Shasta County plant to be totally powered by electricity
and was commonly known as the "million dollar smelter"
because of its modern machinery and impressive size even
though it cost close to two million dollars to build
(Kristofors 1973:56). The years 1906 to 1919 were the
major intervals of mining operations (Kristofors
1973:18). In 1906, 1,500 acres of patented mining claims
were developed on the south side of Squaw Creek
(Kristofors 1973:32). In 1908, the daily capacity of the
smelter was 1,000 tons while total 1908 production was
3,061 tons (Brown 1915:18). In 1910, a Cottrell fume
control device was installed on the smelter because of
protests from farmers (Kristofors 1973:25,26). On July
1, 1911, the Shasta County Farmers’ Protective
Association succeeded in closing the smelter by legal
action. But the mine operated until the end of World War
I with intermittent operations after World War I
(Kristofors 1973:26). Within two months the smelter was
partially dismantled and the town was nearly deserted
(Kristofors 1973:74). In 1915, the company owned 1,149
patented acres in the Flat Creek Mining District in
sections 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20 and 21 of T33N R6W.
Development work consisted of several thousand feet of
drifts, three crosscuts, eight levels, eight raises from
40 ft. to 400 ft. in height, plus tunnels and open cuts.
Equipment consisted of the tramway and three miles of
telephone lines. The smelter at Coram (Figure 5a)
consisted of four 18 ft. McDougal roasting furnaces,
three 55"x240" water jacketed blast furnaces, smelting
furnaces, one 17’x92’ reverberatory furnace, a water
plant, sampling mills, three boilers which used fuel oil,
generators, an office, etc. There were 65 men employed;
15 worked in the mine and 50 worked on the surface (Brown
1915:18). In 1924, the mine plant, tram terminal, and
the ore bunkers were destroyed by fires. In 1931, the
last remains of the plant were sold for scrap metal
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:33). Total silver production was
estimated at 1,200,000 oz. (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:135)
and total zinc production was estimated at 31,200,000
lbs. (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:136). By 1933, the mine had
not been operated for a number of years and lack of
maintenance had caused the roads to wash out to such an
extent that the last five miles had to be traveled by
tratl (Averill 1933:8). The 1970 remains were
inventoried by Charles Crackel of the United States
Forest Service (USFS) at this time and the site was
archaeologically recorded.

Banghart Mine
See Mad Mule Mine.

45


DATA RETRIEVED FROM HISTORIC MAPS/PLATS
Compiled by Charles Murphy
(sensitive information deleted from publication)

Section
1T32N _R5W

3*

4*

5* Road GLO Plat 1855-1869

6* Road GLO Plat 1855-1869

7*

8* Road GLO Plat 1855-1869

gx Whitehouse Denny’s 1904 Map

10*

16*

17* Road GLO Plat 1855-1869
Keswick Station Denny’s 1904 Map

18*

19*

20*

21*

27

28% Waugh’s Ferry GLO Plat 1855-1866
Waugh’s House GLO Plat 1855-1866
House GLO Plat 1855-1866
Waugh Denny’s 1904 Map

29%

3 6W

1

2*

3

4

5

6

7 House GLO Plat 1866-1869
Road GLO Plat 1866-1869

8 Road GLO Plat 1866-1869

9 J. Riner’s House GLO Plat 1866-1869
c. Taylor’s House GLO Plat 1866-1869
Road GLO Plat 1866-1869

10

11*

12*

13*

14*

15

16 Whiskeytown Hotel GLO Plat 1866-1869
Road GLO Plat 1866-1869

*Denotes public lands administered by the Bureau of Land
Management as of 1995

109


be found. At the end of this report there are some
conclusions and recommendations for further study. Hopefully,
this compilation can provide needed guidance for future
management and research within the ISRMA and can served
educational purposes as well.


pom pr

WW

” fr ayase i
“on £0196 hosp wo Brumnay '

Anite NOP A IEIID O71 1171 POSWOD THEI Hf Worez ome

mera apne penny etene ’

WNYOHWD “UNIDD ¥LSUHS : 24 :
Lassi NIA asus ers at | ae, ‘|
\ i Sey
PHY OPLBOIIOSNOD ATINY W/ | oA a ee rewired i {
be We pneu vee sober ote and
aKA SY NMONH | eae saw moe wenn ome : "
hve ee pani

40 iva BML 40

LvV1d

ve benemoy

on 107
626) eAepy wegnr eae sof uevesildy

EBLE oN SNS ITN

“pos 72s |
pemozTy i

farm sre wo pom wrens 4 pea BERET gag pape ley pT yg pees “
a me | psc ecu hea Ac maple ly sae amr Rect pL Re

4 (s29-%)
Te)

140


4754

Dump Holcomb

1908

33N

6w

tunnels

| a7e4

Skookum
Hiyu

Hard Cash
Mtn. Crest
Yellow Pyrite
Last Dollar

1907

33N

6w

shafts, tunnels, cabin

4807

Hillside

1910

33N

6w

None listed

4813

Potlatch
R.S. Copper

1909

33N

6w

tunnel, open cuts

4899

Summit Group

Towa

Yellow Jacket
Jay Bird
Keno
Josephine
Red Gossan
Pine Crag

1913

34N

trails, many tunnels, sled road,
cabin, compressor house, shaft,
power line

4924

Olive Placer

1911

32N

3 bunkhouses, master house, house,
road,, tram, road

4946

Lost Confidence

1911

32N

RR, cuts, shaft

5353

Bomite No’s:
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Blue Bell

1917

34N

2/2

tunnels

5438

Thistle Lode

1919

32N

6w

None

5447

Midget Lode

1921

33N

6wW

tunnel, open cut

5449

Highland Lode

1921

33N

6w

None listed

5458

Cloud Burst & Red
Gossan Lodes

1919

32N

6w

None

5748

Flatbush & Bowery
Belle Lodes

1923

32N

6w

open cut

5803

Metropolis and
Wilson Lodes

1925

32N &
33N

store, road, house

5828

Kitchener Lode

1925

32N &
33N

ow

RR, tunnel

_——E—E——E—— rrr

135


Frontispiece: Circa late 1890s men’s baseball game in progress
; ’ at Mammoth Mine on Iron Mountain. Note the
player’s uniforms, ‘the bleachers, and the dead
trees (probably killed by toxic smelter fumes).


sulphur dioxide gasses to be released into the air which
killed whatever vegetation it touched. Fruit orchards as far
away as Anderson and Happy Valley were killed overnight from
the toxic fumes when the winds or breezes were able to carry
them that_far. Farmers eventually organized and sued the
mines. But falling copper market prices, together with the
lawsuits, eventually put the mines and smelters out of
business except for Iron Mountain Mine which operated
intermittently until 1963 (Martin et al. 1981:88).

Balaklala Mine Smelter
The smelter for Balaklala Mine was completed near Coram
in 1906 (Figure 5a). At the time of completion, the
smelter was the largest and most modern on the Pacific
Coast. A Cottrell fume control device was installed in
1910 as a result of farmer protests in an attempt to
control the release of toxic fumes into the air. A
successful court suit by the Shasta County Farmers’
Protective Association closed the smelter in 1911
(Kristofors 1973:25,26).

Iron Mountain Mine Smelter and Roasting Stalls
T32N RSW, Sec. 17. Construction commenced in 1895 on two
large blast furnaces for Iron Mountain Mine capable of
smelting 300 to 400 tons of ore per day. By late 1896,
both furnaces plus 80 roasting stalls were operating
(Kett 1947:11). This smelter eventually became the first
successful smelter in Shasta County (Martin et al.
1981:88). It was located at the present-day location of
the Spring Creek Powerhouse (Figure 13a).

In 1898, Mountain Copper Company acquired almost 3,000
acres of timberland in the Big Bend area on the flat,
wooded banks of the Pit River for the purpose of
supplying cordwood fuel for steam boilers, railway
locomotives, ore heap roasting at Keswick, and to obtain
timbers and lagging for mining operations at Iron
Mountain Mine. The trees were cut in the spring and
early summer so they would be partly dried before being
floated down the Pit River and eventually to Keswick on
the Sacramento River on a 65-mile long log drive. The
delivery point was at Keswick where a sheering boom was
placed across the river to a receiving pond where a chain
conveyor belt carried the wood to a loading platform
alongside the railway track. This practice was
discontinued in 1901 when crude oil became available for
use in steam plants and locomotives (Kett 1947:117,118).

In 1904, the smelter was treating an average of more than
1000 tons of sulfide ore per day. Service water for the
smelter was pumped through a 16" pipe from the Sacramento
River near the mouth of Spring Creek for a distance of

105


an hour (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:70). See Iron Mountain
Mine.

Hummingbird Mine

Gold_mine. This mine is located approximately three
miles northwest of Redding. The 1950s workings included
shallow shafts, short drifts, and a 50 ft. adit. Ore was
worked by a small Ellis mill and later by an arrastra
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:118).

Index Mine Group

Gold mines. This group of mines was worked from 1923 to
1926. They included 12 claims on a ridge above Clear
Creek one-half mile north of Oak Bottom consisting of two
140’ and 150’ tunnels cut into the hillside plus shallow
prospect holes and open cuts (Toogood 1978:60).

Indiana and Last Chance Mine

Inez

Iron

Iron

Copper mine. These mines are located approximately 2%
miles southwest of Shasta Dam and include several hundred
feet of adits and drifts. It was a small producer (Lydon
and O’Brien 1974:106) and employed two men in 1915 (Brown
1915:22).

Mine
Gold mine. This mine includes a 300 ft. long adit, a 100

ft. long drift, and several cuts (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:118).

Mask Mine

Gold mine. This mine exploited Clear Creek water in 1894
to work a quartz mill. Mine owners set up a five-stamp
mill at the foot of Grizzly Gulch, 34% miles from the
mine, to tap a dependable power source (Toogood 1978:51).
The Evening Star and Bright Star mines were also included
in the group (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:115) as well as the
Truscott Mine (Averill 1933:53). The mine was owned by
S. W. Levy of San Francisco in 1894 (Crawford 1894:250).

Mountain Mine

T33N RSW, Sec. 6 and T33N R6W, Secs. 22, 26, 27, 34 & 35.
Gold, iron, copper, lead, pyrite, zinc, silver,
magnetite, sulphur, and limestone mines. Iron Mountain
Mine includes the Brick Flat, Complex, Hornet, Lost
Confidence, Mattie, No. 8, Old Mine, and Richmond mines.
Iron Mountain Mine was also known as the Mountain Copper
Mine and was the pioneer copper mine of Shasta County
(Brown 1915:25). The first known person associated with
the mine was United States land surveyor William Magee
who noted the enormous gossan capping on Iron Mountain in
the early 1860s. He and Charles C1imden secured the
property as an iron mine and held on to it for its

54


Iron

the town. Above and below the town are the scars of
Placer gold mining operations...

Of important note is the fact that little of the actual
town of French Gulch lies within the recreation area.
Therefore, only limited historical information regarding
the town is included in this report.

Mountain Mine and Keswick Smelter
Both places were placed together on the California

Inventory of Historic Places (California Department of
Parks & Recreation 1976:89).

Keswick Dam

T32N RSW, Sec. 21. Paperwork was submitted by the Bureau
of Reclamation in 1994 to the Office of Historic
Preservation for eligibility consideration of Keswick Dam
for the National Register of Historic Places. It is an
important secondary structure of the California Central
Valley Project (CVP), and is an integral structure for
the operation of Shasta Dan.

Keswick Smelter Site

Reid

See Iron Mountain Mine.

Mine in 0ld Diggins

This location has been placed on the California Inventory
of Historic Places. According to the California
Department of Parks & Recreation (1976:105), the mine was
worked by Spaniards in approximately 1900.

Shasta Dam

T33N RSW, Sec. 15. Shasta Dam is the key structure of
the Central Valley Project, one of the nation’s major
water development projects, and one of the largest
concrete gravity dams ever built in the United States.
Shasta Dam and powerplant were deemed eligible for the
National Register by the Office of Historic Preservation
in Sacramento for both historical and engineering
significance based on a 1990 submission by the Bureau of
Reclamation.

Whiskeytown

T32N R6W, Sec. 9. The townsite of Whiskeytown has been
placed on the California Inventory of Historic Places but
most of the original town is now under the waters of
Whiskeytown Lake (California Department of Parks &
Recreation 1976:118). It is also California Historical
Landmark #131.

The townsite was first settled by gold miners in 1849 and
called Whiskey Creek for a barrel o. whiskey which fell

138


Iron Mountain Mine. No. 8 Mine and Old Mine were worked
together. The orebody was sampled in 1909 and found to
contain more than 500,000 tons of material. A cyanide
plant capable of processing 250 tons per day began
operating in 1929. The plant was enlarged in 1932 to
process 600 tons per day. Gossan mining operations were

suspended in 1942 at both mines (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:44,45).

North Star Mine

Ohio

Gold mine. North Star Mine holdings included the Gladys
Mine and the Virginia Mine which were small gold quartz
mines owned and operated by C. P. Baker in 1920 (Toogood
1978:60). The mine employed two men in 1932 and workings
included a 320 ft. tunnel plus various stopes and
crosscuts (Averill 1933:41).

Consolidated Mine

Copper mine. The Ohio Consolidated Mine is located
approximately three miles northwest of Shasta Dam. By
1915, several tunnels had been run, the longest being 530
ft. (Brown 1915:26).

Old Diggings

See Calumet, Central, Evening Star, Reid, Texas, and
Walker Mines.

Old Mine

Gold and silver mine. This was a holding of Iron

Mountain Mine. No. 8 Mine and Old Mine were worked
together. See No. 8 Mine.

Oregon Consolidated Mine

Copper mine. This mine is located four miles west of
Shasta Dam and includes several adits totaling
approximately 1,500 ft. (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:108).

Peerless Mine

Copper mine. The Peerless Mine is located two miles west
of Matheson and includes a 350 ft. long drift and a 190
ft. long crosscut (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:108).

Phoenix Mine

Goid mine. The Phoenix is located one mile east of
Whiskeytown. It was equipped with a five-stamp mill in
1886 (Averill 1939:148). A 10-stamp water-powered mill
processed the ore as well as ore from the nearby Red
Rover Mine (Toogood 1978:50). Lydon and O’Brien
(1974:123) state it was active from 1886 to 1888.

Providence Mine

See Walker Mine.

65


Sa.

5b.

Ja.

7b.

10a.
10b.
10c.
11.

l2a.
12b.

13a.

13b.

14.

LIST OF FIGURES

Page
Interlakes Special Recreation Management Area
location map with historic places marked ... 2
Western Shasta County map of 1862 illustrating
settlements and roads and trails ........ 4
Early gold mining communities in the general
region . 2. ee ee ew ew ew we ee ee ee ee 6
Denny’s Map of Shasta County, 1915 ....... 8
Community of Coram taken in 1915 showing smelter 10
Mammoth Mine aerial tramway with smelter at
Kennett in the distance ........+ +... 10
Early gold mining scene illustrating various
activities related to gold recovery ....... 13
Gladstone Mine mansions and other buildings . .. 17
The Gladstone Mine mill, circa 1913 ....... 17
St. Rose’s Catholic Church, French Gulch .... 19
Layout of Shasta Dam and related facilities . .. 23
Dredger working near French Gulch. ....... 30
Community of French Gulch. ...... +++ ++ 30
Keswick Smelter area showing denuded hills .. . 30
The Tower House... .... ee 6 2 2 © ee ee 37
Balaklala Mine buildings (residential) circa 1910 44
Railroad spur to the Mammoth Mine smelter .... 44
Smelter of the Mountain Copper Company, Keswick
taken in the early 1900s ..........-+ =. S56
Roasting stalls for treating ore used by the
Mountain Copper Company, Keswick (early 1900s) . 56
Early map of French Gulch. ..........- + 94

xvii


Whitney Denny’s 1904 Map

Ruins of Clipper Mill GLO Plat 1917-1919
Shasta Copper Co. Claims Wiegel’s 1908 Map

114


California Department of Parks & Recreation

1976 a vento: {e) .
California Department of Parks & Recreation,
Sacramento.

California Department of Water Resources
1964 Shasta County Investigation. Ca ia
t: Wate:
State Printing Office, Sacramento.

California Division of Mines and Geology
1902 i i i

Register of Mines and Minerals, Shasta County,
California. March, 1902 issue. San Francisco.
Clark, William B.

1979 G s ts. Ca ja. California
Division of Mines and Geology, Bulletin 193.
Sacramento.

Coggins, Arthur Lowell
1978 Looking Back. The Covered Wagon, pp. 6-7.
Shasta Historical Society, Redding.

Colby, W. Howard
1982 i
1821-1920. Occasional Publication Number
Seven, Association for Northern California
Records and Research, California State
University, Chico.

Conway, W. S.

1970 How Motion Creek Got Its Name. The Covered
Wagon, pp. 45-47. Shasta Historical Society,
Redding.

Crawford, J. J.
1894 Gold - Shasta County. Twelfth Report of the
i , Pp. 244-260. California
Mining Bureau, San Francisco.

Denny, (First name unknown)
1904 Denny’s Map. Copy on file Shasta Historical
Society, Redding.

Dittmar, M. E.

1906 Progress of California’s Largest Reduction
Plant. Mineral Wealth, VIII issue of November

1, 1906. California State University, Chico.

