoining, O.E. Baker has a fair piece of property very well cared for.  On Oak Run below Cuykendall’s G.W. Brown has a well cultivated ranch.  He has been in this district over twenty years, engaged in farming and stock raising.
On Cedar creek and vicinity are several small farms; J.C. Scott and J.F. McComber have places that have not been sufficiently cultivated to make them profitable, though they have some good land that with proper care would yield well.  Mrs. Nancy McComber and Mr. Wilsey have very pleasant homes.  Joe Lyons, Martin Fister and Major Ensign have places that show that a proper application of labor will “tell;” their crops are excellent.  Dr. Bell, now of Anderson, owns here a very nice mountain home, at present under the care of W.H. Fender.  Mr. Ziggler now owns the Alexander place and is fixing up a good home, at which to remain the balance of his days.
The ranch or farm now known as the Cuykendall place, was the first one located in the district.  In 1853 L.C. Woodman & Brother bought the place from the original locators for $150, and sold the easterly part, now known as the Preadmore place, to John Taylor for $900.  They then placed on the land Wm. Cayton, Al. Thomas and a Mr. Walker to hold possession for them.  The last named parties recorded in their own names, and convinced the Woodman Brothers that they had no land on Oak Run.  Cayton & Co., sold to Joe Semni.  D.B. Matlock owned it at one time, then I.W. Phillips, who sold to  Amos Cuykendall the present owner; it is a place of considerable extent, and valuable for farming and grazing purposes.  Several other small farms, in this vicinity, make pleasant homes.
The “Chico” mine on the divide between Cow creek on Pit river was worked for a long time at considerable expense by Edward Aldersly & Co., but without any returns; the property has been idle for a long time and the buildings have gone to ruin.
The “Hancock” mine located near the Buzzard Roost, owned by Campbell, Cunningham & Co., shows a large quantity of argentiferous galena of a good grade; the owners think well of their claim and will continue to work it.
The oldest placer mine in the district, and the one that has done the most work is J.L. Bowdel, (Big Jake).  He has been mining here since 1869, and has taken out a considerable amount of dust; he was the discoverer of Copper gulch, which paid well.
 In early times the settlers had considerable trouble with the Indians, there were three tribes, each claiming a part of the district, and were known as the Wintoons, Nosheas and Pooshoos, or Pit Rivers.  The Wintoons claimed only a short distance above Woodman’s ranch; their dialect is very smooth, like the Spanish.  They use a great many Spanish words.  The Nosheas owned Oak Run, Clover creek and about Round Mountain.  Their dialect is nasal.  The Pooshoos owned the Big Bend country on Pit river.  Their dialect is guttural.  The three tribes had several large villages and hundreds of warriors, very cowardly, indolent and ignorant; the remains of their towns can frequently be seen.  The bullet and disease have dwindled their numbers down to a few.  Noraelpootas, or Captain John, is chief of the few remaining Wintoons, Captain Jack, of the Nosheas, and of the Pooshoos, Pone Ponna.
The various streams abound with trout, but game such as deer, bear, etc., though once plentiful, is now scarce.  The rifle and settlers have done the work.  The bear and panther at one time were very destructive to the stock.
 An abundance of good lime-stone and marble are found on Cow creek.

The U.S. Fishery was established in the year 1873.  Mr. Livingston Stone, United States Deputy Fish Commissioner, has had charge of it since it was first established.  Under the enlightened superintendence of Professor Spencer F. Baird, United States Fish Commissioner, the Sacramento salmon have been widely distributed to streams throughout the United States.  The government establishment on the McLeod river, annually hatches from six to ten million ova.  These are distributed to all Fish Commissioners.  From this source the State of California has received as a donation a half million fish each year since 1874.  The introduction of some sixteen million young salmon into the headwaters of the Sacramento river, since the organization of the Commission, in addition to the natural increase, has had the effect to keep up the supply, and reduce the local market price of these fish.  In the year 1881, during the unprecedented high waters of the McLeod river, the United States fishery was swept away, with all its contents.  Our last Congress made appropriations for the rebuilding of the fishery, which is being done the present season.  The trout fishery, located four miles above the salmon fishery, on McLeod river, was established by Mr. Livingston Stone in the year 1879, and is superintended by Mr. Myron Green, who has large experience in fish culture.  In the year 1880 Mr. Green successfully matured several thousand trout ova, which were sent East, and distributed, throughout the country.  In the year 1881 Mr. Green had successfully matured one hundred thousand trout ova, and had shipped them from Redding for the Eastern waters; but, unfortunately, they were all lost on account of the high waters.  The trout business in this county is only in its infancy, but in the near future, it will no doubt add great wealth to the United States.