120


King Copper Group

Copper mines. The King Copper Group is located three
miles west of Matheson and contained 1,000 ft. of adits
by 1902 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:107).

Kit Carson Mill

Gold mine. The Kit Carson Mill contains a 700 ft. adit
and 300 ft. of drifts (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:119).

Lady Slipper Mill
Gold mine. This mine was patented in 1896 by Willis
Hyatt. At the time of patenting, the mine already
contained a 6 ft. shaft. It was worked by a Mr. Thompson
from 1953 to approximately 1960 and includes three
shafts, one being 80 ft. deep (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:119).

Last Chance Mine
See Indiana Mine and Last Chance Mine.

Liberty Mine
Gold mine. The Liberty is located one mile west of
Matheson. It is a small producer and contains a 1,850
ft. adit and a 250 ft. shaft (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:119).

Lindsay Mine
See Pugh and Lindsay Mine.

Little Maud Mine
Gold mine. The Little Maud Mine is located at the
eastern base of Iron Mountain. The ore from this mine
was treated in a Huntington-type mill (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:119).

Little Nellie Mine
Gold and copper mine. Gold production at the mine was
estimated at $160,000 in the 1880s. The mine was worked
for copper in the 1920s (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:119).

Lone Star Mine
Copper mine. The Lone Star Mine was diamond-drilled
prior to 1952 and includes two short adits (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:107).

Loraine Mine
Copper mine. This mine is located three miles northwest
of Shasta Dam and includes a 425 ft. adit plus several
short crosscuts (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:107).

Lost Confidence Mine .
T33N R6W, Sec. 34. (Iron mine).

60


Canyon.

By 1854, between 2000 to 3000 Chinese lived in Shasta County.
As more and more arrived, resentment turned to open hostility.
From the Shasta Courier of 12-16-1854:

CHINESE VERSUS INDIANS. - An Indian attempted to
carry off from a Chinese camp, on Flat Creek, one
day this week, a bag of flour, when several Johns
set upon him with guns, sticks, stones, &c., and
after shooting him with the gun, and battering his
head with the sticks and stones, succeeded in
sending mister Indian to the Heavenly hunting
grounds. As between Indians and Chinese, our
sympathies are always with the natives. Would it
not be possible to get these people into a Kilkenny
Cat Fight?

Another flare up took place in 1860 when a white packer
attempted to move a group of Chinese miners across the
Sacramento River on Waugh’s Ferry into the Newtown and Buckeye
mining districts. When the white miners heard about it, they
rounded up the packer and all the Chinese, took the Chinese
back to the ferry and returned them to the side of the river
from whence they had come - with their blessings, applied with
barrel staves. A rope was tied to the packer and he was
thrown into the river again and again until he professed
repentance and promised never to repeat his so-called crime
again (Hemsted 1961:51).

Very few legal transactions between Chinese people and
Euroamericans were found to have taken place in Shasta County.
One legal business venture/partnership existed between James
Drew and three Chinese men regarding the Watson and Roaring
Ditch in the Cottonwood Creek gold mining area. Another known
legal transaction involved the sale of the Oak Bottom Hotel to
"Qui Chin and 19 other Chinamen" by Aaron Van Wie for $5100 in
1868, and the sale of the same property by "Qui Chin & Others"
four years later in 1872 for a paltry $300 to Dennis Desmond
(Toogood 1978:46).

Chinese were still in the area as late as 1910 and worked at
the Gladstone Mine (Figure 7a, 7b). The following excerpt
gives us much insight into their lives at the Gladstone
(Nielsen 1965:1-9):

...The boarding house was presided over by seven
Chinese, with Box Sing as head cook. They served
three meals a day and a midnight snack. On
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, they served
a banquet. On dance nights, they set out a buffet.
The kitchen and sleeping quarters for the Chinese

16


as $100,000 to keep the traffic on the road (Toogood
1978:29).

A September, 1862 description of the road according to
traveler William H. Brewer (Toogood 1978:29) follows:

"Towers...is on the great Yreka road, many
heavy teams are met, and the road is dusty
almost beyond endurance."

In 1862-63, Charles Camden became owner of Tower’s road
and furnished most of the labor force to complete the
wagon road from the Four Mile House to the Tower House
(Toogood 1978:29).

In 1863, the 12-mile stretch between Shasta and the Tower
House opened as the Camden Toll Road. Charles Camden
spent $20,000 building the road over mountainous terrain
and in some places through solid rock. Tolls collected
by Camden supposedly repaid him handsomely for his
investment. He continued to operate it as a toll road
until at least the early 1870’s when the railroad located
at Redding and began to take away part of the road
profits (Toogood 1978:30).

The road was heavily impacted by a March, 1867 storm
causing damage to the Whisky Creek bridge and created two
to three foot deep holes in the roadbed (Toogood
1978:31).

In 1898, the Camden Toll Road had become "a curse to the

people of Shasta County", according to the Redding Free
Press of 10-29-1898.

In 1912, Shasta County purchased the Camden Toll Road but
failed to allocate adequate funds to maintain it (Toogood
1978:30,78).

In 1924, the State of California constructed a new
highway (Highway 20) through the area which followed the
road fairly closely (Toogood 1978:30,78).

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the State
constructed five miles of new highway beginning 2.5 miles
east of the Tower House to 2.5 miles east of Whiskeytown
including a new bridge over Whiskey Creek to accommodate
the forthcoming water of Whiskeytown Lake (Toogood
1978:78).

Sacramento River Trail
This "trail" was also known as the Sacramento River Road.
It was established in the early 1850s and began at

89


streambed. In abutments,
decay of the geologically
ancient formation
penetrates deeply along
many joints and occasional
small crush zones.

Cement grout curtain with
adjacent drainage holes
placed beneath foundation
drainage gallery. Crush
zones cleaned out to sound
rock and backfilled with
concrete. Mud seams,
joints and crevices
pressure-grouted.

Special treatment

Spring Creek Debris and Pollution Control Dam
T32N R5W, Sec. 18. The Spring Creek Debris and Pollution
Control Dam, built in 1963, is located on Spring Creek
upstream from the Spring Creek powerplant tailrace
channel. Construction cost was $4,000,000 (Kristofors
1973:113). Spring Creek is a 14% mile tributary to the
Sacramento River. Ore bodies in the surrounding
watershed contain pyrite, copper, zinc, gold, silver,
cadmium, and other elements. Huge tailing piles,
unstable man-made cuts, and denuded hillsides from past
mining operations caused the Spring Creek Basin to suffer
from high erosion (Prokopovich 1965:988). In addition,
certain portions of the creek are lifeless due to extreme
acidity and large amounts of dissolved poisonous metals.
The South Fork portion of the creek and the portion
upstream from the mining area are not polluted
(Prokopovich 1965:993,994). The function of the dam is
to impound the polluted water for periodic releases and
prevent debris from obstructing the powerhouse tailrace
(Kristofors 1973:113).

Pertinent Data
(Bureau of Reclamation 1983:7)

Type

Construction period
Total capacity to
El. 795

Total capacity to
El. 679-795
Surface area at
El. 795
Shoreline
Structural height

Hydraulic height

Top width

25

Earthfilled
1961 to 1963
5870 acre ft.

5650 acre ft.
87 acres

2.5 miles

196 ft.

169 ft.
30 ft.


Gambrinus Mine
T32N R6W, Sec. 16. Gold mine.
This mine was discovered in 1870. It was first known as
the Shasta Mine. In 1883, miners were steadily removing
rich_ore and driving a tunnel to tap a five-foot ledge of
good milling ore discovered in the north drift (Toogood
1978:50). The mine showed promising returns between 1896
and 1914 (Toogood 1978:53), and it was active
intermittently for the next 50 years. It was located on
the east bank of Whiskey Creek opposite the Whiskeytown
townsite (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:116). ‘The mine
contained free-milling ore and produced $127,000 worth of
gold between 1870 and 1912. In 1912, a 10-stamp mill
replaced a small prospecting mill. In 1913, a 20-inch
vein of rich ore was opened. The mine had four parallel
veins with a payshoot of free milling ore 220 feet long
and 18 inches wide. Workings at that time consisted of
several tunnels. The main tunnel was 410 ft. long with a
crosscut 110 ft. long. The 1913 mine equipment included
cars, tools, shop, dwellings, and the 10-stamp mill
(Toogood 1978:55,56).

Ganim Mine
T32N R6W, Sec. 8. Silver, gold, & talc mine.
This mine was first a silver and gold mine; later a talc
mine. It is located in New York Gulch and was
established by Joe Ganim in 1913 as a gold mine after he
struck 2 ft. of good ore. The mine produced small but
rich gold deposits prior to 1914 and contained 14 claims
by 1926. It processed its own quartz with a 10-stamp
Straub mill, one concentrator, and a small electric light
plant, and it survived through the second decade of the
century. It remained in operation after most other mines
in the area closed. Talc was later discovered and mined
beginning in 1926 which temporarily altered the direction
of company efforts and made it the only talc producing
mine in Shasta County. Gold extraction resumed in the
1930’s from 50 to 400 ft. crosscut tunnels. It remained
in operation after most of the other area mines closed
(Toogood 1978:57,58,59,75). Mine equipment in 1933
included a Chicago Pneumatic compressor 9"x14" driven by
a semi-Diesel 50 h.p. engine, a drill sharpener, air
drills, and an air hoist (Averill 1933:27). The mine was
operated again in 1946 for talc (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:96). It is presently (1994) being operated.

Georgia Mine .
Gold mine. This was opened by way of tunneling as early
as 1890. It was located on the same property as the
Texas Mine which was considered part of the same
operation (McGregor 1890:629). See Texas Mine.

50


| aa7 .

Mammoth

“| IXL #1

AJAX
Crown Point
Graves
Kenneth
Monarch
Keystone

Monogram

34N

wagon road, open cuts, blacksmith

shop, tunnels, engine house,
boarding house, aerial tramway,
shafts

4418

Elephant Central
Lamb

34N

open cuts, wagon road, tunnel

4431

Blue Diamond

32N

cabin, open cut

McKinley
Teddy
Garfield

34N

2/2

tunnels

4501

Rocky Gulch Creek

1906

33N

4502

Cocktail

1906

33N

4505

Mayflower
June Bug
Domino
Future

1906

34N

2(2)2"2

|) 4513

Old Cal

Old Judge
Summit Sampson
Mt. Shasta

1906

32N &
33N

open cuts, tunnels

4521

Bennington Cons.
Concord

Darset

Yorktown
Prescott
Northstar

Alta

King

Warren,

1906

33N

mess house, tunnels, shaft, [ron
Mtn. RR, open cut

4599

Indiana
Sunrise

Last Chance
Bay State

1907

33N

tunnel, shafts

4676

Congress Saratoga
Harbor Light
Extension

1907

33N

6wW

tunnels, tram road

4681

Blue Danube

1908

32N

house, tunnel, open cut, shop

4691

Cottonwood Placer

33N

2/2

county road

—E——E_ EE ea

134


Pertinent Data
(Downing c. 1970s:10,11)

Total length of belt 9.6 miles

Number of flights 26

Length of longest flight 3240 ft.

Length of shortest flight 850 ft.

Motor h.p. 200 h.p.

Belt operating speed 550 ft. per minute
Belt capacity 1100 tons per hour
Belt construction 6 ply rubber

Belt width 36 inches

Amt. of rubber in belt 1,000,000 lbs.
Amt. of cotton in belt 500,000 lbs. or

1000 bales
DAMS

Keswick Dam
T32N R5W, Sec. 21. Keswick Dam is located on the
Sacramento River nine miles below Shasta Dam. It creates
an afterbay reservoir for Shasta Lake and Spring Creek
powerplants and serves as a regulating reservoir to even
the flow of water through the Keswick powerplant. The
dam has fish-trapping facilities for trapping salmon and
other migratory fish. The trapped fish are hauled to the
Coleman Fish Hatchery in Anderson for spawning by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (U. S. Department of the
Interior 1986:4). The dam construction contract was
awarded on August 12, 1941 to the Guy F. Atkinson Co. and
W. E. Kier Construction Co. (Downing c. 1970s:56).
Construction was completed in 1950 (Kristofors 1973:108).
Because Keswick Dam has historical significance, it
appears eligible for inclusion on the National Register
of Historic Places. Paperwork for that purpose was
submitted to the Office of Historic Preservation in 1994
by the Bureau of Reclamation.

Pertinent Data
(U. S. Department of the Interior 1986:4)
(Bureau of Reclamation 1983:6)

Type of dam Concrete gravity with
embankment wings

1941-1950

Badly weathered quartz-
biotite schist cut by
calcite veins, quartz
veins, clay seams, and mud
seams. Large fault marked
by a crush zone 10 to 12
ft. wide strikes up and

Construction period
Foundation

21


Golden Blanket Mine
See Bjork Group.

Grab Mine
See Stowell Mine.

Great Verde Mine
Copper mine. This was also known as the Vulcan Mine.
This mine is located four miles northwest of Shasta Dam
and is adjacent to the Shasta King Mine. Mining
commenced in approximately 1900. It includes short adits
and a 1,500 ft. long exploratory tunnel (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:106). The 1915 workings included several
tunnels and 12 claims (Brown 1915:22).

Grindstone Mine
Copper mine. The 1970 remains included cabin ruins and
mine shafts. A one~acre site at the mine was inventoried
and recorded by the Forest Service in the early 1970s.

Happy Go Lucky Mine
Gold mine. A free milling gold quartz operation took
place at the mine in 1902 (California Division of Mines
and Geology 1902).

Hartman Mine
Gold mine. In 1894, two tunnels approximately 50 ft.
long and a 45 ft. shaft were located at the mine. It was
owned by W. Hartman of Stella (Crawford 1894:250).

Holman Mine

Gold mine. This mine contains a 75 ft. long adit (Lydon
and O’Brien 1974:118).

Hope Mine
Gold mine. This mine operated in 1902 (California
Division of Mines and Geology 1902) and produced small
but rich gold deposits prior to 1914 (Toogood 1978:57).
The 1915 workings included a 480 ft. tunnel, 400 ft. of
drifts, an 80 ft. stope, and a 140 ft. shaft. Surface
ore was worked in an arrastra (Brown 1915:46).

Hornet Mine

T33N R6W, Secs. 26, 27, 34, & 35. Pyrite mine. The
Hornet Mine was a holding of Iron Mountain Mine. The
Hornet was patented in 1890 but mining did not begin
until 1907. Ore was transported on an aerial tramway
from the mine to the loading facilities at Matheson. In
1953, the tram was extended approximately one mile making
it 18,000 ft. long. The tram contained 92 buckets each
with a 3/4-ton capacity capable of moving 50 tons of ore

53


Shasta. It traveled northeasterly to Waugh’s Ferry just
below the mouth of Rock Creek on the Sacramento River
then crossed the river to the west side to the mining’
towns of Buckeye, Quartz Hill, Newtown, Churntown, and
fons one (Frisbie and Beauchamp 1973:76; Ritter

Beltline Road

The Beltline Road was a concrete maintenance/service road
built in 1938 beside the 9.6 mile long conveyor belt
which began at the Kutras gravel deposits (T32N R4W, Sec.
31) and ended at the concrete-mixing plant at Coram (T33N
R5W, Sec. 21). Many small portions of the road still
exist at sporadic locations; all are in poor condition.
See "Conveyor Belt".

SAWMILLS / PLANING MILLS

Coggins Mills
Arthur Coggins operated two sawmills, one on the French
Gulch Road and the other on Highway 299W (Johnson
1978:53) and also a planing mill at Keswick (Coggins
1978:7). The sawmill on Highway 299W was located at T32N
R7W, Sec. 2 and was built in 1946 by Arthur Coggins. It
was a standard type sawmill and employed approximately 20
workers. Coggins operated the mill for approximately two
years and then sold it to Frank Crawford. In
approximately 1949, Coggins built a smaller mill at T33N
R7W, Sec. 34 and employed approximately six workers.
This mill was different from the aforementioned mill in
that it was built quite low to the ground and was capable
of sawing 32’ long timbers and lumber, a premium
marketable length. All work was done by special order.
Also located on the property was a conically~shaped,
steel-sided, screen-topped tepee burner (Thomas Coggins,
personal communication 1994). In 1960, the mill was
still operating and included a log deck and the tepee
burner. It closed soon after 1960 and was dismantled
(Gwen Nichols, Redding, personal communication 1994).

Mammoth Mine .
A sawmill existed at Mammoth Mine in 1915 (Brown
1915:23).

Minnesota Mine Sawmill
T32N R6W, Sec. 1 & 2. A small sawmill operated on the
mine property in 1894 (Crawford 1894:255).

Burns Sawmill ; .
The following advertisement appears in the History and

90


Balaklala Group Wiegel’s 1908 Map

Trail GLO Plat 1882-1919
11 Cable Tram GLO Plat 1917-1919
7 Road GLO Plat 1917-1919
_ Balaklala Group Wiegel’s 1908 Map
12 Balaklala Group Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Aerial Tram Wiegel’s 1908 Map
12 Power Line Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Road GLO Plat 1917-1919
Trail GLO Plat 1882-1919
Cable Tram GLO Plat 1917-1919
13 Spread Eagle Grp. Claims Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Road GLO Plat 1917-1919
Trail GLO Plat 1882-1919
14* Balaklala Group Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Road GLO Plat 1917-1919
Electric Pwr. Trans.Line GLO Plat 1917-1919
Cable Tram GLO Plat 1917-1919
15* Shasta Copper Ex. Co. Claims Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Trail GLO Plat 1882-1919
Electric Pwr. Trans. Ln. GLO Plat 1917-1919
16
17* Gladstone Grp. Claims Wiegel’s 1908 Map
18* Gladstone Grp. Claims Wiegel’s 1908 Map
No. Ca. Pwr. Lines (2) Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Road Wiegel’s 1908 Map
19*
20
21
22* Baltic Copper Group Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Shasta Grp. Ex. Co. Wiegel’s 1908 Map
23* Road GLO Plat 1917-1919
24* Last Chance Group Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Trinity Copper Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Motion Copper Group Wiegel’s 1908 Map
25% Ingersoll Co. Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Trinity Copper Wiegel’s 1908 Map
26% Copper Mtn. Group Wiegel’s 1908 Map
27 Trail and Water Tank GLO Plat 1881
28% Mad Ox Mine GLO Plat 1881
Trail GLO Plat 1881
Wagon Road (to House and GLO Plat 1881
Orchard in another sec.)
Tarantula Group Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Mad Ox Wiegel’s 1908 Map
29 CPRR land Wiegel’s 1908 Map
30* CPRR land Wiegel’s 1908 Map
31*
32*

112


- carried 75 buckets each with a capacity of 4.5
cubic ft.

- stacker belt was 85 ft. long

- trommel was 21 ft. long and five ft. in diameter

- trommel undersize discharged to four sluice boxes
30 inches wide and 40 ft. long

- screening section contained 3/8 inch and 1.5 inch

holes

- wash water supplied by eight and 10 inch
centrifugal pumps

- all equipment driven by electric motors (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:58).

G&H Mining Company
T33N R7W. The G&H Mining Company was a placer gold
dredging operation which operated on Cline Gulch

approximately one mile north of French Gulch in 1946
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:129).

Lincoln Gold Dredging Company
T33N R7W, Sec. 34. The Lincoln Gold Dredging Company
operated on Clear Creek two miles south of French Gulch.
Equipment in 1942 included a small dragline dredge which
operated again in 1947 and 1948. Approximately 2400 to
2800 yards of gravel were excavated every 24 hours with a
Northwest dragline fitted with a 1.5 cubic yd. bucket and
discharged to a trommel 64 inches in diameter and 40 ft.
long with 20 ft. of screen. The dragline made 11
revolutions every minute and moved the gravel forward 54
inches per revolution (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:59).

Pioneer Dredging Company
T32N R5W, Secs. 2, 18, 19, 29, 30, 32, 33. This was a
placer gold dredging operation that operated a dragline

type dredge for one season at Buckeye in 1936 (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:130).

ELECTRIC POWER COMPANIES

The first known place to use electric power in the study area
was possibly the Gladstone Mine (Figure 7a, 7b) in 1894 when
the entire works were lighted by electricity. Electric bells
were used in the lower workings and water power was derived

from Cline’s Gulch through a one-mile long ditch (Crawford
1894:249).

In 1900, the mine changed ownership and was purchased by I. oO.
Jillson who built an electric plant on Crystal Creek
approximately 12 miles south of the Gladstone. This plant
supplied electricity for the mine until the Northern

31


Utah

was crushed in a 30-stamp mill and a Huntington mill.
The mine has been mostly idle since 1913 with some
development work done in 1936 and 1937 by the Vera Mines
Corporation. A portion of the mine was reopened in 1945
by the High Divide Mining Company. Exploration work was
conducted in 1961 by Continental Materials Corporation
with a bulldozer (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:51,52). The
1970 remains included several partially standing
buildings, several mine shafts, a brick chimney, and a
boiler. Thirty acres of the site were inventoried and
recorded in the early 1970s (USFS Archaeological Site
Record 05-14-58-18).

Mine
See Walker Mine.

Virginia Mine

See North Star Mine.

vulcan Mine

See Great Verde Mine.

Walker Mine

Gold mine. The Walker holdings once included the
Josephine, Providence, Utah, and California mines. The
Walker Mine was first known as the Josephine and
Providence Mine until purchased by the Walker brothers in
1888. They changed the name to the Utah and California
Mine. It is now known as the Walker Mine and includes 12
claims on 360 acres (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:52). By
1894, the mine was developed through three tunnels, the
Josephine, Emmeline and Main. The company operated a 10-
stamp steam mill beside the Sacramento River. The stamp
mill consisted of a No. 1 Blake crusher, Hendy self-
feeders and 1,200 lb. stamps, supplied with chrome steel
cams, shoes and dies. The mill consumed four cords of
pine and oak wood per day at a cost of $4 per cord.
Timbers were delivered at 6¢ per running ft. and did not
last over three years in the mine. Ventilation for the
main tunnel was supplied by suction; a furnace on the
outside drew air through a 1,500 ft. pipe. Mill water
was pumped from the river. Miners wages were $2.50 a
day; mill men received $4 a day (Crawford 1894:259).
There were 14,000 tons of ore produced by 1896 and
treated in a 100-ton cyanide plant (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:52). The 1915 holdings included 270 acres (Brown
1915:59). In 1936, gold was recovered from the ore in an
all-slime cyanide mill. In early 1938, the property was
leased by Stewart & Brown who made improvements and
increased mill tonnage from 40 tons to 100 tons per day
and built an assay office. The property reverted back to
owners Star Gulch Mining Co. in late 1938 (Averill

73


Fire Lookout Tower . .
Gardens/Orchards .. .
French Gulch Chinatown

Orchard of Benjamin Mix

Tower House...

Hospitals ......

Coram Hospital .

Gladstone Mine First aia Dispensary
Iron Mountain Mine Hospital .

Brown‘s House . .
Empire Hotel ..
Four Mile House .

French Gulch Hotel

Tower House...

Whiskeytown Hotel .

Whitney’s Hotel .

Hydraulic Mines ..
Slattery and Welch
Mines/Mining Claims .

Ajax Mine. ...
American Mine . .
Annie Mine. .
Aurora Mine . .
Baker Mine . .
Balaklala Mine
Banghart Mine .
Bear’s Nest. .
Bell Mine...
Benson Mine...
Betty Jean Mine .
Betty May Mine .
Bjork Group...
Blackbird Mine .
Blue Bird Mine .
Blue Danube Mine
Bohemotosh Mine .
Bonanza Mine . .
Brick Flat Mine .
Bright Star Mine
California Mine .
Camden Claim ..
Carnegie Group .
Central Mine ..
Clara Mine ...
Clipper Mine ..
Colma Group...
Complex Mine ..
Compton Mine ..
Copley Mine...
Crystal Group. .

Hotels/Wayside Inns/Stopping

Places


EDITOR’S FOREWORD

There is little doubt that northern California generally and
Shasta County more specifically have a rich history. Historians
have not ignored this fruitful record as the written accounts are
plentiful. Yet these chronicles are not without their
shortcomings and earlier works are often forgotten or difficult
to obtain. Furthermore, it is well-known that some historic
texts, especially those written in the 19th and early 20th
centuries, are sometimes biased toward more prominent members of
society, dramatic events and undertakings, and certain places and
periods of time. The ordinary and mundane, the lower classes and
non-Euroamericans’ history was often ignored or the writings
partial.

All historic compilations are biased to some extent, and the
information inventory offered here is no exception. Subjectivity
and a focused perspective do not necessarily diminish a history-
oriented work’s merit, and certainly in this regard the document
as presented is a valuable and serviceable effort.

Various federal agencies are often called upon in their land
managing actions to make decisions that may have an effect on
historic locations and resources. There is a certain level of
difficulty in evaluating the relative importance of historic
events and places, especially when the historic record is
incomplete, scattered, and preferential as mentioned above. Such
difficulties in 1994 faced a consortium of federal agencies
(under the lead of the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land
Management) in planning for the use of a geographically
delineated region within Shasta County, the Interlakes Special
Recreation Management Area (ISRMA) lying roughly between Shasta
Lake City and Clear Creek and Highway 299 and Wild Cow Mountain.
Here, through a series of historic events and political and
environment-related decisions connected to land ownership and
use, general planning for various activities was envisioned. The
ultimate goal of this document and accompanying planning is to
minimize damage to significant historic places and to provide
educationally-driven, on-the-ground interpretation to certain
locations. For these reasons, local historian Dottie Smith was
contracted in 1994 to complete a historic information compilation
of the ISRMA emphasizing current federal lands and locations of
possible acquisition. The intention of this contract was the
obtainment of an information inventory document more factual and
descriptive than interpretive or theoretical. These latter
approaches we leave for other scholars and times. Some of the
site specific data presented by Smith has been omitted from the
public document for purposes of sensitivity and confidentiality.
Unfortunately, the region still experiences looting and
collecting for personal rather than public gain.

Because of federal regulations, the historic period is considered

iii


5829 Ole Hanson Lode 1925 33N 6W | RR
5831 Prince Albert & 1925 33N 6W | tin scrap plant, roads, 3 dwellings,
Velvet Lodes school, 2 garages, electric trams,
flume, tunnel
5832 Clemenceau Wilson | 1926 32N SW | road, bunkhouse, cook house,
Pershing & bucket tram, scale house,
Foch & 33N warehouse, RR, station
Hughes Lodes
6207 Esther Lode 1937 32N SW | Bucket tram, tunnels
&
33N

136

shop, compressor, roads



twenty-fourth mile, which is a little
below Dog Gulch, a rocky ridge is met
with, through which for many weeks a
tunnel 460 feet in length has been in
course of construction. Nearly the entire
bore has been through gneiss rock,
containing crystalline veins of quartz, so
exceedingly hard, that when they were
encountered, the most carefully tempered
drills would break in a few moments.

Since this tunnel was commenced, two sets
of hands at each end have been employed
upon it night and day; and frequently, an
advance of eighteen inches or two feet in
twenty-four hours was all that could be
made. This hard job was, we understand,
finished yesterday.

A mile further on, the line enters Salt
Creek, where it seems to get entangled
amid a labyrinth of mis-shapen ridges and
hallows, and for a distance of four miles
is as crooked as the Stygian tributary of
Hades. It finally arrives, however, at
the South Branch, over which is raised the
largest aqueduct on the Canal--500 feet in
length, and eighty feet above the bed of
the creek...The entire length of the main
trunk to Olney Creek, is upwards of forty
miles, to which has been added ten miles
of side ditches, and a reservoir, capable
of containing a sheet of water about four
acres in extent. The whole undertaking,
when complete, will rank among the most
costly and durable of the kind, in our
State. The canal will carry a volume of
water equal to fourteen square feet. The
descent is a little more than seven feet
per mile, giving a current on the surface
about four miles an hour. It may be a
year before the ditch tightens
sufficiently to hold its full volume of
water, but when it becomes impervious by a
coating of sediment, it will supply a
clear stream to about one hundred and
fifty sluices.

In February, 1867 the ditch nearly filled with sand and
gravel that was washed in by heavy rains, but little
repair work was undertaken to remove it because placer
mining had drastically dwindled (Toogood 1978:25).

28


in 1986 and is still underway (Redding Record
Searchlight, 7-6-1994). Total silver production is
estimated at 26,558,780 oz. (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:135).
Iron Mountain Mine and Keswick Smelter together have been
placed on the California Inventory of Historic Places
(California Department of Parks & Recreation 1976:89).

Isabel Mine

Gold mine. This mine was associated with the Queen Mine
in 1915 (Toogood 1978:96). The 1933 workings included

several hundred feet of old tunnels and open cuts
(Averill 1933:31,32).

J.I.c. Mine
Gold mine. This mine was known as the Jay Eye See Mine
in 1894 (Crawford 1894:250). It contains a 100 ft. adit,
300 ft. of drifts, and a 220 ft. inclined shaft (Lydon
and O’Brien 1974:118). The 1915 workings included a

1,000 ft. tunnel, 300 ft. of drifts, and a 220 ft. shaft
(Brown 1915:46).

Janice Group

Gold mines. These mines contain two 40 ft. and 50 ft.
shafts (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:118).

Jay Eye See Mine
See J.1I.C. Mine.

Jealous Mine
Gold mine.

Josephine Mine
See Walker Mine.

Jumping Jack Mine
Copper mine. This mine is located on the east slope of

Sugar Loaf Mountain and includes a 400 ft. long adit
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:107).

Kanaka Mine
Gold mine. Toogood (1978:93) states the mine is located
on the west side of Whiskey Creek. It was a small
production mill whose ore was treated in a 100-ton
amalgamation and flotation plant (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:119).

Keystone Mine
Copper mine. This mine is located approximately 4% miles
west of Shasta Dam. It was explored in 1900 and again in
1918. The mine produced from 1923 to 1925 and includes
two adits and 2,000 ft. of drifts and crosscuts (Lydon
and O’Brien 1974:107).

59


McCreary (Brown 1915:55).

Snyder Mine

Gold mine. This mine is also spelled the Snider Mine.

It was located in 1885 seven miles northwest of Kennett.

In 1890, the mine consisted of three tunnels totaling 120
ft., 460 ft., and 400 ft. Ore was crushed in a 10-stamp

mill (McGregor 1890:640). See Clipper Mine.

Spanish Mine
See West End Quartz Mine.

Spardy Mine
Gold mine. The Spardy Mine is located on Flat Creek 3%
miles south of Keswick (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:124). It

was owned by Barney Conroy of Redding in 1894 (Crawford
1894:257).

Spread Eagle Group
Copper mines. The Spread Eagle Group was active prior to
1902 and during the 1900s. Mine holdings include 10
adits totaling 3,000 ft. (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:109).

Spring Gulch Mine
Gold mine. This mine is located in the northern
tributaries of Whiskey Creek. It was successful during
1893-94 (Toogood 1978:51). It contained three tunnels in
1894 which were 40 ft., 50 ft., and 3,212 ft. long.
Owners at that time were L. Riel and J. R. Woodward of
Stella (Crawford 1894:257).

Star Gulch Mining Company
See Walker Mine.

Stevenson Mine

Copper mine. This mine was only slightly developed by
1915 (Brown 1915:28).

Stowell Mine
Copper mine. This mine was formerly known as the Grab
Mine (Brown 1915:28). It was active prior to 1902 and
produced during the years 1916 to 1919. The main adit is
1,300 ft. long including several hundred ft. of drifts
and winzes (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:109).

Sugar Loaf Mine
Copper mine. This mine included 1,300 ft. of adits by
1902 and 12 adits totaling 4,365 ft. by 1908 (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:109). The 1915 equipment consisted of an
air compressor, shop, and dwellings. Three men were
employed (Brown 1915:28).

68


BLM ~ LOAN. COPY

Bureau of Land Management ° Forest ‘Service
California : . Pacific. Southwest Region

Historic Data Inventory
'- of the
Shasta County
Interlakes
Special Recreation Management Area

By
Dottie Smith

oak tural resources publications .
history



cE TOWN OF

orc

(OTS 2$a0-Section2z

SAGs

I

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3 ORT WwW MOM

Shasta Co Cat!

wae gaiw

wren

wOStVA

rca a

éween



CONCLUSIONS

Historically, the Interlakes Special Recreation
Management Area (ISRMA) was a focus of considerable mining and
hydroelectric and water control developments. Chronologically,
the non-Native American Indian history of the region can be
divided into three distinct periods and two distinct mining
focuses, i.e., gold and copper. Each mineral was, in its
respective historic period, the number one commodity produced
in Shasta County.

The first phase of the mining era (Period 1) began to
unfold in the late 1840s and consisted of placer gold mining.
The first known mining activities took place in Clear Creek a
short distance south of the ISRMA, but soon spread out in all
directions as more and more gold discoveries were made.

Mining methods changed quickly as faster and easier ways were
discovered to wash the gravel. The first gold mining was
conducted with shovels and pans, but such equipment was soon
replaced with rockers, long toms, and sluice boxes. Hydraulic
mining began in 1855 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:56). The Gold
Rush mining period ended when the Civil War broke out in the
early 1860s causing many men to leave and fight in the war.
Gold mining continued, but never quite to the same extent.
Mining methods also changed as the surface placers disappeared
resulting in hard rock quartz mining. Peaks of production
occurred during 1908 to 1915 and again from 1936 to 1941
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:19). Gold output during The
Depression years (the third phase of historic mining) became
almost as high as it had been years before during the Gold
Rush (Clark 1979:xi).

The second phase (Period 2) of the mining era, where
attention was directed to the industry of copper extraction,
began in the 1880s. In 1896, copper replaced gold as the
number one mineral produced in Shasta County. As was the case
during the Gold Rush in previous years, the copper industry
was a tremendous economic stimulus to the county. Thousands
of men were employed in the copper mines and in association
with the many support features associated with it such as
smelters, aerial tramways, and private rail lines. Many small
towns and communities sprang up to accommodate the growing
population (Kristofers 1973:3), some now long gone. But
copper mining was very hazardous to the environment. Damage
suits were brought against the mines by private citizens,
primarily those engaged in agriculture, resulting in the
closure of the copper smelters by court order in 1919. Copper
mining never recovered after the smelters were closed.
Reclamation/watershed restoration of the damaged hillsides

began in earnest by the 1930s and continues to some extent to
this day.

117


di


The mines seem here [French Gulch] even now in
embryo. Daily discoveries of new Diggings are being
made, and I think before the coming Summer ends, our
mining population will have doubled in numbers.