Allen’s Station is one-half mile north of the salmon fishery.  Mr. Wiley is the present owner.  He keeps a stage stand, has a nice little hotel, and accommodates the traveling public in general.  This place is adapted to hog culture, as there is heavy mast nearly every year.
 Conner’s Hotel is north of Wiley’s two miles.  An old pioneer by the name of Jack Conner located the place about the year 1863.  He kept his stand principally for the accommodation of teamsters.  In the year 1864, Jack Conner and a Swede by the name of Wilson were robbed by two highwaymen Thomson and Brown.  They tied Conner and a sick man by the name of Counts, who shortly after died.  When they ransacked the house they procured a few dollars in money, one revolver and a few blankets.  They then departed with Jack’s best horse.  The robbers then went to Salt creek, where Wilson was living, and relieved him of a few dollars, after they had tied him astride a tree, where Mr. Conner found him next morning.  Conner has been dead some ten years, and Mr. Con O’Brien is now in full ownership of the property, and keeps accommodations for teamsters, etc.
The Salt Creek Ranch is now owned by Mr. Phillips, an old pioneer of the county.  Mr. Phillips has lived in the county more than a quarter of a century and is becoming rather old and feeble.  Notwithstanding, he is farming and making himself a house.
 Mr. Smithson lives near the Sacramento bridge.  He keeps a stage stand and a first class country hotel.  This is a good stock range.
Josh. Stone lives near the Sacramento bridge, and keeps a neat little grocery store for the accommodation of teamsters and miners.  The bridge at the same place, built in 1879, and owned by Louie Autenreith & Co., has taken the place of a ferry, and is a great convenience to the traveling public.  It is a mammoth structure and was built by E. Carpenter of Siskiyou county.
 L.C. Creeks resides one-half mile north of the Sacramento bridge.  He  has a fine location and ranch, but owing to the great scarcity of water, his crops sometimes fail.  This is a fine range for stock, as but little snow falls as a general rule.
The Fremont Hotel, four miles north of L.C. Creeks’; is situated on the stage road, and is owned by G.W. Farleigh, who keeps a nice little grocery store, and a first-class hotel.  He has a nice orchard; raises annually several tons of hay and has as cosy a little home as there is on the Sacramento river.
Dog creek is four miles north of Fremont.  Angus McPhee and his uncle, Mr. Cammeron, kept a store at the Dog Creek House from 1856 to 1864.  The mines on Dog creek at that time were full of miners who as a general rule made big wages, and who spent their money freely.  Cammeron and McPhee made a great deal of money.  In 1864 George Burtt bought out Mr. Cammeron, who went home to his adopted country, Canada, where he shortly afterward died.  Messrs. Burtt & McPhee ran the store and hotel for a season, when Burtt bought out McPhee, who also went to Canada and has since died.  Burtt ran the property for a few years, when he had the misfortune to have his store burned.  However, he had it partly insured.  Burtt then sold the property to G.W. Farleigh, who manipulated the property for a short time, when he sold to William T. Smith, who built up quite a trade in the grocery business.  Smith ran the property until 1880, when he sold out to L. Autenreith, its present owner.  The soil of this place is adapted to the raising of alfalfa and grain hay.  There is also a fine orchard that bears excellent fruit.  The mines of Dog Creek are nearly exhausted.
The Slate Creek Hotel, four miles north of Dog Creek, is owned by John Hibbs.  The stage company have a fine barn at this place, where they change their stock.  This is what is called a “home station,” where passengers take meals.  Mr. Curtis has charge of the property, and does a lively business during the summer months.  Mr. George Sears is running a very neat little saloon and store at this place, where the weary can find rest and consolation.  George keeps the best the country affords.
The Big Slate Creek Hydraulic Company, situated near Big Slate Creek, is owned principally by eastern capitalists.  They have a fine ditch taken from Big Slate Creek which meanders through the hills for five miles.  The Co. has been at work since 1877.  Mr. Hogarth, the gentlemanly and affable Superintendent, has now got the mine thoroughly opened and is running his mammoth giant under full headway.  The Co. have a fine flume that carries the debris into the Sacramento.  Mr. Hogarty thinks they will reap a rich reward.  Squire Gibson is foreman, and drives things at a lively rate.
 Portugese Flat is three miles north of Slate Creek Station.  The present owner, Robert Pitt, has occupied the place for more than a quarter of a century.  He is one of the oldest inhabitants in the county.  His former partner, Johnny Burt, as he was familiarly called, died about fifteen years ago.  Pitt has a fine storehouse filled with goods of all descriptions.  He has been in the mercantile business ever since he came here.  The Portugese flats and small streams were once very rich, but they are like the balance – nearly exhausted.
Southern’s Station is seven miles north of Portugese Flat, on the bank of the Sacramento river.  The owner, S.F. Southern, located this place in 1871.  He has hewn out of Nature’s rugged hills with his own hands one of the most inviting homes on the Sacramento river; has a fine hotel for the accommodation of tourists, teamsters and all transient customers; has a fine store, with postoffice attached, and keeps a stage stand; also has a fine ranch, of red adobe soil, that is adapted to the growing of large quantities of wheat and alfalfa hay, together with an orchard, consisting of apples, pears, peaches, plums, and many other varieties, that bear an abundance of fruit, both large and excellent in flavor.  He has a nice vineyard, but the grapes are not as good as those grown in a warmer climate.  The hunting and fishing is famous, while the scenery is grand.  Hazel creek, as a mining stream, is nearly exhausted of all its mineral wealth.
 Sweet Briar Ranch is five miles north of Southern’s Station, and was located many years ago by Robert Dailey, who has since sold to R. Pitt.  Mr. Pitt, the present owner, raises large quantities of timothy hay.  He also has a fine orchard that bears excellent fruit.
John Hibbs’ ranch is two miles north of Sweet Briar, and was located by O.T. Root in 1864.  The present owner, John Hibbs, bought out Root in 1879.  He has a fine soda spring, a beautiful young orchard and some grapes.  Hibbs raises large quantities of timothy and other varieties of hay.
Lower Soda Springs is situated on the east side of the Sacramento river, and near the mouth of Soda creek, where it empties into the Sacramento river.  It is two miles north of Hibbs’ ranch, sixty-five miles from Redding and fifty miles from Yreka.  A German, euphoniously called Mountain Joe, and Joaquin Miller, the renowned poet and writer, were the first to bivouac at the Lower Soda Springs; the next were Sigsby and Reese, who sold out to Amasa Ball in the year 1856.  Mr. Ball sold the springs to W. Bailey, the present owner, in 1858.  At the date of purchase by Bailey there had been a wagon road built from Shasta valley to what is now called Castle Rock Station, which is on the west side of the Sacramento river and nearly opposite Lower Soda Springs.  W. Bailey and family crossed the Sacramento river on the 14th day of May, 1858, on a log bridge built for the convenience of packers, where he found his present bonanza, to-wit – good health.  Bailey had been an invalid for four years prior to his arrival at the springs, and his complaint was pronounced incurable by the best physicians of Yreka.  However, he has regained his wonted health by drinking the soda and saeltzer waters that his place is noted for.  These springs have been pronounced by connoisseurs to be the finest mineral waters in the State, if not in the United States.  During the twenty-two years residence of the present family at this place, there has not been a single case of malaria, unless it was contracted elsewhere and brought to the place in the system.  These springs are a fine resort for tourists and pleasure-seekers, where the most fastidious can be accommodated to their heart’s content.  The fishing and hunting is first-class.  During the “open season” gentlemen can walk one-half mile in the morning to some deer “licks” and shoot a fat buck almost any day.  The surrounding scenery is hardly excelled in the world.  Old Castle Rock, which stands more than four thousand feet above the level of the sea, is not more than two miles distant, and can be viewed from the very door yard.  Old Shasta Butte stands, bold and defiant, more than fourteen thousand feet above sea level.  Look which way you will, the scenery is grand to behold.  There is a fine ranch at the springs, consisting of about one hundred and sixty acres of land, which is of a rich black loam, and is adapted to the raising of large crops of the finest timothy hay, corn, potatoes and all the cereals, and, indeed, every variety of vegetation that matures in a mountain region where the altitude is two thousand feet.  The red, or up lands, are adapted to the growing of the finest fruits, as has been fully demonstrated by the great quantities of apples, peaches, pears and many other fruits grown at this place.  Soda creek derives its name from the number of soda springs that abound along its banks.  It is a tributary of the Sacramento, and has been a rich mining camp; but, like its sister streams on the Sacramento, is nearly exhausted of its mineral wealth.  There are what are called back channels that prospect pretty well, but it will take capital to develop these channels, as they are very deep and require a great deal of ditching to procure water for mining purposes.  The first mining ever done on Soda creek was done by one Bill Fox, who broke jail at Yreka and secreted himself on Soda creek.  Whilst hid away he took out a large quantity of gold dust; but his whereabouts being found out, Fox found it necessary to leave.
Castle Rock Station is one mile north of Lower Soda Springs.  The stage company own a fine stable and barn, where they groom their stage stock.  L. Autenreith owns the station and has his toll gate established there.  Robert Hanlan, an old pioneer of the county, has charge of the station and collects toll for the road company.  He also keeps a wayside inn for the accommodation of teamsters and all other travelers.  He keeps a No. 1 stand.