The French Gulch Post Office was established in 1856
(Salley 1977). The Independent Order of Odd Fellows
(I.0.0.F.) instituted the second I.0.0.F. Lodge in Shasta
County at French Gulch on May 5, 1858. The present
building was built in 1913. The original lodge building
burned down in 1864 (Eaton 1959:47,48).

The French Gulch Mining District was the most famous gold
producing district in northern California at one time.

In 1859, French Gulch was the most important gold quartz
district in the county (Toogood 1978:48). Many years
later in 1915, French Gulch was the most "active" quartz
mining district in Shasta County (Brown 1915:29). There

were 131 registered voters living in French Gulch in 1928
(Yank 1928).

In 1935, French Gulch was designated as California
Historical Landmark No. 166. On March 24, 1972, the
French Gulch Historic District was placed on the National
Register of Historic Places.

The historic district begins at a point about 750’
southwesterly of the intersection of French Gulch Road
and Main Street "...then north about 4,000’, east about
1,750’, south about 4,000’, west about 1,750’ to the
point of beginning" (U. S. Department of the Interior
1969:2). The National Register lists the following
principal buildings and information in their official
documentation of the historic zone. However, this author
has discovered errors in a portion of the data. The
errors are indicated with an asterisk.

Franck’s Store, founded in 1854. One
story stone building built in 1867 on the
east side of Main Street opposite the
French Gulch Hotel.

- One-story, wood framed, false fronted
——commercial buildings on the east side of
Main Street dating to c. 1880s.

* Franck residence, c. 1860s. One story
wooden frame building with a metal roof.
West side of Main Street. (Should be:
east side of Main Street).

* Saint Anne’s Catholic Church, c. 1900.

95


on the bridge according to the following Shasta Courier
article of 9-3-1864:

The Bridge across Clear Creek, at the

Tower House, has recently been much improved by
being covered with substantial siding and a good
shingle roof. It is the most substantial bridge
structure in the county, and the proprietors, for
excellent repair in which it is always kept, merit
the commendation of the traveling public.

The bridge no longer exists. The only remains are stone
pillars standing in the creek upon which the covered
bridge once stood.

Whiskey Creek Bridge
From the Sacramento Union of 10-16-1857:

A FREE BRIDGE is proposed across Whisky
Creek, near the mouth, where the wagon
road crosses it, in Shasta County. It
will be 165 feet in length, and will be
built above the freshet mark. The Shasta

j states that Benjamin Mix, under
whose direction the work will be done,
subscribes $400, and as soon as the sum is
made up to $1,200, the bridge will be
commenced.

Charles Camden became owner of the bridge when he opened
the Camden Toll Road. During March of 1867, a heavy
rainstorm occurred and caused flooding according to the
Shasta Courjer of 3-2-1867:

The heavy rains caused Whisky Creek to
rise to such a height that the waters
flowed over the top of the old bridge.

Later that year, Camden built a new bridge according to
the Shasta Courier of 8-17-1867:

The framework of the bridge is composed of
the best oak timber, and the foundation is
built up in such a manner as to insure its
safety.

In the early 1960s, the state built a new bridge in

anticipation of the forthcoming waters of Whiskeytown
Lake (Toogood 1978:78).

14


plats of the townsite and no newspaper issues have been

located. See Grizzly Gulch in Settlements/Towns/Mining
Camps for more information.

Mountain Miner

A weekly newspaper was published at Taylor from 1897 to
1906.

PLACENAMES
(See Figures 1-4)

Balaklala Mine
Name possibly means windy place (Smith 1994:12).
Bohemotash Mountain
Indian name meaning large peak (Steger 1966:19).
Buckeye
Named by early goldminers from Ohio, the Buckeye State
(Steger 1966:20).
Clear Creek
Named by early goldminers for its crystal clear waters
(Steger 1966:24).
Cline Gulch
Named for John Cline who filed at this location for
grazing and agricultural purposes in 1852 (Steger
1966:25).
Copley
The town of Copley and Copley Mountain were named for a
Mr. Copley who operated a vacation retreat known as Camp
Bailey at the foot of the mountain (Smith 1994:58).
Coram
Named for Joseph Coram, part owner of the Balaklala Mine.
Democrat Mountain
Supposedly named by miners who were "...staunch
democrats" (Steger 1966:28).
Dodge Creek
Named for goldminer Wilbur Dodge (Steger 1966:29). See
also Shirttail Peak.
Franklin City
Possibly named for a group of miners from Franklin County
(state unknown) who laid out the town in 1852 (Steger
1966:33). Eventually it became the site of Whiskeytown.
French Gulch
Named for the French goldminers who discovered gold there
in 1849 (Steger 1966:33).
Grizzly Gulch
This was the home of grizzly bears (Steger 1966:35).
Hart
Named for prominent mining man R. G. Hart (Steger
1966:38).

75


Number of shoots being worked 2

Pitch of ore shoot NE
Number of air shafts 2
Depths of air shafts 135 and 80 ft.
—Timber used Pine
Cost of timber used 4¢ per ft.
Kind of powder used Safety Nitro
Distance to timber 1 mile
Distance to lumber 8 miles
Cost of lumber $18 per thousand
Length of road built 4 miles
Cost of road $1,500
Means of transporting ore Wagon
Cost of transporting ore 60¢ per ton
Character of ore Tellurium
Sulphurets
Free gold
Battery screens Slot, No. 30
Dimensions of screens 10% x 37% ft.
Size of plates 4x12 ft.
Plates Silvered
Kind of feeders used Challenge
% of recovery saved on plates 93%
% of recovery saved on 25%
concentrators to ton
Name of concentrator Triumph
Number of concentrators 2
Percentage of sulphurets 25%
Nature of sulphurets Iron
Value of sulphurets $200 to $240 per
: ton
Number of men employed in mine 12
Number of men employed in mill 5
Number of men employed outside 7
Total men employed in mine 24
Nationality Cornish, 3
Americans, 19
Irish, 2
Wages paid in mine $2 per day and
board
Wages paid in mill 83 and $3.50 per
lay
and board
— Wages paid on outside $1.50 per day and
board
Power used Steam
Cost of wood per cord $2
Cords of wood used (per day) 8

The 1915 mine holdings consisted of 220 patented acres.
Development work included a 4,000 ft. tunnel and several
thousand feet of drifts, raises and stopes. Equipment

70


Matheson . .
Motion C--eek
New York Flat
Old Diggings

Sacramento River

Schilling. .

Shasta (mountain,
Shirttail Peak

Spring Creek
Taylor ..
Waugh...
Whiskeytown
Whitehouse
Post Offices . .
Blair...
Boralma . .
Copley ..
Coram...
Fielding .
French Gulch
Hart ....
Iron Mountain
Keswick...
Kilnma....
Kimberly . .
Mammoth...
Matheson ..

Old Diggins
Schilling .
Stella ...
Taylor ...
Waugh... .
Whiskey Creek
Whiskeytown .
Whitehouse .
Powerplants ...

Keswick Powerpl

ant

Shasta Powerplant .
Spring Creek Powerplant

Railroads ....

Central Mine Railroad. .
Central Pacific Railroad

Gladstone Mine Railroad
Iron Mountain Mine Railroad
Mammoth Mine Railroad .
Old Diggings Railroad .
Southern Pacific Railroad
Recreational Activities

Baseball ..
Tennis ...
Football ..

eee


body was in perfect good humor and enjoyed
themselves to as full as extent as could
be desired. About forty ladies graced the
festive scene with their presence.

In 1858, the hotel was destroyed by fire according to the
er of 9-4-1858. It was soon rebuilt and
subsequently passed through a succession of owners:

- Sold to I. McIntosh and G. M. Benjamin 7-23-1859
(Shasta Courier 1-7-1860)

- Leased to Lew Burk in 1860 (Shasta Herald 4-28-1860)

- Sold to George P. McGuire 1-3-1861 (Shasta County
Deed Book G:703)

- Sold to Pauline Brown 12-8-1863 (Shasta County Deed
Book 1:155)

- Sold to 0. H. F Woodward 8-9-1873 (Shasta County
Deed Book 5:38-

- Condemned in 15 1 (Redding Record-Searchlight 7-1-1952)

The hotel was demolished just prior to the filling of
Whiskeytown Lake. The site of the hotel now lies beneath
the waters of the lake.

Whitney’s Hotel
This place was established in approximately 1852 eight
miles north of French Gulch beside the Trinity Trail
(mule packers trail) to Yreka at the foot of the Trinity
and Siskiyou mountains (Shasta Courier, 4-24-1852). It
was the last stopping place for man and mule before
starting the long climb to Trinity Center and Yreka and
was first known as the Mountain House Hotel, and lastly
as Whitney’s Hotel. Stage service began operating from
the hotel in 1858 (Frisbie and Beauchamp 1973:82). Some
foundations still exist. A private school currently
occupies the site.

HYDRAULIC MINES

When the surface placers began declining in their yields,
miners began using high-pressure water hoses to break down the
soil to-get to the old streambeds and deep gravels. This new
method became known as hydraulic mining or hydraulicking and
was very destructive because whole hillsides could be broken
down and washed away in a short time (Martin et al. 1981:72).

Hydraulic mining took place on Clear Creek at Horsetown as
early as 1856 (Giles 1949:62). In 1884, hydraulic mining was
outlawed by the passing of the Sawyer Decision brought about
mainly by Sacramento and San Joaquin val.ey farmers whose

40


was not subject to the restrictions, taxes, and controls
imposed on common carriers (Kett 1947:129). The Iron
Mountain Railway machine shop was removed in 1921 from
Keswick to a point on Boulder Creek convenient to both
Iron_Mountain and the Hornet mines after the suspension
of operations on the railroad (Kett 1947:127). The
railroad was eventually abandoned in favor of the aerial
tramway which carried ore from the mine to the main
railroad line at Matheson (Royston Hanamoto et al.
1991:7). Evidence of the Iron Mountain Railway system is
still present, especially the rail bed.

Mammoth Mine Railroad
An electric railroad and a five-mile long aerial tramway
were built to haul quartz rock from a quarry to the
smelter for fluxing (Martin et al. 1981:49) (Figure 12b).
In 1937, the main haulage level was equipped with rails,
several hundred feet of new crosscuts, and a storage-
battery locomotive (Averill 1939:175,191).

Old Diggings Railroad
See Central Mine Railroad.

Southern Pacific Railroad
In 1872, Central Pacific Railroad track laying reached
and stopped at the last level piece of land south of the
Sacramento River Canyon because of financial problems. A
town site was laid out and named Redding in honor of
Southern Pacific land agent B. B. Redding. In 1883, work
resumed northward through the Sacramento River Canyon.
Approximately 2,000 workers (mostly Chinese) performed
manual labor which included grading the roadbed, drilling
and blasting rock, and laying ballast, ties and rails.
Skilled masons were imported from Europe to build the
stone walls and culverts. In 1887, the northbound rails
met with the southbound rails at Ashland, Oregon. By
1888, express trains were running between Portland and
Oakland in only 38 hours carrying pullmans, coaches,
dining cars, and immigrant sleeper cars. The Sacramento
River Canyon route was officially known as the Shasta
Route, but it was promoted as the "Road of a Thousand
Wonders" and was the scenic highlight between Los Angeles
and Portland. Basic fare was $22. The railroad
reorganized in 1885 and became the Southern Pacific
Railroad, an empire that stretched from Portland in the
north to San Diego in the south and eastward to Ogden,
Utah and New Orleans, Louisiana (Royston Hanamoto et al.
1991:6).

Central Pacific Railroad tracks were laid along the
western side of the Sacramento River in the study area in
1883. In 1942 a portion of the mainline route was moved

82


Lost

This mine is a holding of Iron Mountain Mine. It is
located six miles northwest of Shasta near Slickrock
Creek (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:132). The mine was located
by James Sallee in 1880. Adjoining it on the northeast
is the Bear’s Nest, commonly known as the Magee clain,
and the Magee is joined on the northeast by the Camden
claim. These claims were consolidated into the Lost
Confidence Mining Company. In 1890, a 20-stamp mill and
two Bruckner furnaces were working at the mine (McGregor
1890:633).

Desert Mine
See Shasta King Group.

Louden Mine

See Friday-Louden Mine.

Lucky Boy Mine

Gold mine. Part of this mine was known as the Red Cut
Mine. The mine produced $20,000 prior to 1933. One man
was employed in 1932. In 1933 the owners planned to mine
with power shovels (Averill 1933:34).

Mad Dog Mine

Gold mine.

Mad Mule Mine

Gold mine. The Mad Mule Mine was also known as the
Banghart Mine. It was discovered and placered in the
early 1850s. It is located on Mad Mule Mountain
approximately 34 miles northwest of Whiskeytown. A 13
oz. crystallized gold specimen was taken from the mine
and exhibited at the 1878 Paris Exposition. Twenty-one
adits had been driven in the mine by 1893; the longest
was 1,400 ft. Production was estimated at approximately
one million dollars by 1912. The last publicly reported
mining occurred in 1926 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:45).

Mad Ox Mine

Gold mine. The Mad Ox Mine is located on the northern
tributaries of Whiskey Creek. The mine was successful
during 1893-94 (Toogood 1978:52). Developments in 1894
consisted of a 1,600 ft. tunnel which cost owners L. Reil
and-J. W. Woodward of nearby Stella $19,000 (Crawford
1894:252). The mine has been mostly idle since 1911.

Ore was treated in a 10-stamp mill during the 1930s
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:120). Other mining equipment
included an Ingersoll portable type compressor with a
capacity of two drills powered by a gasoline engine, a
Leyner drill sharpener, the before-mentioned 10-stamp
mill with 850 lb. stamps, a jaw crusher, and amalgamating
plates. The Maddox Mining Co. owneu the mine in 1933

61


downstream and crosses the
damsite under the old
stream channel.

Special treatment Grout blanket over entire
foundation area and a grout
curtain along the upstream

toe.
Height 157 ft.
Length at crest 1046 ft.
Thickness at base 260 ft.
Thickness at crest 20 ft.
Spillway Overflow section at left

side of dam controlled by
four 50 ft.sq. slide gates.

Spillway capacity 250,000 cubic ft.

Volume of concrete 197,000 cubic yards

Power Nine 23’x17’ fixed-wheel
gates.

Fish trap Concrete conduit through

dam controlled by one 5’x
5’ slide gate.

Shasta Dam
T33N RSW, Sec. 15. Shasta Dam is located on the
Sacramento River 12 miles north of Redding. The dam was
built by, and is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation,
for the specific purposes of river regulation,
navigation, improved fisheries and wildlife, power
generation, domestic water supply, irrigation, flood
control, and improved water quality (Figure 9).
Additional purposes are control of water quality, fish
conservation, and recreation. It is one of the largest
concrete gravity dams ever built in the United States (U.
S. Department of the Interior 1986:1,2). It is the key
structure of the Central Valley Project, and one of the
nation’s major water development projects. Shasta Dam
and powerplan- were deemed eligible for the National
Register by t:-. Office of Historic Preservation in
Sacramento fo. both historical and engineering
significance based on a 1990 submission by the Bureau of
Reclamation.

Pertinent Data
(U. S. Department of the Interior 1986:1,2)
(Bureau of Reclamation 1983:6)

Construction started 1938
Construction completed 1944 (6 yrs., 9 mos.)
Height of dam 602 ft.
Height, streambed to 487 ft.
spillway crest
Mass concrete 6,541,000 cubic yards.

22


the present day town a short distance south of St. Rose’s
Catholic Church on the same side of the road (Donald
Carlson, French Gulch, personal communication 1994).
Large vegetable gardens, sown and maintained by the
Chinese, were located near the Chinese settlement. The
vegetables were brought to French Gulch and sold by a
Chinese man named "John". One woman supposedly lived
here. The entire area has been dredged; there are no
remains.

Orchard of Benjamin Mix
T32N R6W, Sec. 9. In 1858, Benjamin Mix had an orchard
and fruit garden in the region consisting of
approximately nine acres incorporating 150 trees, 250
grapevines (some of which bore fruit for the first time
in 1858), and a vegetable garden exhibiting "fine growth"
(Anonymous 1858:226).

Tower House
Soon after acquiring a quarter section of land in 1852,
it is quite probable that owner Levi Tower immediately
began planting orchards and vegetable and fruit gardens.
By 1858, a 30-acre garden was enclosed with a "good"
fence and thoroughly cultivated. In addition:

...The orchard contains one thousand trees
of apples, pears, peaches, plums,
cherries, apricots, nectarines, etc., all
choice varieties of worked fruit, the
oldest of which were set in 1854. There
are also 400 grape-vines, affording
another evidence of the superior character
of the soil and climate of our mountain
regions for the early and abundant
production of fruit. One of the apple-
trees shown the Committee was from seed
planted in the Spring of 1854. In the
Spring of 1857 it blossomed - set and
ripened fruit in the month of July -
matured a second crop in the last of
August, and set a third, which were as
large as English walnuts, when the frost
came and interrupted their growth. The
first and second crop reached an average
of twelve and one-half inches in
circumference - were slightly tart, and of
excellent flavor. The tree is now (June
14th, 1858), four years and three months
old from seed, and is being under the load
of its fourth crop of fruit. Another
apple tree standing near this, only two
years old from seed, is bearing a number

34


importance it played in the early history of the entire
study area, the author would be remiss not to briefly
discuss it.

In 1852, Levi Tower purchased the property which already
included a trading post and a bridge across Clear Creek.
Tower immediately began building the Tower House Hotel.
When it was finished, the hotel quickly served as a
community center, election precinct, mining district,
communication hub, and quasi-courthouse (Toogood
1978:36). In 1858, the hotel became the stage depot for
the California-Oregon Stage Company and leased stables to
the stage company in order to provide fresh horses for
the trip to either Weaverville or Yreka (Toogood
1978:31). The hotel continued to enjoy a local and
regional reputation as a pleasant summer resort
throughout the 1870’s (Toogood 1978:36) and provided
overnight accommodations until it was destroyed by fire
in 1919 (Toogood 1973:47) and never rebuilt.

The Tower House Historic District was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places on July 2, 1973
(Federal Register 1978:5177).

Unknown
T32N RSW, Sacramento River vicinity. A small late 1800s
mining camp whose name is currently unknown, has been
archaeologically investigated (Vaughan 1986).

Waugh
T32N R5W, Sec. 28. This community took its name from
Joseph Waugh who built a hotel at the mouth of Middle
Creek at the Sacramento River crossing in 1883 with money
he received from the railroad for cutting off river
access for his ferry. Waugh and other Shasta businessmen
planned to make this new settlement the railroad depot
for Shasta. By 1885, the community served both passenger
and freight trains, boasted a Wells Fargo and Company
office, a telegraph office, and the Waugh Post Office
(Frisbie and Beauchamp 1973:9,10).

Whiskeytown
T32N R6W, Sec. 9. The townsite was first settled by gold
miners in 1849 and called Whiskey Creek for a barrel of
whiskey which fell into the creek. The major part of the
town now lies beneath Whiskeytown Lake (California
Department of Parks & Recreation 1976:164). Whiskey
Creek served as a collection point for county and state
taxes in 1852 indicating it was a densely populated area
(Toogood 1978:26). In 1855, Whiskey Town was also known
as Franklin (Shasta County Record Book R, pg. 356). The
Whiskeytown Hotel at Whiskeytown became the first place

103


ladies and gentlemen from our town have
been luxuriating upon the choice of fruits
and melons now to be had at this love of a
Place. Four or five days spent with

—agreeable ladies amid the fine scenery,
somewhat noted for sentimentalities once
told, beneath the shaded bowers, the walks
through the fine gardens and along the
rippling streams abounding with mountain
trout and bright shining gold as it is
taken from the rifflebox by the hardy
miner, the promenades amid the splashing
of fountains, by moonlight, all conspire
to elevate the spirits and to convince us
that "it is not good for man to be alone."
At no place will this be more fully
realized than by a visit to this oasis
among the mountains.

The Tower House was so appealing it attracted the
attention of the Union Democratic Senatorial Convention
who met there during the summer of 1861 (Toogood
1973:46). It continued to enjoy a local and regional
reputation as a pleasant summer resort throughout the
1870s (Toogood 1978:36). The hotel continued to provide
overnight accommodations until it was destroyed by fire
in 1919 (Toogood 1973:47) and it was never rebuilt.

Whiskeytown Hotel
This hotel opened for business as Mix’s Franklin House on
7-30-1853 according to the Shasta Courier of the same
day. The following advertisement appeared in the Shasta

Republican of 11-27-1855 announcing the planned
festivities:

Benjamin Mix would inform the public and
lovers of Dancing, that he will give a
GRAND OPENING BALL at his new hotel at

Whisky Creek,...on which occasion he would
be most happy to see his friends and
acquaintances.

The following article from the Shasta Republican of
128-1855 explained in detail the outcome of Mr. Mix’s
grand opening celebration:

Notwithstanding inclemency of the weather
of Wednesday afternoon, the attendance at
Mr. Mix’s hotel was very large, and
everything passed off in the most
agreeable manner. The music was
excellent, the repast sumptuous, and every

39


Ritter, Eric W.
1983 A Report on an Archaeological Survey of Land
Bordering the Sacramento River below Keswick

Dam, Shasta County, California. Submitted to
Bureau of Land Management, Redding.

Roberts, Genev Vickers

1981 Coram ~- A Flag Stop on the Southern Pacific.

e v , Pp. 24-32. Shasta
Historical Society, Redding.

Royston Hanamoto, Alley & Abey, Pace Engineering, and Michal
Moore

1991 Shasta County Sacramento River Greenway, A

Rails to Trails Master Plan. Submitted to
Shasta County, F dding.

Salley, Harry E.
1977 i i -197
La Mesa, California.

Smith, Dottie
1994 ct. r

2nd Edition. Draft copy on file, Bureau of
Land Management, Redding.

Southern, May Hazel
1942 Or Stori Sha:
California. P. Balakshin, San Francisco.

Steger, Gertrude A.

1966 Place Names of Shasta County. La Siesta Press,
Glendale, California.

Thornton, Mark V.
1991 An Inventory and Historical Significance
Evaluation of CDF Fire Lookout Stations.
Submitted to California Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection, Sacramento.

Toogood, Anna Coxe
1973 ic S$ icture Repo: ‘lowe: se Hi ic
District. National Park Service, San Francisco.

1978 Historic Resource Study, Whiskeytown National
Recreation Area, California. National Park

Service, San Francisco.
U. S. Department of the Interior
1985 Whiskeytown Unit Brochure. National Park
Service, Whiskeytown.

124


of apples. There is also a nursery on the
place of 1000 trees, assorted fruits,
beside fine rows of gooseberry, currant,
raspberry, and strawberry bushes, all
-bearing profusely...Water from springs in
the adjacent hills is brought in leaden
pipe, and continually plays from several
sparkling fountains in the yard, and also
a hydrant, to which a hose 50 ft. long
being attached, it throws the water
through a three-fourth inch nozzle 100 ft.
high... (Anonymous 1858:226,227).

The Tower House became the show place of the county.
Some of the fruit trees for the orchard were brought
around the Horn. In the early days, the orchard was the
main orchard north of Marysville (Southern 1942:50).

HOSPITALS

Coram Hospital

A medical facility was operated by Dr. Varian for
Balaklala Mine. It was also used by anyone needing
medical care (Kenyon 1971:50,51).

Gladstone Mine First Aid Dispensary

Iron

The first aid dispensary was located in a small building
to the east of the main house (Lintz 1985:30).

Mountain Mine Hospital

This hospital was considered well-equipped and included a
resident physician and a trained nurse on the staff who
provided adequate medical attention and prompt service in
case of accidents (Kett 1947:111). Physician’s did not
stay long--the first arrived in 1895 and left less than
two years later. This continued until 1919 when a good
hospital was available in Redding which, coupled with
fast and easy transportation, made the maintenance of the
hospital unnecessary (Kett 1947:152). Dr. J. E. Taylor
was the last resident physician. He left in 1919 and
started a private practice in Redding (Ward 1954:13).

The-hospital was destroyed by fire (along with many other

buildings) in 1897. It was possibly rebuilt (Renfree c.
1960s:2).

35


Mascot Mine

Gold mine. This mine was a gold quartz operation and
produced small but rich gold deposits prior to 1914
(Toogood 1978:57).

Mattie Mine
See Iron Mountain Mine. (Copper mine).

Menzel Mine
Gold mine. Some production occurred at this mine in
either 1880 or 1890 and the early 1930s. Gold was
recovered by amalgamation (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:121).

Merry Mountain Diggers Mine

Gold mine. This mine included 2,120 acres where heavy
strip mining took place in 1938 (Toogood 1978:64,65). A
search for uranium occurred on the property in 1954
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:121).

Minnesota Mine
Gold mine. The Minnesota Mine was first known as the
Rattler Mine. Ore was first worked in an arrastra (Lydon
and O’Brien 1974:121). In 1894, the mine contained four
tunnels. The mine controls three mountain streams which
unite at the mine giving a large amount of water power.
A small sawmill and a 10-stamp mill with 850 lb. stamps
run by a 3 ft. Pelton wheel under 360 ft. pressure were
located at the mine (Crawford 1894:255). An adit was
cleaned and retimbered in the 1930s (Lydon and O’Brien

1974:121). Mine property included 34 patented acres in
1939 (Averill 1939:144).

Morton & Bliss Mine
Gold mine. Ore was first worked in a 10-stamp mill
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:121). The 1915 workings included

a 380 ft. and 2,400 ft. tunnel, 500 ft. drift, and a 200
ft. raise and stope (Brown 1915:51).

Mountain Copper Mine
See Iron Mountain Mine.

Murray Mine .
Gold mine. A 400 ft. tunnel was located here in 1894

when it was owned by Barney Conroy of Redding (Crawford
1894:253).

Nellie and Annie Mine
Gold mine. The 1915 workings included a 340 ft. tunnel
and short drifts (Brown 1915:51).

No. 8 Mine ; ; .
Gold and silver mine. The No. 8 Mine is a holding of

64


1939:156). The property was purchased by I. J. Finberg
in 1939 who installed new equipment in the cyanide plant
and treated approximately 30,000 tons of ore mined from
an open pit above the shaft. The mine and the mill
closed in 1941 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:52).

Waters Mine

West

See Marshall Mine.

End Quartz Mine

Gold mine. This mine was also known as the Spanish Mine
and the West End Mine. It was active in the 1920s.
During the 1950s Gus Herman leased the mine. In 1962,
Herman subleased it (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:127).

Whiskey Creek Water & Mining Company

Gold mine. This was a gold quartz operation also known
as the Whiskey Creek Group. It produced small but rich
gold deposits prior to 1914 (Toogood 1978:57).

Whiskey Hill Mine

Gold mine. This mine was also known as the Tom Cook
Mine. It was possibly originally worked around 1900.
Included in the holdings are the Judy, Snow Bird, and
Blue Bell claims which were located in 1941. The mine
was last worked in the 1960s (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:55).

Winnie Mine

Wood

See East View Mine.

Gulch Mine

The 1970 remains included gossan ore mine shafts and
evidence of bygone mining activities and methods. A 1/2
acre site at the mine was inventoried and recorded by
USFS archaeologist Charles Crackel in the 1970s.

Woodward Mine

See Bell Mine.

Yellow Jacket Mine

Gold mine. This mine is located three miles northeast of
Copley (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:127). The 1894
development work at the mine consisted of an open cut and
a 50 ft. cross-cut tunnel (Crawford 1894:260).

NEWSPAPERS

Grizzly City was platted and even an issue of the Grizzly
City Gazette was published (Steger 1966:35). However, no

74


Cline Gulch Ditch
This was a one-mile long ditch constructed beside Cline
Gulch to provide water power for the Gladstone Mine
(Crawford 1894:249).

Slattery and Welch Ditch
Slattery and Welch conducted small scale hydraulic placer
gold mining approximately five miles northeast of French
Gulch at T33N R6W, Sec. 8 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:131).
Water was brought to their mining site from Clear Creek

and Clines Gulch through a three-mile long ditch (Brown
1915:54,55).

Williams & Company Ditch
T32N R6W. Shown on "Historical Base Map 1, 1850-1880" on
the north side of Clear Creek at the mouth of Whiskey
Creek (Toogood 1978:88).

DREDGING COMPANIES

Consolidated Gold Dredging Company
T32N RSW, Secs. 20 & 28. The Consolidated Gold Dredging
Company was a placer gold dredging company. The company
processed 50,000 yds. of gravel monthly with a bucket-
line dredge along the Sacramento River near Keswick in
1913 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:128) and employed 12 men
(Brown 1915:39).

Enterprise Engineering Company
T33N R7W, Sec. 11. The Enterprise Engineering Company
was a placer gold dredging operation that operated a
dragline type dredge for a few months in 1946 in Clear
Creek about 2% miles north of French Gulch. The company

was eventually sold and disbanded (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:129).

French Gulch Dredging Company
T33N R7W, Sec. 15. The French Gulch Dredging Company was
a placer gold dredging operation and operated on Clear
Creek approximately two miles north of French Gulch
(Figure 10a, 10b). A bucketline dredge was erected on
the site in 28 days by 12 men. Digging began in 1940
when approximately 4000 cubic yards of gravel were dug
every 24 hours. The dredge closed down during World War

II. Operations were completed in 1946. Dredge
particulars:

- hull contained 35 steel pontoons
- was 85 ft. long, 40 ft. wide, seven ft. deep
- contained an 85 ft. long digging ladder

29


RECOMMENDATIONS

It is the author’s belief that further, more intense and in
depth research work can be undertaken to supplement this
overview which has been limited by funding and time
constraints.

1.

It is recommended that archaeological surveys for

locations of historic features in the Grizzly Gulch area
be conducted.

It is recommended that further historical interpretation
and a more comprehensive study of the history of the
South Fork Mountain Fire Lookout Tower be undertaken to
determine its eligibility for the National Register of
Historic Places. Fire lookouts represent a finite and
dwindling historic resource.

It is recommended that archaeological ground surveys be
undertaken to determine the route of the Clear Creek
Ditch and location of its aqueducts for further

interpretation and nomination to the National Register of
Historic Places.

It is recommended that further historical study be
conducted at the Desmond Mine and its corresponding
claims.

It is recommended that further historical study be
conducted at the Sunshine Mine.

It is recommended that further historical interpretation
of the Ganim Mine be conducted to see if it is
potentially eligible for the National Register of
Historic Places.

It is recommended that a more comprehensive study of the
history of the town of French Gulch be undertaken. All
the information included in this report about the town is
strictly a data inventory and succinct overview; more
comprehensive research is desirable.

French Gulch is the location of some of the oldest known
and-still operating businesses in Shasta County which
date back to the time Shasta County was settled and
created by Euro-Americans.

French Gulch was placed on the National Register of
Historic Places on March 24, 1972. However, much of the
data used in the documentation process is incorrect.
These errors should be corrected during the comprehensive
study.

115


attended the classes (Lintz 1985:29). Two large houses
were designed by renowned architect Gustave Stickley and
built soon after the turn of the century. Both exist
today; one is vacant and one is occupied by the property
owners. These houses are referred to by locals as the
"Gladstone Mansions" (Figure 7a). However, the owner of
the property refers to them as the upper house and the
lower house. Mr. Jillson lived in the lower house and
the mine superintendent lived in the upper house. The
current owners live in the upper house, the smaller of
the two. This house is a wooden two-story structure with
a steep metal roof and a cedar shingle exterior. The
first floor contains an entry way, living room, dining
room, kitchen, pantry area, and water closet. The living
room has a large brick fireplace. The upper floor has
four bedrooms and one full bath. Three of the four
bedrooms have nooks or closets which contain sinks, some
with mirrored medicine cabinets. The unoccupied lower
house is the biggest of the two and was constructed about
1912. It is a wooden two-story structure with a steep
hip roof line and a cedar shingle exterior. The first
floor has an entry way, living room, dining room,
kitchen, pantry, and water closet. The upper floor has
four bedrooms, a sun room, a large landing area and one
full bath. All the bedrooms have sinks. Both houses
have dark wood paneling downstairs with an abundance of
woodwork, beams, sideboards, bookcases, and window seats
(Ramona Larramendy, French Gulch, personal communication
1994). The houses also contain long and wide concrete
verandas, wood floors, beveled window and door glass, and
stone fireplaces. The rock work was done by a
Scandinavian stonemason (Lintz 1985:29,30).

Dances were held every Saturday night in the recreation
hall for the employees. In later years, a spring-
supported dance floor and hall were built, and a 10-piece
band provided the entertainment. In approximately 1924,
the mine equipment was sold and the settlement all but
disappeared (Lintz 1985:29,30). All that remains are the
upper and lower houses, a few foundations, some rock
walls, ruins of the stamp mill, and mine tunnels.

Kennett
T33N R5W, Sec. 10. Although this town is not in the
study area, it was close, on the eastern side, and
influential with respect to the regional history.
Remains of the mining town now lie beneath the waters of
Shasta Lake (Martin et al. 1981:88).

Keswick
T32N R6W, Sec. 17. This town was named by Mountain
Copper Company, Ltd., for its president Lord William

99


Pertinent Data
(Bureau of Reclamation 1983:7)

~- Construction period 1960 to 1963

—Length 12,707 ft.
Diameter 18.5 ft.
Lining type Circular
Lining thickness 9/37"

Spring Creek Powerplant Tailrace Tunnel
Construction on this tunnel began in 1960 and ended in
1962. It is 567 ft. long and 21 ft. wide (Bureau of
Reclamation 1983:7,8).

108


34
35*
36
Ruins of Old Sawmill GLO Plat 1882-1919
House and Orchard GLO Plat 1881
Vacant House GLO Plat 1870-1872
T33N R7W
1*
2*
11
12* American Grp of Mines Wiegel’s 1908 Map
13* American Grp of Mines Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Power Lines (2) Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Wagon Road Wiegel’s 1908 Map
14*
15*
22*
23
24*
25
26*
27
34 Weaverville Turnpike Rd. GLO Plat 1868-1872
House and Barn GLO Plat 1868-1881
T34N RSW
19 Mining Claims Wiegel’s 1908 Map
30 Summit Group Claims Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Graves Group Claims Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Power Line Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Trail GLO Plat 1881
31 Mining Claims Wiegel’s 1908 Map
32 Trail GLO Plat 1881
Gravity Tram Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Mammoth Co. Mine Complex Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Aerial Tran Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Power Line Wiegel’s 1908 Map
Mammoth Mine Wiegel’s 1908 Map
T34N R6W
4*
5
6*
7
gx

113


APPENDIX 2

CALIFORNIA INVENTORY OF HISTORIC PLACES
and
NATIONAL REGISTER PROPERTIES

The following historical places or locations determined
eligible for the National Register of Historic Places are
located inside the Interlakes Recreation Area:

French Gulch Historic District
T33N R7W. Sec. 22. In 1935, the town of French Gulch was
designated as California Historical Landmark #166. On
March 24, 1972, the downtown French Gulch district along
both sides of French Gulch Road was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places (National Archives
of the United States 1978:5177).