In the year 1859, Messrs. Elias Stone, Pembroke Murray and others procured a State charter to build a turnpike road from Castle Rock Station to Pit river.  They marshaled their forces in the spring of 1859, and commenced grading their road one mile above Lower Soda Springs.  The company completed their road in the year 1861.  They had erected four temporary bridges across the Sacramento river within one mile of Lower Soda Springs, besides several others lower down the river.  But during the great flood of 1861-62 every bridge was swept out.  There was not a vestige left.  The company rebuilt some of their bridges, whilst they dispensed with some by grading around the hills.  They finally became so much involved that they were compelled to sell out.  L. Autenreith and Mr. Julian bought out the firm some fifteen years ago and are still owners of the road.  They have made some great improvements since, and it is considered now a paying institution.
The C. & O. Stage Company, which formerly staged over Scott’s mountain, procured a contract from the Government in the year 1870 to carry the Oregon mail over the Sacramento road, which then had to be staged from Red Bluff, but later from Redding.  It has been a God-send to the denizens living along the line, as they have got their daily mail ever since; besides, the company have poured thousands upon thousands of dollars into the pockets of the people since their advent upon the road.  The company procure only the most trusty and reliable men in the country to manipulate the stages over these rugged and precipitous roads.  John Sullaway and John Buick have the ribbons at present, and they are always kind and obliging.  Sullaway is an old pioneer, and looks as though he was good for fifty years more.
The future prosperity or greatness of the northern part of Shasta county depends mostly on the railroad being extended from Redding to Roseburg, Oregon, when, perhaps, it would open up one of the grandest thoroughfares in the State of California.  The lumber resources are almost inexhaustible.  All the way from the county line south for miles and miles the hills and mountain sides are literally covered with the finest of yellow pine, sugar pine, fir, yew, cedar, live oak and many other varieties of timber.  You can go north from the county line and the timber is yet more abundant than south of the line.  If there was a railroad running through this section, there is no doubt but that it would revolutionize business.  Where the dwellers in these mountains see one person now, they would see ten or perhaps one hundred if the railroad was extended through this part of the country.  Very little has been done in Northern Shasta in quartz prospecting, but it is confidently believed by many that when the country is thoroughly prospected rich developments will be made in that line.
In 1850 Ross McCloud, now deceased, built a trail up the Sacramento, via Soda Springs, for the accommodation of packers, who packed large quantities of goods to Yreka.  From 1850 to 1854 the Indians were quite hostile, and many a poor packer was ambushed and shot down.  At that time Castle Rock was a great refuge for the savages after committing deeds of blood.  The citizens and miners would turn out en masse on those occasions and hunt the bloodthirsty redskins down, and shoot and hang them wherever they could find them.  About the year 1854 they quit their depredations.
There were a great many Indians on the upper Sacramento up to 1860; since which time they have been dwindling down, until, where you could see one hundred to one hundred and fifty in 1860, it is a rare chance if you can see now more than twenty-five or thirty in a band.  In the early days the Indians would congregate in large bands somewhere near the mouth of Dog creek, in the month of July, for the purpose of fishing for salmon.  They would locate their camps near some pool in the river, where the salmon usually rest for a short time before ascending the river for the purpose of depositing their ova.  The mahalas prepare the camp-fires, whilst the men prepare their spears for fishing.  There is not a fish caught until every spearsman is fully prepared, both with spear and position, for the onslaught.  In a few minutes the excitement is at fever heat, the bucks shouting and squaws laughing.  The fun usually lasts from three to five hours, when they all march to their respective camps, where their mahalas have already had a goodly portion of their fish well boiled on hot rocks.  The next thing is to eat and be merry.  After lunch is over gambling is the order of the day.  Their usual mode of gambling is with a small stick, which they enclose in a bunch of dry grass, whilst they prepare another roll of dry grass that looks precisely like the one the stick is inclosed in.  The dealer, or the one that manipulates the stick, chants a song, and in the meantime is changing and whirling the two parcels in every conceivable shape, so that the better only guesses which parcel the stick is in.  If he guesses which one it is in, he wins; if he does not, he loses.  This sport goes on until a very few own pretty much all the fish, and perhaps other valuables, such as beads, blankets, etc.  Next comes the dance.  The music is usually a rude whistle and a few dry sticks which they crack together.  The next morning they resume the march up the river until they find another pool, where the same routine is gone through with again; and so on up the river, until they capture most of the fish up to the county line.  In the year 1864 Tyee John, a Yreka chieftain, who has long since passed to the happy hunting ground, his mahala, three daughters and some few others of the Shasta county Indians, met the Sacramento Indians at the mouth of Soda creek, where they forever buried the hatchet.  They had always been at war before that.  Occasionally the Shasta Indians would come down to the Sacramento to fish; but woe be to the Shastas if the Sacramentos caught them on their ground.