French Gulch is a Gold Rush era mining town first
prospected in 1849 (California Department of Parks and
Recreation 1976:84). The earliest known major pack
trails, and later stages, passed through French Gulch
northward to Yreka and southeastward to Shasta.

According to the California Department of Parks &
Recreation (1976:84):

Mid-late-19th century small mining town in
area first prospected 1849, with 1-2-story
frame structures along Main Street, many
with false fronts and verandas, abandoned
mines nearby include stamp mill and other
original machinery. Orchard included,
developed from trees brought by ship around
Cape Horn...

According to the National Register of Historic Places

Inventory - Nomination Form 10-300, July, 1969 (page
198):

A town of 250+ inhabitants in a narrow
canyon between a hill and Clear Creek.
Almost all the buildings face a single

_ Main street. Improvements include a hotel, a Post
Office, a public school, a Catholic Church, two
cemeteries, two stores, an IOOF Hall, a Playhouse or
legitimate theater (in the former school building)
and several dozen dwellings mostly of considerable
age. There are large yards, numerous trees, white
picket fences, an irrigation ditch of fresh water
alongside the main street for part of its length,
and a pleasant trout stream in a rocky bed behind

137


Historic Data Inventory
of the
Shasta County
Interlakes
Special Recreation Management Area

By

Dottie Smith
Post Office Box 1147
Cottonwood, CA 96022

Report prepared for:
Bureau of Land Management

355 Hemsted Drive
Redding, CA 96002

Eric W. Ritter, Ph.D
General Editor

1995


Live Oak
Bookkeeper
Gopher
Bell

1902

32N

2

Grand Surprise

1902

32N

Goodwin Placer

1902

32N

tram road, cabin, open cut, tunnel,
blacksmith shop, shaft

Old Ben Placer

1902

32N

RR, cabin, tunnel

Lucky Cuss
Polar Star

1903

32N

cabin, tunnels, shafts
tramway, tunnel, pipeline, smelter
tunnel, house, RR, cut

Mitchell Bros.
Mine #1, 2, 3

1903

32N

2] 2/2] 2/2

4107

Statesman
Prohibitionist
Republican
Democrat
Socialist
Mugwamp
Politician
Senator
Judge
President
Congressman

1902

33N

RR, tunnel, open cuts
wood roads, flume, open cuts, road,
shaft, trails, cabin, tunnels

4108

Keswick
Consolidated

1903

32N

RR, tunnels, bunker, open cut, ore
shed, spur track

4127

Kiln

1903

32N

RR, tunnel

4128

Sundown
Sunset
Elevator
Sunrise

1903

32N

2/2

tunnels, RR

4136

Crown Point

32N

6W

house, wagon road, RR, tunnel

4138

Monte Cristo

1903

33N

6w

tunnels, sled road

4139

Newport Cons.
Harber Light
Alice Fraction

1903

33N

6W

wagon road, sled road, tunnels

4141

New Year

1903

33N

6w

SS eS eS Eee

tunnel

131


Whisky Creek School

This school was built in 1855 at a cost of $200. It did
not exist in 1858. The Whiskytown School District was
formed in 1859. A total of 26 children were in the
district in 1860 (Toogood 1978:38). (Note the spelling
of Whisky and Whiskytown for these years).

Uncle Sam Mine School
T33N R6W, Sec. 1; T33N R5W, Sec. 6. An “academic sabbath
school" was located at the Uncle Sam Mine in 1892
according to the Shasta Courier of 4-30-1892.

SETTLEMENTS / TOWNS / MINING CAMPS

Camp Bailey
T33N RSW, Sec. 32. This was a vacation resort (Salley
1977). According to Steger (1966:26), an 1885 Shasta
Courier article stated that Copley existed at the former
site of Camp Bailey. See Copley.

Copley

T33N RSW, Sec. 32 (Denny’s Map 1904). Copley was first
known as Camp Bailey, then as Copley, and lastly as
Motion. The Copley Post Office was established in 1886,
discontinued in 1913, and named for a Mr. Copley (first
name unknown) who operated the Camp Bailey vacation
resort (Salley 1977). Copley became headquarters of the
Flat Creek Mining District in the 1880s and the Great
Western Gold Co. in 1902. It was the location of a

Southern Pacific railroad siding and water tank (Smith
1994:58).

Coram
T33N RSW, Sec. 21. The settlement of Coram was
established in 1906 as a direct result of the building of
a smelter for Balaklala Mine. The Balaklala Consolidated
Copper Company built the smelter, and when it was
completed it was the largest smelter on the Pacific
Coast. It cost almost two million dollars to build
(Kristofors 1973:56). Coram was located just west of the
smelter. At one time the town contained 23 saloons.
Gambting halls were located in the rear of the saloons
where no-holds barred games of chance were held. The
town also contained 12 rooming houses, three hotels, two
butcher shops, three grocery stores, a drug store,
jewelry store, sporting goods store, post office,
hospital, a local telephone booth, and a long distance
booth. The hospital was owned by Balaklala Mine, ;
operated by a Dr. Varian, and available for anyone in
need of medical care. In 1910, Corum was incorporated

92


plant, an electric train consisting of 10 cars capable of
holding 2,200 lbs. each, shops, dwellings, nine miles of
power lines, five miles of telephone lines, an
electrically driven 30-stamp mill, concentrating tables,
and an electroplating plant. Mine tailings were dumped
into Clear Creek. There were 140 men employed with 40
men working above ground, 90 working in the mine, and 10
working in the mill. Approximately 70 gallons of water
per minute were pumped with electrical pumps. A new
hoist with a steel gallows was installed over the main
shaft (Brown 1915:43,44). Operations were suspended in

1917. No production has occurred since 1922 (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:43,44).

The Gladstone was possibly the deepest mine in the region
in 1939 and had produced to that time between $3,000,000
and $5,000,000 (Averill 1939:135). Accommodations for
the miners changed and shifted over the years.
Bunkhouses of various sizes were built for the men. At
one time a 100-man bunkhouse existed, later a 3-story,
64-man bunkhouse was built. In 1912, the town of
Jillsonville was built for the married employees and
included 20 three-room cottages (see Jillsonville).
Chinese workers were still in the area as late as 1910
and worked at the mine (Nielsen 1965:1-9). Gladstone
Mine freight wagons traveled to Redding every two weeks
for supplies; the trip took three days. The mine
equipment was sold after 1924. The only remaining
buildings are the mine superintendent’s house and Mr.
Jillson’s house (Lintz 1985:29,30) (Figure 7a). Other
remains include a few foundations and ruins of the stamp
mill. During the 1950s, the two houses and 3.10 acres
were split off from the Gladstone Mine parcel and sold as
a separate parcel. Personal communication from Ramona
Larramendy indicates that both houses appear to be
eligible for nomination to the National Register of
Historic Places (Ramona Larramendy, French Gulch,
personal communication 1994) because they represent the
architectural style of world-famous architect Gustave
Stickley and are an integral part of one of Shasta
County’s major mining operations.

Gladys Mine
See-North Star Mine.

Gold Bar Mine
Gold mine. Contains several 8 to 10 ft. deep shafts
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:116).

Gold Hill Mine
See Eiller Mine.

52


The hotel included a dance hall where formal balls for
ladies and gentlemen were held. The following

advertisement appeared in the Shasta Courier on 5-13-1854

to announce the upcoming Fourth of July ball:
I WOULD ANNOUNCE TO THE PUBLIC that every
preparation is being made to celebrate the
approaching anniversary of our nation’s
birth day, at the "TOWER HOUSE," ina
style worthy of the glorious occasion.
Indeed no exertions or expense shall be
spared in order to secure a large, as well
as a happy gathering. As an earnest of
this I will here state that I will run
several free coaches down the valley as
far as Tehama, for the accommodation of
all ladies, and for those gentlemen 10
may bring ladies with them. Recoli =<,
then, the 4th of July celebration a che
"Tower House."

A little more than a year later, we find the following
the Shasta Courjer of 8-25-1855:

Rusticating a few days for my health, at
one of the most delightful places in this
State, and the only spot in this section
of the country for recreation; surrounded
by majestic mountains, luxuriant verdure,
flowers and rich fruit, with cool bracing
air, invigorating the system after the
depressing effects of the great heat of
the valley.

From the Shasta Courier of 2-23-1856:

ALMOST A LYNCHING. On Friday last a man

who had been suspected of stealing for

some time past from the miners near the

Tower House was caught and taken to the

Tower House where a jury of miners was

empaneled, and the guilty fairly

established upon him by the miners jury’s
—verdict...(He was] whipped by rope and let go.

And another glowing account of the Tower House from the

Shasta Republican of 8-16-1856:

We know of no place more inviting for the
lovers of pleasure than the Tower House,
twelve miles north of Shasta We
understand that a very agreeable party of

38

in


When Tower finished his wagon road from Shasta to his
Tower House in 1853, county supervisors appointed twelve
road supervisors, three of whom were hotelkeepers on the
road between Shasta and the Tower House. They were
Tower, Mr. Vandeventer, and Mr. Short. By the end of
1853, Tower, and partners Ferrington and Wingate who
owned a sawmill near Whiskey Creek and a store at Shasta,
had financed nearly all improvements on the section of
road between Shasta and Whiskey Creek (Toogood 1978:26).

From the Shasta Courier of 11-19-1853:

We understand that Messrs. Ferrington and
Wingate have had some ten or twelve men
employed the past two weeks, in improving the
road leading from this place to Whiskey Creek.
We are further informed, that they have done
their work in a most thorough manner, so that
now it is quite practicable for a team to draw
a full load of hay over the road, and Messrs.
Ferrington and Wingate expect to be able to
haul lumber from their saw mill to this place
the entire winter through. Up to this time,
there has been, we presume, not less than
$2,000 expended in improving this road, by
Messrs. L. H. Tower, Ferrington and Wingate,
and other enterprising citizens.

The threat of a competing road through the Sacramento
River Canyon in 1855 caused great concern to businessmen
who stood to lose a great deal of revenue if the traffic
was diverted. By this time nearly half a million dollars
worth of freight was being hauled on the trail from
Shasta via the Tower House through French Gulch and over
the Scott Mountains annually to Yreka. Levi Tower
Pledged $10,000 for road repairs (Toogood 1978:28).

Levi Tower received a request from Siskiyou County
leaders to help support improvement of the trail through
French Gulch to Yreka in November of 1855 (Toogood
1978:27). The following excerpts are from an open letter
printed in the Shasta Courier on 11-17-1855 in which
Tower pledged $10,000 toward construction costs to
improve the trail:

Gentlemen: Your communication relative to the
practability of building a wagon road to Yreka
via Scott’s valley is before me, and I am
pleased to see that you feel so deep an
interest in the enterprise. There can be no
doubt of its feasibility, nor vf the advantages

87


FIGURE 5

a. Coram. Circa 1905. Compliments of
Shasta Historical Society.

b. Mammoth Mine aerial tramway.
The smelter is in the
distance (see smoke plume).
Aerial tramway is heading
down to Kennett. Circa
1915. Compliments of Shasta
Historical Society.

10


TO YREKA AND MOUNT SHASTA

pi R

\
me

OLD DIGGINGS

CHURNTOWN
Og newrown
eh HSRYTONN, 4

Waugh’s Ferry
Camden Toil Road

" OS @ QUARTZ HILL
ON SHASTA :
Middle C7 |g MIDOLB CREEK
MIDDLETOWN '@\” LOWER SPRINGS
MULETOWN:®@ Sait Crs

Aes ‘Op sas Manson House
IGO-PIETY HILL @ exe BRIGCSVILLE SOS EN
HORSETOWN N S

re s\ —

Reading Grant

Early Gold Mining Communities
(Frisbie and Beauchamp 1973:vi).


cto. Sha: fount: = (Frank and
chappeit 1881:37) on file at the Shetts County Library:

~— LUMBER. CHARLES BURNS, located two miles above
—Whiskytown, is prepared to furnish a superior
quality of all kinds of lumber for building

purposes. For prices, address, CHARLES BURNS,
Whiskytown.

SCHOOLS

Blair-Stella-Whiskeytown School

The location of this school is indicated on the 1891
Official Map of Shasta County.

Gladstone Mine School

Hart

Iron

Beginning in approximately 1912, school for the children
of the Gladstone Mine workers was held in the company
recreation room on company property. The school became

part of the Shasta County school system in 1912 (Lintz
1985:29).

School
A school existed at the settlement of Hart at
approximately the turn of the century (Steger 1966:38).

Mountain School

In approximately 1912, the school was located on the
second story above a boarding house. The students could
look through cracks in the floor to the floor below and
see people eating (Cabitto 1977:44).

Mammoth Mine School

In approximately 1907, the school stood on the end of a
ridge which dropped off into the canyon on three sides.
The school was one room, contained a wood stove, and had
one outside outhouse for usually between 30 to 35
students of approximately 20 different nationalities.

The one-room school housed nine grades. Baseball,
stickball, and a game called blackman were played outside
on the flat (Lowden 1977:32).

Spring Creek School

T32N R6W, Sec. 1.

Taylor School

The town of Taylor included, for a time, a school house
and five teachers who educated approximately 300 children
in the late 1890s and early 1900s (Kett 1947:113).

91


CONVEYOR BELT
(Redding to Shasta Dam)

When built in 1938, the conveyor belt from Redding to the
Shasta Dam locality was the longest in the world (9.6 miles
long). It was an endless belt similar to a department store
escalator. It’s purpose was to transport aggregate from
dredge tailings in Redding to the concrete-mixing plant near
Shasta Dam (Coram) where it was made into the cement used to
build Shasta Dam. The belt traversed up and over hills, and
crept down and across canyons at 6% mph. In many places it
almost hugged the ground, while in places where the obstacles
couldn’t be removed, they were bridged. The belt crossed the
Sacramento River twice, crossed four creeks, five county
roads, the state highway, and the mainline of Southern Pacific
railroad. The belt rolled along carrying hundreds of tons of
aggregate night and day, month after month, for four long
years until the required 10,000,000 tons of aggregate had been
delivered. It started at an elevation of 490 ft. at Redding
and crossed a pass at 1450 ft. above sea level near the dam
site. It glowed at night with its scattered lights along the
entire route. Sides of the belts were held up by two outside
rollers set in the frame at an angle which formed a trough and
kept the sand and gravel from falling off. The conveyor was
made up of 40 sections or flights with varying lengths of
belts depending on the contour of the hills. The first 22
sections were powered by 200 horsepower motors. The next four
sections went downgrade as much as 25% to the Sacramento River
and required no power but created, because of the weight of
the load in motion, kinetic energy. The kinetic energy in
turn generated electricity which helped pull the other
sections up the steep hills. The last 14 sections, climbing
from the river to the stock piles and the mix plant, required
200 horsepower motors to move each flight. Telephone stations
were installed along the entire route of the belt for
emergency use. There were also automatic electric controls
which could be used to stop the entire belt if a section
became out of order. Signs were posted all along the route
and at each transfer point which stated:

KEEP OFF - BELT STARTS WITHOUT WARNING - DANGER

When loads reached the end of each flight, they were dumped
through a steel chute into the next section, where they
continued their chute-to-chute ride all the way to the
concrete mix plant (California Department of Education
1942:66,71).

A maintenance or service road was built beside the conveyor
belt which became known as the Beltline Road. Many small
portions of it still exist at sporadic places. All are in
poor condition.

20


nearly as well now as when they were first
discovered, some sixteen years ago[1851].

A 19% POUND nugget was found in 1923 as well as a piece
of haneycombed gold valued at $10,000 (Steger 1966:45).

Matheson
T32N RSW, Sec. 5. Matheson served as the railroad
terminus for Iron Mountain Mine. Ore was hauled from the
mine to the main railroad line at Matheson. The rail
line was replaced by the Iron Mountain Tramway (aerial
tramway) in 1921 (Kett 1947:129). In 1953, the tram was
extended one mile from Keswick to Matheson (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:70) and operated intermittently into the
1970s (Royston Hanamoto et al. 1991:7). Remnants of the
tram still exist.

Middle Creek
T32N RSW, Sec. 28. A settlement existed at the mouth of
Middle Creek and the Sacramento River in 1849 (Steger
1966:47). In 1883, the settlement became the location of
a siding and railroad depot built to serve Shasta.
Stagecoaches carried passengers and mail from the depot
to Shasta and other points north and west. Stagecoach
services lasted into the 1920s. The community became
known as Waugh after the railroad depot was completed,
named for Joseph Waugh, who granted the railroad a right-
of-way through his property to build the depot (Royston
Hanamoto et al. 1991:7). See Waugh.

Motion
This location was named by an unknown goldminer who
overindulged in drinking "knockumstiff" and went through
the m-0-0-0-t-i-o-n-s of a-pu-u-k-i-n (Conway
1970:47). See Copley.

Old Diggins
T32N RSW, Sec. 4. This place was also known as the Old
Diggings District and the Buckeye District. It was first
settled by miners from Ohio, the Buckeye State, hence the
name. In later years, it became known as Old Diggings
when the abandoned mines were reopened after a quarter
century of nonuse (Steger 1966:50). The Old Diggins
District was extremely productive just after the Gold
Rush when hydraulicking produced large amounts of placer
gold. Considerable amounts of lode gold were recovered
from the Reid Mine from approximately 1904 until 1919.
While recovering the gold, the quartz was used as flux in
the Kennett smelter (Clark 1979:140). At approximately
the turn of the century, a small narrow gauge railroad
hauled quartz to the mainline for further hauling to the
smelter at Keswick where it was used as flux (Colby

101


Gudde, Erwin G.
1969 California Place Names - The Origin and
cu: i

University of California Press, Berkeley and
Los Angeles.

Hemsted, Phil
1961 Legends of Shasta County. The Covered Wagon
p- 51. Shasta Historical Society, Redding.

’

Hiatt, Katherine Clements
1974 The Pioneer Hiatt Family at Quartz Hill. The

Covered Wagon, p. 18. Shasta Historical
Society, Redding.

Johnson, Beulah

1978 Chips and Sawdust. Privately published,
Redding.

Kenyon, Mark E.

1971 Coram. The Covered Wagon, pp. 50-51. Shasta
Historical Society, Redding.

Kett, William F.
1947 Fifty Years of Operation by the Mountain Copper

dul .
California Division of Mines, California State
Printing Office, San Francisco.

Kristofors, Kris Vidar
1973 fe) ini i
iforni = A nv. fe}
Study. Master’s thesis, Chico State College.

Lintz, Ed
1985 The Gladstone Mine, A 30 Year Fascination. The
Covered Wagon, pp. 25-31. Shasta Historical
Society, Redding.

Logan, C. A.
1926 Shasta County. Report of State Mineralogist
22, pp. 121-216. California State Printing
Office, San Francisco.

Lowden, Spencer E.

1977 Life at the Mammoth Mine, 1907 - 1918. The
Covered Wagon, pp. 31-41. Shasta Historical

Society, Redding.

122


Balaklala Mine Buildings. Circa
1910. Compliments of Shasta
Historical Society,

b. Railroad spur to the

Mammoth Mine Smelter.
Date unknown. Compliments
of Shasta Historical
Society.

44

FIGURE

12


region (Grizzly Gulch], and high up upon the
tributary gulches of Grizzly the richest
deposits are found deep in the hillsides, in
the beds of the ‘lost’ ravines which have been

—obliterated by the volcanic agencies which
formed the present mountains...On the west side
of Clear Creek, a lead of richly paying ground
has for about two years been worked with the
‘hydraulic apparatus,’ by Messrs. Eastman & Co.
If we recollect rightly, the depth of the
deposit at these diggings is about thirty feet,
and the general course of the lead appears to
be about northwest and southeast. Following
its course across Clear Creek, the same deposit
can be seen in the point of the hill at the end
of Oak Bottom, and at some future day, it will
no doubt be followed far into the hill by some
enterprising miners.

Gold quartz claims were being bonded as late as 1878 by
San Francisco capitalists in Grizzly Gulch (Steger
1966:35).

Hart
T32N R5W, Sec. 4. This location was an 1890s gold mining
settlement located on the east side of the Sacramento
River near the Texas Mine and Walker Mine Road. It was
also known as Hart Village, Hart Mining Village, and, in
later years, became the location of Old Diggings. The
settlement was named for Richard G. Hart, Sr., a
prominent mining man who owned the Texas Mine. The Hart
Post Office was established in 1891 and was discontinued
in 1900. The village consisted of a store, post office,
telegraph service, school, and houses (Steger 1966:38).

Hooverville
The settlement of Hooverville was actually a tent camp
that existed on the outskirts of Whiskeytown during The
Depression. Residents were made up of families who
migrated into the area to mine for gold. The men set up
small mining operations mainly in Whiskey and Clear
Creeks (Toogood 1978:62).

Jillsonvitle
T33N R6W, Sec. 18. Jillsonville was a settlement of the
Gladstone Mine established for the married employees and
their families and named for mine owner I. 0. Jillson.
The settlement consisted of approximately 20 three-room
cottages that were built in 1912 at the upper end of
Cline Gulch. Bunkhouses for single men were also built on
the mine property. School classes were held in the
company recreation room. From six to 10 students

98


(Averill 1933:35).

Maduro Mine

Gold mine. By 1915 only enough work had been done to
hold_the claims (Brown 1915:48).

Magee Claim
See Lost Confidence Mine.

Mammoth Mine

Gold, lead, silver, copper, and zinc mines. The Mammoth
is located 13 miles northwest of Redding between Little
Backbone and Squaw creeks. The smelter was located at
Kennett (Figure 5b). A combination of wagon roads,
aerial tramways, and rails eventually connected the mine
with the smelter (Kristofors 1973:17,18) (Figures 5b,
12b). It was located by a Mr. Frazier in 1882, mined for
gold by a Mr. Neslon the same year, and purchased by R.
M. Saeltzer and Associates of Redding in 1900 (Kristofors
1973:26). This mine was purchased in 1904 by the Mammoth
Copper Mining Company, a subsidiary of U. S. Smelting,
Refining and Mining Company. It operated continuously
from 1905 to 1919 and again from 1923 to 1925. The
company built a smelter at Kennett in 1905 which operated
until 1919 and again briefly in 1924 (Figure 5b). It was
dismantled in 1925 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:39). The
smelter was enlarged in 1907 and replaced the Coram
smelter as the largest and most modern on the Pacific
Coast. Kennett soon replaced Keswick as the second
largest Shasta County community with 3,000 residents
(Kristofors 1973:26,34). The smelter smokestack was 12
feet in diameter and 150 feet high (Kristofors 1973:46).
Between 1905 and 1925, the mine yielded 3,311,145 tons of
copper ore (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:39) and was the
largest copper producer in California during the years
1908-1919 (Kristofors 1973:26). The only recorded
production of cadmium in California was from the
electrolytic zinc plant at Mammoth during 1917 and 1918
when several thousand lbs. of cadmium metal were produced
(Averill 1939:115). During peak operations, as many as
2,300 men were employed at the mine which included as
many as 20 different nationalities from around the world.
Many employees were killed from cave-ins or blasting
accidents (Martin et al. 1981:88). Recreation facilities
included a baseball field (see front cover photo).

A baghouse was built in 1910 in an attempt to control the
toxic fumes because of farmer protests (Kristofors
1973:26). The baghouse function was to remove the
arsenic, sulphur, and other impurities from the fumes
(Brown 1915:24). The baghouse was larger than the .
smelter and contained nearly 3,000 bags measuring 18" in

62


ore cars and carried down the mountainside to the Kennett
smelter. The tram was gravity operated meaning that
descending loaded ore cars pulled empty ascending ore
cars on an endless cable (Lowden 1977:37).

Reid Mine Tramway
Remaining mine equipment in 1933 included, among other
things an "...aerial cabletram and terminals with ore-
bins at the mine and at the railroad" (Averill 1933:47).

ARRASTRAS

Arrastras were the earliest type of rock-crushing machinery.
They were made of stone and pulverized ore between a
stationery stone slab and a moving stone slab drawn ina
circle by either man or beast (see Figure 6). The object of
crushing ore was to separate the gold from the quartz.
Arrastras were known to have existed at the Dreadnaught Mine,
Hope Mine, Hummingbird Mine, and Minnesota Mine (see each),
and arrastras were found by BLM along Rock Creek and near
Shasta (internal files, BLM, Redding).

BRIDGES

Clear Creek Bridge at the Tower House
T32N R7W, Sec. 3. The bridge was not located within the
ISRMA. It stood at the very edge, in fact, only a
stone’s throw downstream from the present Highway 299W
bridge across Clear Creek. Because of the importance the
bridge and the nearby Tower House played in the early
history of the entire ISRMA, it is included in this
report.

The bridge was first called the Free Bridge simply
because tolls were not charged. Over the years, the
bridge became known as the Tower House Bridge, the Clear
Creek Bridge, Camden’s Bridge, and the Covered Bridge.

In 1852, Levi Tower purchased the property on which the
"free bridge" already existed. Tower set to work
building the Tower House, which became one of the most
popular hotels in northern California.

In the early part of 1854, Tower applied for and received
a license from Shasta County to charge tolls across his
bridge (Toogood 1978:26). In 1858, he built a new bridge
(Toogood 1978:29).

In 1864, the bridge and the Tower House were owned by
Charles Camden. Camden made the following improvements

12


discontinued again in 1913. It was named for the

Whitehouse & Bliss Mining Company that owned and operated
the Central Mine (Salley 1977).

POWERPLANTS

Keswick Powerplant
T32N RSW, Sec. 21. This powerplant is located at Keswick
Dam nine miles downstream from Shasta Dam. It began
operating in 1949 and contains three generating units

with a total capacity of 75,000 kilowatts (Bureau of
Reclamation 1983:3,8).

Shasta Powerplant
T33N RSW, Sec. 15. The powerplant is located at the base
of Shasta Dam on the west side of the Sacramento River 12
miles north of Redding (Figure 9). It is one of the
largest hydroelectric plants in California. Shasta Dam
and powerplant were deemed eligible for the National
Register of Historic Places by the Office of Historic
Preservation in Sacramento for both historical and
engineering significance based on a 1990 submission by
the Bureau of Reclamation.

Pertinent Data
(U. S. Department of the Interior 1986:3)

Began operating 1944
# of generators 5
Generator ratings 2 @ 125,000 Kw

1 @ 118,000 Kw
2 @ 105,000 Kw

# of penstocks 5

Penstock size 15 ft. in diameter
Building height 156 ft.

Building width 21 ft.

Building length 450 ft.

Spring Creek Powerplant
T32N R5W, Sec. 18. This is located on an arm of Spring
Creek at Keswick Reservoir. It began operating in 1964
and—-contains two generators with a total capacity of
150,000 kilowatts (Bureau of Reclamation 1983:4,8).

RAILROADS
Central Mine Railroad (Old Diggings Railroad) —
Central Mine operated an approximately five-mile long

narrow gauge railroad line from the mine at Quartz Hill

80


Desmond Mine .. .
Diamond King Mine .
Dreadnaught Mine .
Early Bird Mine. .
East View Mine ....
Eiller Mine. .....
Ellis Mine ......
Emigrant Mine .

Evening Star Mine
Fremont Mine ....
Friday-Louden Mine .
Gambrinus Mine .. .
Ganim Mine .....
Georgia Mine ....
Giant Consolidated .
Gladstone Mine .. .
Gladys Mine. ....
Gold Bar Mine. ....
Gold Hill Mine ....
Golden Blanket Mine. .
Grab Mine. ......
Great Verde Mine ...
Grindstone Mine. .
Happy Go Lucky Mine
Hartman Mine...
Holman Mine...
Hope Mine. ....
Hornet Mine...

Hummingbird Mine .
Index Mine Group ...
Indiana and Last Chance
Inez Mine... ....
Iron Mask Mine ..
Iron Mountain Mine
Isabel Mine... .
J.I.C. Mine. ...
Janice Group ...
Jay Eye See Mine .

Jealous Mine . . .
Josephine Mine . .
Jumping Jack Mine .
Kanaka Mine. .....

Keystone Mine...
King Copper Group .
Kit Carson Mill .

Lady Slipper Mill

Last Chance Mine .
Liberty Mine ...
Lindsay Mine ...
Little Maud Mine .
Little Nellie Mine

xi

er ere: ry


diameter by 34% ft. long spaced ten inches apart. The
bags accumulated between 12 to 15 tons of dust every 24
hours containing considerable quantities of lead, gold,
silver, and zinc (Kristofors 1973:63). By 1915, over
60,000 ft. of tunnels, drifts, stopes, etc. existed at
the mine. The Coleman level was the lowest tunnel and
was over 2,200 ft. long and hauled ore from all parts of
the workings to the surface where it was dumped into bins
and transported to the smelter on electric cars. Mine
equipment consisted of compressors, a sawmill, various
shops, railways (both electric and steam at the smelter),
ore bins, dwellings, etc. (Brown 1915:23). The smelter
and mine closed in 1919 because of a decline in copper
prices (Kristofors 1973:26). The smelter briefly
reopened in 1924 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:39). In 1925,
the smelter was sold for salvage (Kristofors 1973:26).
The mine briefly reopened in 1937 for a development
campaign (Averill 1939:127). A new camp was built
consisting of a shop, boarding house, bunk house, office,
and two-stage air compressor at the 470 ft. level. The
four-mile steep mountain road from Kennett was made
accommodating to autos in dry weather and the main
haulage level was equipped with rails, several hundred
feet of new crosscuts, and a storage battery locomotive
(Averill 1939:175,191). Mammoth Mine has yielded
approximately 7,416,965 oz. of silver (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:135). Total zinc production was approximately
313,711,000 lbs., including 84,000 tons of unsorted ore
mined in 1914/1915 that averaged 21.10% zinc (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:137). The mine yielded 132,510 oz. of gold
from copper-zinc ore during the years 1905 to 1925 (Clark
1979:142).

Manlove Mine

Gold mine. The 1894 developments included a 45 ft. shaft
and two 50 ft. tunnels. The owner was J. E. Manlove
(Crawford 1894:252).

Marion Mine

Gold mine located in the vicinity of Whiskeytown. The
Marion Mine produced fifty tons of $300 assay ore in 1883
(Toogood 1978:50).

Marshall-and Walters Mine

Copper mine. This mine is located five miles west of
Shasta Dam and included a 400 ft. long tunnel in 1915
(Brown 1915:25).

Martin Mine
See Truscott Mine.

63


Sulphide Mine

Copper mine. This mine was worked after the turn of
century but has been idle after 1913 (Toogood 1978:70).

Summit Group
Copper mines. This mine adjoins the Mammoth Mine. The
Summit Group was active intermittently prior to 1902
until the mid 1910s. Included in the holdings are three
adits; one is 400 ft. long with a 350 ft. raise (Lydon
and O’Brien 1974:109). The 1915 equipment included a 4-
drill Sullivan compressor, shop, and dwelling (Brown
1915:29). See Sutro Mine.

Sunshine Mine
Gold mine. The Sunshine was owned by Sunshine Gold
Mining Company of Nevada along with 530 surrounding
acres. Improvements included a concrete dam to make a
water reservoir of the old workings, and a mill capable
of crushing four tons of ore per hour. The mine operated
sporadically during the 1940’s and closed in
approximately 1949 (Toogood 1978:66).

Sutro Mine
Copper mine. This mine includes the old Sutro Mine and
Summit Group. The mine was active around 1908 and was a
producer from 1913 to 1918 and from 1923 to 1925.
Workings include six adits (one is 2,000 ft. long) plus
extensive drifting (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:109).

Texas Consolidated Mine
Gold mine. The principal production period for this
mine was around 1890 when 75 men dug approximately 40
tons of ore per day by hand. Ore was crushed on site in
a 20-stamp mill. The main adit was 1,600 ft. long (Lydon
and O’Brien 1974:51). It was owned by Messrs. Hart and
Flemming in 1890 who also owned and worked the nearby
Georgia Mine. The following mine information was taken
from McGregor (1890:629,630):

Altitude 1,620 ft.
Dimensions of claims 1,500 x 600 ft.
Nearest town Redding
Nearest distance to railroad 14 miles

- Cost of freight from RR to mine $2 per ton
Cost of freight from San Francisco

to nearest RR $13.50 per ton
Average width of vein 8 ft.

Length of tunnels timbered 1,200 ft.
Dimensions of tunnels 4 x 6% ft.
Formation passed through Ledge matter
Number of feet run per shift 2 ft.

Length of ore shoot 400 ft.

69


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was very cooperative
and helpful in providing assistance for this report in the
form of maps, photographs, book sources, draft review, and
even manual labor. Charles Murphy, a BLM summer volunteer
from the Student Conservation Association, provided
invaluable, time-consuming assistance by compiling pages of
miscellaneous data extracted from numerous maps. Marka Gibson
graciously typed the data. Julie Downey, Forestry Technician,
Eric Morgan, Outdoor Recreation Planner, and Steve Uhles, OHV
Program Manager, were very helpful. Dr. Winfield Henn of the
Shasta-Trinity National Forest provided constructive comments
on the draft report and made available his agency’s printing
facilities for the duplication of this document. Shauna Ritter
provided the cover stock of recycled paper through the
courtesy of Simpson Paper Company.

Every French Gulch citizen contacted was very
cooperative, eager to help, and willing to provide input.
They were Donald (Don) Carlson, David (Dave) Britton, Libbie
Dowling, Bernice Fox, Janet Landles, Ramona Larramendy, and
Patrick (Pat) McCabe. Other citizens contacted who lived in
other towns were James (Jim) Westlake (Lower Springs), Gwen
Nichols (Redding), Richard Hart (Shasta), and Alice and Thomas
Landles (Mendocino).