The Indians are fast disappearing from the Sacramento – mostly by consumption, which perhaps is caused by their having plenty of warm clothing and blankets one day, or perhaps for a week at a time, when they will gamble it all off, and then go destitute for a season.
There was a footman mortally wounded by an Indian near Portugese Flat in the year 1860, though that was only done for the purpose of robbery.  George Crooks was shot with his own gun by an Indian for $2.50.  This happened in 1874 on the McLeod, near where the United States Fishery is now located.
In former years great numbers of salmon came up the Sacramento river to deposit their eggs, but for the last four or five years they have become very scarce.  The greatest cause, no doubt, of salmon becoming so scarce is on account of so much slickens and debris being run into the river from the mines on Soda creek and other streams lower down the river.  The probability is that very few ova matures below the mouth of Soda creek.  Above the mouth of the latter-named stream the river is clear and pure, and hence the most that supplies the Sacramento river is what fish spawn above the muddy water.

Millville, the most populous town in the county excepting Shasta and Redding, is situated on the east side of the Sacramento river, near the junction of Cow creek and Clover creek.  It is twenty miles from the county seat (Shasta), and thirty miles from the city of Red Bluff.  The nearest railroad station is at Anderson, eleven miles distant.  Cottonwood Station is fourteen miles distant and is five miles south of Anderson; hence the shipping from and to the railroad is pretty evenly divided between the two places.  The mail facilities of Millville are excellent, it being on the daily line from Redding (fourteen miles) to Lakeview, Oregon (two hundred and twenty-five miles), which is a regular stage line, and one of the longest continuous lines in the United States.  This line is owned by Jerry Culverhouse of Redding.  Millville is also connected with Red Bluff by a tri-weekly mail, via Bear creek, Battle creek and Jelley’s ferry, it also being a stage line, of which Mr. Simpson is at present proprietor.
The proverbial individuals known as the “oldest inhabitants” are S.E. and N.T. Stroud (brothers), who located the land of the present town site in July, 1853.  The venerable and worthy bachelors are still daily to be seen on the streets of the town of their founding.  Uncle Sam and Uncle Nat, as they are familiarly called, are generally regarded as confirmed bachelors; yet we heard one of our most worthy widow ladies say that she had seen that new stovepipe hat of Uncle Nat’s quite often of late.  The first start of laying the foundation to induce the locating of the town was done by Mr. Harold, one of the pioneers of the county (his home being in Shasta, where he was much esteemed).  Seeing the rich agricultural lands in the numerous valleys along the many creeks in the vicinity, he, in 1856, built the mill now owned by Wilkinson & Ross; soon after which Mr. Joseph Smith began the mercantile business. In September, 1857, on a Saturday, as we remember, quite a number of the country folks were gathered at the store to trade and get their mail, which was usually forwarded from the postoffice at Shasta in the care of Mr. Smith.  The dependence for carrying the mail at that time was generally hay teams.  An immense quantity of hay was taken to Shasta in those days, which made mail facilities more regular than would now be supposed.  On the day referred to it was suggested to christen the new town.  Many names were proposed, and had the final name not been agreed on until an hour or two later, we doubt not but that it would have been named Smithville or Whiskytown No. 2; as Mr. S., with his usual liberality, furnished free encouragement to enliven the crowd during their deliberations, who alternately would propose and give three cheers for the new town and Joe Smith.  Hazelrig became a partner with Mr. S. in 1858, but soon after sold to Anklin and Tanquary, the firm then consisting of Smith, Anklin & Tanquary.  In the meantime the mill came into the hands of Henry Anklin and Jim Keene, the latter being the now well and widely known successful stock operator.  The second business enterprise in the mercantile line was by Jno. Hilderbrant, in 1860, Wheatley and Eiler purchasing the business in 1861 and conducting it successfully for a number of years.  The business finally merged into the hands of John Wheatley, the old firm of Smith, Anklin & Tanquary going into the hands of H. Anklin (now deceased).  The two houses for a number of years did one of the best businesses in the county, the trade of the surrounding country being much greater than a casual observer would anticipate, which will be seen further on in our chapter, as we notice the different interests in detail throughout the adjacent valleys and mountains.  In 1879, after the death of Mr. Anklin, the pioneer business house passed in the hands of J.M.B. Jones & Co., who are at present conducting the business.  Subsequently, Mr. Wheatley retired, having sold to Baker & Teel.  Mr. B. has recently sold his  interest to ex-County Clerk Wm. H. Bickford, the firm name now being Bickford & Teel, who have a good and growing trade.  Joseph Moore was the pioneer hotel man, he having started the business which was purchased and has been successfully conducted by T.J. Simpson for the last thirteen years.  Mr.Jake Overmeyer also has a commodius and well-appointed hotel.  The public buildings of the town are among the best in the county.  There is a church of good dimensions, built of stone.  The school house, Masonic and Odd Fellows’ halls are all under the same roof, in a substantial brick building of two stories high, the lower story being the school room and the upper belonging to the lodges.  The building was dedicated in 1867.  A neat frame school house is occupied by the primary department of the school.  The last census gave 145 children between the ages of five and seventeen years.  The schools have been well managed, the Trustees having been careful in the selection of teachers.
The Masonic and Odd Fellows’ Orders have strong and healthy lodges.  The members manifest unusual pride, in which they are supplemented by the Orders of Eastern Star and Daughters of Rebekah.
D.C. Stevenson (familiarly known as Uncle Dave), the popular hardware merchant of Main street, was the pioneer carpenter of the city, his first work being that of building the store for Smith, heretofore mentioned, and the dwelling now owned by J.J. Kem.
The pioneer blacksmith was Tommy Gray, but he has long since left the vicinity.  The present popular smiths are Charley Overmeyer and the Bidwell  Brothers.
 Samuel Payne made the first move in the saddle and harness line, the business having passed through various hands, until, within the last few years, it has been conducted by M.S. Harrington.  “Morg,” as he is familiarly known, has a host of friends, being a genial and accommodating gentleman, and is doing a good business.
Benjamin Snow, the pioneer tinsmith, has long since retired from business; yet his son, N.D. Snow, is ready to supply and mend everybody’s tinware, keeping a good stock in his line.
 J.L. Nichols is the leading man in the confectionery line, and Dr. Martin is at the front with drugs and medicines.
The hearts of the hungry are made glad tri-weekly by the voice of Godfrey Hoffmaster crying “Fresh beef,” as he conducts a nice market in the town and sends his wagon around the adjacent county.
 Mr. Brackett was the pioneer attorney.  J. O’Neal is at  present the leading one.
 Many residences have a very homelike appearance, being surrounded by thrifty fruit and ornamental trees and shrubbery, there being an abundant supply of water with which to irrigate, brought from Clover creek through a large and substantial canal.
Before closing we will not omit to mention that which to strangers is somewhat misleading, causing them to form the conclusion that the locality is very unhealthy.  We refer to the graveyards, one of which belongs to the Odd Fellows and is exclusively used by those who have claims on the Order, all the members having their lots marked off, which necessitates a large enclosure.  Yet should the stranger walk through the grounds, he would see but comparatively few graves.  Excellent care is taken of the entire grounds.
What is known as the Masonic cemetery (the entire ground belonging to Northern Light Lodge) is near the main stage road leading to Redding and Shasta, and the care taken of this silent City of the Dead attracts the attention of the passersby.  Realizing that time brings all mankind to a common level, charity bade the Fraternity open a part of their grounds as a final resting place for those of the human family who have never learned the light of Masonry.  Knowing the fostering care of the  Fraternity would ever be guarding the sacred place, many have brought their beloved dead from a long distance to lay them in this well-guarded spot.  Many we have known to be brought over twenty miles; some from Cottonwood and even as far as Red Bluff are sleeping their long sleep of death here.  Hence a stranger is misled, as before remarked.  Whilst the surrounding country is as healthy as any agricultural portion of our State away from the coast, yet we are inclined to the opinion that in the town of Millville miasma is caused by the too copious use of water for irrigating purposes; and at present writing, the citizens, realizing the fact, are contemplating the laying of pipes through which to conduct the water, instead of open ditches, as at present.
The country surrounding Millville has a variety of interests which contribute to the trade:  agriculture, horticulture, stockraising of all kinds, and lumbering business in the mountains.
 The pioneer farmers and stockraisers were the Hunt Brothers of Oak Run, who settled in what they regarded as the choicest valley of the country.  Of the four brothers, but one is now living – the eldest.  Milton accidentally shot himself while on a journey to Humboldt, Nevada, in 1862.  “Major,” as he was called, and John died near where they first began to make homes in California.  The three brothers and several members of their families are buried side by side in the family burying-ground on the land they selected almost thirty years ago.  D.G. Hunt (“Dan,” as all know him) still has his home on these lands, and also Joe, son of one of the elder brothers; and, as is characteristic of the family, both are thrifty men.  Dan has gathered together what forty years ago would have been called a princely fortune, and Joe, considering his age, is making safe but rapid strides in the same direction.
Some few months after the settlement of the Hunts in Oak Run valley, Zach Montgomery, too well known in the political history of the State for us to enlighten anyone by saying what Zach Montgomery we allude to, located the fine farm now owned by the well-known citizen, H.N. Wilkinson, whose home it is.  He, too, by his indomitable industry and exercise of good judgment, has gathered together sufficient to shelter him from the winter’s storms of life, even though he should live to see the year A.D. 2000.  We are inclined to the opinion that should Mr. Montgomery happen to see the now comfortable home, with its surroundings, that he might fell it were better to be there, enjoying his royal privacy, than to be engaged as at present traveling around the country making futile efforts to blow down one of the bulwarks of our institutions with the gentle zephyr he can raise against our Free School System.
Oak Run valley proper is a rich body of land along the creek from which the name is derived.  On either side of the valley, to Little Cow creek on the west, five miles, and Clover creek on the south, three miles, is a broken country not susceptible of cultivation, yet affords pasturage for stock belonging to settlers along the creek valleys, and from which considerable revenue is derived.
Little Cow Creek valley was first occupied in 1852, by the Woodman Brothers (L.C. and George), the former yet remaining on the fine farm they have spent so many years in bringing up to its present standard of improvement.  They have one of the oldest and probably the largest vineyard in the county.  This valley at the present is settled by thrifty farmers for about sixteen miles of its length, and has good facilities for stock range.
The pioneers of Clover creek were Hambelton, Hopper & Co. and Mr. Wilkison, familiarly known as “Cash on the Nail;” none of the pioneer settlers being now in the county.  This valley proper is four miles from Millville, and the principal portion of it is owned by C.R. Heryford and J.P. Webb.
Two miles south of Clover creek is Main Cow creek, it, too, having some very comfortable homes near its banks; and still further south two miles is probably the best body of land, taking it all together, in Shasta county.
South Cow Creek valley, as it is known, was first located by Wagoner, Bennett, Phillips, Wilkins, Ellis and Kelley, in 1853.  Mr. Wagoner and Mr. Ellis are yet on their original locations, enjoying the fruits of their many years of toil in improving their homes.  The substantial improvements, large orchards and gardens (that cannot be excelled for productiveness) tell that they have not been standing “all the day idle.”
A few miles further south is Bear Creek valley, which is similar to the valleys heretofore mentioned.  Agriculture and horticulture are the leading interests, though, as before mentioned, stockraising has become a material supplement, as all the localities mentioned have access to free pasturage on unoccupied lands.  The opening of the Noble’s Pass route across the mountains drew many immigrants to the upper Sacramento valley who crossed Bear creek at what was originally the Dr. Baker place, now owned by the Dersch family.
The first ferry across the Sacramento river, we believe, was near where the present Hughes ferry is now located.  A few months after, what was known as the Immigrant, near Anderson, and the Daingerfield ferries were opened to the public, the latter being where at present is located the Adams, or Logan ferry.  Dr. Slack and the late Judge Daingerfield of San Francisco were the proprietors.
Battle creek, the next valley to the south of the one last mentioned, is a very fertile and well-improved neighborhood.  Prominent among the farm owners was Major Sheldon, who made his home on his fine farm near the junction of Battle creek and the Sacramento river.  Major Sheldon appeared to those who knew him intimately to have been lost to a great extent ever after the death of Major Reading, his esteemed and lifelong friend and neighbor.  Major Reading, of whom the reader learns in another chapter, lived on the opposite side of the river, about one mile distant from Major Sheldon.  As stated, after the death of Reading and the date of his family’s leaving the old premises, Mr. Sheldon appeared more and more restless, and three years ago sold out to Hall & Wilcox and moved to San Francisco.
Dr. Winsell, another prominent pioneer, still resides, with his estimable family, on his farm on Battle creek, about one mile from Mr. Sheldon’s old premises.  The Doctor has a fine orchard and good improvements, and his lands are kept in a high state of cultivation.  A large ditch here takes water out of Battle creek and conducts it to Ball’s ferry, where it is used as the motive power for a fine flour mill, owned by Mr. Carver.  The mill, a general merchandise store, hotel, postoffice and ferry causes this to be quite a business little place.
Of the lumbering business, which has contributed largely to the trade of Millville and vicinity, we find the pioneer mill company to have been McCumber, Benton & Co., who built or began the first mill in the Sierra Nevada mountains within the limits of Shasta county in the spring of 1852, on what is known as Millseat creek.  But the Hon. R. Klotz, though beginning to build some weeks later, began making lumber about the same time.  What is known as the Dry mill was built in 1854; since which many mills have been constructed in the vicinity, which is near the road crossing the mountains at Noble’s pass.  At present the most prominent and active lumbering and manufacturing enterprises are the Vilas, Champion, Eureka and Moscow mills, belonging to the Sierra Flume and Lumber Co.  The Darrah Bros. also have a fine mill.  Of the first who began lumbering in this, one of the finest belts of timber on the coast, for enterprise and tenacity Hon. R. Klotz stands at the head, beginning with the first and having built more mills than any other person; erecting some of them when clouds were dark around him, and to a less determined spirit would have been discouraging.  At present he has a large door and sash factory.  As a summer resort for tourists no place can be found to excel Mr. Klotz’s for comfort and pleasant surroundings.  Some of our Eastern friends who are away back with the “old folks at home” would be astonished to see how skillfully such a man as Mr. Davidson, of Vilas’ mill, handles logs that are from five to six feet in diameter.
Of the mills mentioned, all are in the country drained by Battle creek and Bear creek.  There are other mills on the waters of Cow creek and Oak Run, Jas. Preadmore having built the first one on Oak Run about 1854.  At present, the mill known as the Mires mill is the only one in operation on Cow creek.  J.P. Webb and Hon. D.C. Stevenson built a mill on a tributary of South Cow creek in 1855.  They, or rather Mr. Webb, says that while hunting for a mill site he found and lived weeks with a “wild man,” who subsisted on venison, without salt; the wild man alluded to being none other than our esteemed citizen, Benj. Snow.  Perhaps one of the prominent citizens of Redding will remember not having found a lost wild man, but giving Mr. H.F. Ross and opportunity for find somebody hunting in the night on Oak Run for a mill site.  Mr. Jas. Heaton may think 1852 was a long time ago, but doubtless remembers the circumstance.
In reviewing our long acquaintance with the section of our county we have attempted briefly to describe, we cannot drive from the mind the changes and those engaged in bringing about the changes, many of whom have moved to other parts, and not a few have crossed the dark river.  Some of these we will mention in another chapter.
In looking back over the changes brought about by the handiwork of our race since it began, thirty years ago, to bring the southeastern portion of our county from under the control of the benighted red man (our Eastern friends must not get our Digger Indians confounded with the “noble red men” who were in attendance at the dramas in which Captain Smith and Pocahontas were “starring”), we see in the Digger a strong argument supporting the Darwinian theory; for, both mentally and physically, and inn their habits, they are more like hogs than human beings.  But there has been considerable trouble at different times with these loathsome, pitiable people.  The first effort to form a treaty or establish an understanding by which the white and black (for really they are nearer black than red) could be guided, in order that their interests might conflict as little as possible, was made in 1851.  Major Auzendorff, agent for our Government, gave out the word to the Indians to meet him on Major Reading’s grant, at a stated time, for a big talk and a “big draw;” and “big eat wohaws” (Indian name for cattle), the oxen to be killed being in view of the messengers, who bore the glad tidings to all the different lodges, the leaders of which saw at once that they only had to lie a little about no more stealing white man’s property to be feasted on Major Reading’s cattle, dealt out to them by the whites.  Thus, probably, the largest number of Indians were gathered together that was ever seen by white man in the county, the Indians being represented in the council by one of their chiefs, who called himself Black Hawk.  No doubt some white man had told him of the noted Black Hawk; hence the reason for this grasshopper consumer assuming the name.  Of course, anything was agreed to that the whites asked, much bouyah (cattle), wohaw (beef) and chamuch (food) being the desideratum of Mr. Indian, which he paid for in “taffy,” as they renewed their pilfering before reaching their homes.
The next step by the Government was to force compliance and to have troops near.  Fort Reading was established in 1852, and for a number of years was under command of General Wright.  The Digger Indian, being cowardly, and conscious of the superiority of the white man, never declared war, but continued in a semi-peaceable condition.  Small parties would stealthily commit depredations from time to time, but do it in such a manner that no particular tribe or party could be held to account, all claiming that it was renegades who did the stealing and murdered the few men that were killed.  After any depredation of note, volunteers would collect together and make a dash on Mr. Indian, and reduce his future roll call.
Thus matters jogged along between two races of people who were opposed to each other in all things.  But the time came when the white man said the Indian must bid farewell to his once happy hunting ground.  And the reader will doubtless say the time had certainly come, after reading the following:
On the morning of the 8th of September, 1864, the sun rose bright and full of promise to a little family residing twelve miles east of Millville, on Cow.  We have all had “the last supper” pictured to us:  on the morning of that dreadful day William Allen and his family partook of