The Shasta Historical Society, especially Wayne Rich and
Bert Walsh, eagerly provided an abundance of information as
well as historic photographs and maps. Donna Kattenhorn,
Reference Librarian at the Redding branch of the Shasta County
Library, was also very helpful in providing historical data as
was William (Bill) Jones, Head of Special Resources at the
Special Collections Library at Chico State University.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to both Eric and Pat
Ritter. Pat Ritter unselfishly assisted this author in
scouring through piles of theses, books, reports, manuscripts,
maps, etc. at the Special Collections Library at Chico State
University. However, special acknowledgement is made to her
husband, Dr. Eric Ritter, for the never-ending encouragement
provided throughout the entire compilation of this report.

Thank you BLM, especially Dr. Ritter, for giving me the
opportunity to research and write this report which I hope the
reader will find to be very exciting and interesting. And
thank you, one and all, for your valued help.

vii


communication 1994). The settlement consisted of rows of
weather-beaten huts huddled together side-by-side. The
location was also the site of a garden whose vegetables
were brought to French Gulch and sold by a Chinese man
named "John". Only one woman supposedly lived at
Chinatown. The entire area has been dredged; there are
no remains.

Nielsen (1965:1-9) gives the following insight into some
of the goings on at Chinatown:

Chinese workers from the Gladstone Mine came
here to recreate on their time off. They would
put twenty-five cents on a round table at Sing
Gim’s store for the old Chinese opium users.
Sing Gim would pocket the twenty-five cents, go
to the basement, and return with a little round
pottery bowl of sticky, black stuff, which the
old opium smokers would accept with shaking,
grateful hands, take their pipes and repair to
the room off the store where there were bunks
and fade into peaceful dreams. It was surcease
for the Chinese lads. They visited among their
kind, picked up news of their homeland, and
before returning to the Gladstone, usually made
a purchase of Hi Mi (dried shrimps), dried
abalone, bean threads, and a pressed fish,
which they made into a tasty dish of SiFoon,
and usually a gallon of meat and malt whiskey
(vigor in every drop). From this whiskey, they
made a sure cure for rheumatism - take one
live, good-sized rattlesnake and place it in
one gallon of meat and malt whiskey. Let stand
for several days and serve in a shot glass.
Pain ceases and comfort ensues...

Grizzly Gulch
Once the home of the grizzly bear, the Grizzly Gulch
Mining District was one of the first ten Shasta County
districts listed in the 1850 census. Supposedly Grizzly
City was platted and even an issue of the Grizzly City
Gazette was published (Steger 1966:35).

In-t855, Brown’s House (hotel) existed at the mouth of
Grizzly Gulch according to the August 11, 1855 issue of
the Shasta Courier.
Rich gold strikes were made throughout 1854 at Grizzly
Gulch according to the Shasta Courier of 8-25-1855. The
Shasta Republican of 4-12-1856 states:

Large nuggets are frequently found in this

97


Reynolds Mine

Copper mine. This mine is located four miles west of
Shasta Dam (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:108).

Richmond Mine
Pyrite mine. The Richmond Mine is a holding of Iron
Mountain Mine. It was mined from 1926 to 1956 (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:70). See Iron Mountain Mine.

Scottish Chief Mine
Gold mine. In 1915, this mine contained 120 patented
acres located 1/2 mile northwest of Copley in the Flat
Creek Mining District. It was owned by W. Menzel.
Workings consisted of an 800 ft. tunnel, and an old 3-ft.
Huntington mill (Brown 1915:53,54).

Shasta King Group
Copper, silver, and zinc mines. Mine holdings also
included the Lost Desert and Trinity mines. It was owned
and operated by Trinity Copper Corporation from 1902
until 1909 when 15,000 tons of ore were processed at the
Balaklala Mine smelter at Coram (Figure 5a). The mines
were idle from 1909 to 1917. In 1918, they were leased
by U. S. Smelting, Refining and Mining Company which
operated until 1919 and processed 68,889 tons of ore.
They were sold in 1961 to Shasta Minerals and Chemical
Company (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:40). Total silver
production was approximately 69,578 oz. and total zinc
production was approximately 14,700,000 lbs. (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:108,135,137).

Shasta Mine
See Gambrinus Mine.

Shasta Quartz and Placer Mining Company
Gold mine. This was a gold quartz operation which
produced small but rich gold deposits prior to 1914
(Toogood 1978:57).

Shirttail Mine
Gold mine. This mine is located approximately one mile
west of Shirttail Peak. It has been long idle (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:124).

Skookum Mine
Copper mine. This mine is part of the Walker Corporation
Group (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:109).

Slide Mine
Gold mine. The Slide Mine is located one mile north of
Keswick and contains a 700 ft. adit and 600 ft. of drifts
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:124). It was owned by J.

67


and was at one time the smallest incorporated city in the
United States (after the smelter closed and only 30
people lived in town) (Kenyon 1971:50,51). Property
taxes were never assessed in Coram because enough money
was collected from saloon licenses to pay all the town
expenses. Drinking water came from Motion Creek and was
stored in two 20’x20’ redwood tanks above the town. A
fire destroyed all the buildings in town and left in its
wake only the cellars (Kenyon 1971:50-51). Other
facilities at Coram included repair shops, offices,
residences, and a three-mile long aerial tramway from the
mine to the settlement (Royston Hanamoto et al. 1991:7).
Southern Pacific Railroad built a station and warehouse
where the spur met the mainline grade. Well over 1000
people lived at Coram by 1910 (Roberts 1981:25). On July
1, 1911, the Shasta County Farmers’ Protective
Association succeeded in closing the smelter by legal
action (Kristofors 1973:26) and within two months the
smelter was partially dismantled causing the town to
become nearly deserted (Kristofors 1973:74). But the
mine operated until the end of World War I with
intermittent operations thereafter (Kristofors 1973:26).
In 1918, the town was disincorporated (Roberts 1981:25).

French Gulch
T33N R7W. This community was established in 1849 by
French-Canadian miners who arrived via the Trinity Alps
and conducted the first gold mining in the area. The
first settlement was called Morrowville and was located
1.5 mile west of the present town beside French Creek.
Shasta County’s first white male baby, C. F. Montgomery,
was born at French Gulch in 1851. The French Gulch Hotel
was built in 1853 as an addition to the already existing
Batavia House (see Figures 10b, 14). Also built the same
year just south of the French Gulch Hotel, was the Empire
Hotel. Cram, Rogers & Co. began providing regular
express service to and from French Gulch in 1853. In
approximately 1854, the residents of Morrowville moved
into town because mining was being carried on in the
streets and under the houses. Terence Maher donated two
acres for the Catholic Cemetery in 1855 (Smith 1994:97).

Gotd mining was very productive according to the Shasta
Courier of 8-25-1855:

...the whole valley approaching (French
Gulch]...has been turned up, and yet the earth
continues to pay remarkably well.
And it was even more so just six months later according
to the Shasta Courier of 3-1-1856:

93


Fielding
This post office was established at the Mountain House on

Iron Mountain 1897 and was discontinued in 1903. It was
named for C. W. Fielding (Salley 1977).

French Gulch

This post office was established in 1856 and named for
the French goldminers who conducted the first goldmining

in the area, and for whom the town was named. It is
still in operation (Salley 1977).

Hart
This post office was established in 1891, discontinued in
1900 and named for Richard G. Hart, Sr., a prominent
mining man of the 1890s who owned the nearby Texas Mine.
It was located in the village of Hart on the east side of
the Sacramento River where Walker Mine Road ends at the
river (Salley 1977). In later years, the Old Diggings
Post Office was in the same general location.

Iron Mountain
This post office was established at Iron Mountain Mine in
1885 and discontinued in 1886. It was named for the
mountain on which the post office was located (Salley
1977).

Keswick
This post office was established in 1896, discontinued in
1923, re-established in 1962, and discontinued again in
1965. It was named for Lord William Keswick, chairman
and principal stockholder of Mountain Copper Co., Ltd.
(Salley 1977).

Kilna
This post office was established in 1852 near the mouth
of Middle Creek and the Sacramento River. It was
discontinued in 1853 (Salley 1977).

Kimberly
This post office was established at the Balaklala Mine in
1907 and discontinued in 1913. It was named for Mr.
Kimberly, principal owner and promoter of the Balaklala
Mine (Salley 1977).

Mammoth
This post office was established at the Mammoth Mine in
1907, discontinued in 1921, re-established in 1923, and
discontinued again in 1925. It was named for the mine
(Salley 1977).

Matheson . :
The Matheson Post Office was established at Matheson in

78


Bear’s Nest
See Lost Confidence Mine.

Bell Mine

Gold_mine. The Bell Mine was discovered several years
before 1883 when a three-foot vein was located which paid
from $15 to $100 per ton (Toogood 1978:50). The mine is

now under the waters of Whiskeytown Lake (Toogood
1978:92).

Benson Mine

Gold mine. This mine was located in 1922 and began
producing in 1929. It continued to be active in the
1930s. The mine includes a short adit, a drift, and a
winze (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:111). Mining equipment in
1933 included a two cylinder, single-stage Rix
compressor, a 15 h.p. gasoline hoist (set up at the top
of a hill 350 ft. above the mine) capable of pulling the
mine cars up to the truck road. Mill equipment consisted
of a two-stamp, 350 lb. stamp mill and a five-stamp 1,200
lb. stamp mill, both powered by gasoline. Ore was
treated by amalgamation (Averill 1933:10,11).

Betty Jean Mine
Gold mine. This mine is located 3 miles north of
Whiskeytown and has been a small scale operation since
1958 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:128).

Betty May Mine
Gold mine. This mine was active during the late 1920s
and 1930s and includes an inclined 135 ft. deep shaft and
a 100 ft. long drift at the 100 ft. level (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:111).

Bjork Group
Gold mines. Includes the Golden Blanket Mine. Consists
of an 80 ft. shaft and 200 ft. of drifts (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:111).

Blackbird Mine
Copper and silver sulfide mine. This operation centered
on copper and silver sulfide mining in 1902 (California
Division of Mines and Geology 1902).

Blue Bird Mine
Gold mine. The Blue Bird Mine was a claim of the Desmond
Mine (Toogood 1978:56) and contains a 30 ft. shaft (Lydon
and O’Brien 1974:112).

46


Mule Cafion, Whiskey Creek, One Mule Town, Grizzl
Middle Town (Toogood 1978:17). ‘ y Guich, and

In April of 1853, the Shasta Courier newspaper reported that
mines were very numerous and that there wasn’t a river, creek
gulch, or ravine that didn’t contain gold. In August, the ‘
same newspaper reported that numerous companies were busily
building flumes on Clear Creek and in October reported that
yields of less than two ounces per person per day were seldom
heard of. During the spring of 1853, extensive and rich
diggings were reported around French Gulch. During the summer
of 1854, glowing reports were told of the findings in Whiskey
Creek. By 1855, at least eleven mining companies were
operating along the creeks between Whiskeytown and the Tower
House. In November, the Clear Creek Ditch Company completed
building a 43-mile ditch from the Tower House to the mines
around Middletown, Muletown, Horsetown, Texas Springs, and
Jackass Flat (all located to the southeast of the study area)
(Toogood 1978:18).

Shasta County led California in the total value of mineral
production (exclusive of petroleum) between 1896 and 1919
(California Department of Water Resources 1964:20). Many of
the important mines are listed below:

Ajax Mine
Gold and tungsten mine. This mine was located
approximately five miles north of Whiskeytown. It was
worked intermittently in the 1950s and 1960s when the
ruins of a five-stamp mill existed on the property (Lydon
and O’Brien 1974:42).

American Mine
Gold mine. The American Mine was formerly known as the
French Gulch Mine (Brown 1915:34), and it was located
approximately four miles northeast of French Gulch in
Cline Gulch. This claim was located in approximately
1886 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:42). In 1894, the mine
comprised three 40-acre lots on which there were four
tunnels from which ore was crushed in a five-stamp mill.
J. Conant was the owner (Crawford 1894:245). Mine
equipment in 1915 included a 1/4 mile single track tram
which operated from the mine to the mill, plus cars, a
shop, and dwellings. An old steam driven 10-stamp mill
was idle. Two men were employed. The mine supposedly
produced $300,000 up to 1915 (Brown 1915:34). In 1932, a
five-stamp battery of 1000 lb. stamps was installed near
the adit of portal No. 5. Treatment consisted of
amalgamation followed by table concentration (Averill
1933:6). The last production occurred in 1934 when a
flotation and gravity concentrator recovery mill capable
of handling 60 tons of ore per day was constructed and

42


INTERLAKES SPECIAL RECREATION MANAGEMENT AREA

Select Historic Sites —

Balaklala Mine
Churntown
Copley/Motion
Coram

French Gulch
Gladstone Mine/Jillsonville
Grizzly Gulch
Hart/Old Diggings
Iron mtn. Mine
Kennett

Keswick

Keswick Dam
Keewick Smelter
Mammoth Mine

Quartz Hill
Reid Mine
Shasta
Shasta Dam
So. Fork Mtn. Lookout
Spring Creek Dam
SPRR Tunnel
Tower House
Uncle Sam Mine
Walker Mine
Waugh/Middle Creek
Waugh’s Perry
Whitehouse

0 Whiskeytown/Hooverville



FERRIES

Waugh’s Ferry
There were two ferry locations. The first crossed the
Sacramento River in 1853 near the mouth of Rock Creek at
the Sacramento River Trail bridge crossing (Figure 1).
Large iron pins still embedded in rocks on each side of
the river mark the ferry landing site (Vaughan 1986:9).
When the railroad was built through the area in 1882, the
ferry was moved downstream a short distance to the mouth
of Middle Creek (Hiatt 1974:18). This was shortlived
because the ferry discontinued operations in 1883
(Vaughan 1986:9).

FIRE LOOKOUT TOWER

Fire Look Out Tower
T32N R6W, Sec. 3. This facility is located on top of
South Fork Mountain. It was moved to the mountain top in
1987 from the White Sands Atomic Testing Grounds in New
Mexico. According to William "Bill" Lloyd (personal
communication 1991), the tower was one of the original
observation towers of the first atomic test and was
reportedly occupied by Albert Einstein to watch the first
test. According to Mr. Lloyd, the tower was allowed to
radiologically cool after the tests until being deemed
safe for reuse. The tower was then given by the Atomic
Energy Commission to the State of California Division of
Forestry who dismantled it and transported and
reconstructed it on top of South Fork Mountain.
Supposedly a highly sensitive geiger counter can still
detect some radioactivity in the tower metal.

California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection data
somewhat disputes this story. According to Thornton
(1991:5), the 21’x21’x29’ high, nonbattered, open steel
H-brace tower with a concrete pier foundation supporting
a 196 sq. ft. cab was indeed used for atomic bomb
testing, but was not occupied by Albert Einstein.

Rather, it, and many others, were built only as an object
by which atomic bombs were dropped from the towers onto
the ground. Some materials for building such towers were

stockpiled and later shipped elsewhere (Thornton
1991:124).

GARDENS / ORCHARDS

French Gulch Chinatown
T33N R7W, Sec. 22. Chinatown was located just south of

33


(Sg: €L61 dueyoneeg pure aTqsTzy) BsNoy TeMO], aUL



Pugh & Lindsay Mine
Gold mine. This mine was located three miles west of
Shasta on Clear Creek. The 1894 developments consisted
of a 60 ft. deep shaft and two tunnels 60 ft. and 40 ft.
long. Reduction works consisted of a Kendall rocker mill
with a duty of six tons every 24 hours when using No. 9

or 10 screens and rocking 28 times per minute (Crawford
1894:254).

Queen Mine
See Isabel Mine.

Rattler Mine
See Minnesota Mine.

Red Cross Mines
Gold mines. These mines showed promising returns between
1896 and 1914 (Toogood 1978:53). They were also known as
the Red Cross Group and were claims of the Desmond Mine.

Red Cut Mine
See Lucky Boy Mine.

Red Rover Mine
Gold mine. Ore from this mine was processed by a 10-
stamp water-powered mill at the nearby Phoenix Mine in
1883 (Toogood 1978:50).

Reid Mine
Gold mine. This mine was the principal gold producer in
the Old Diggings District from 1904 until 1919 when it
was shipping 160 tons of ore daily for processing at the
Mammoth Copper Company smelter in Kennett (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:49). This mine was operated continuously
from 1907 to 1919 by owners James and Harvey Sallee
(Averill 1933:46,47), but it had to close when the
smelter was forced by court order to shut down in 1919.
The mine operated again briefly in 1922 to furnish quartz
ore for flux to the Bully Hill smelter. Total gold
production was possibly $2,500,000. It has been idle
since 1939 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:49,50). Equipment at
the mine and the railroad yard in 1933 included a head
frame, hoist house, double drum electric hoist, three
Ingersoll-Rand air compressors with a combined capacity
of 1,200 cubic feet of air per minute, machine shops,
blacksmith shops, aerial cabletram and terminals, and ore
bins (Averill 1933:47). The Reid Mine is the deepest
mine in the Old Diggings District with a vertical depth
of approximately 1,000 ft. The shaft was allowed to fill
with water in 1925 (Averill 1939:147). A Canadian
company undertook exploratory work in the 1980s.

66


3234

Webster
Grab
Grub
Raven
Delta
Hornet
Madison

1893

33N

6w

tunnels, house, blacksmith shop,
trails, dump

3288

South Central
Bertha May
Shasta Mill Site

1895

32N

33N

Pipe line, tunnel, shop

3322

Santa Clara
Scottish Chief

1895

33N

tunnels, roads, shaft, house, open
cuts, trails, cabin

3422

Kahny
Consolidated
Mayflower
Mamoth
Rocky Gulch

1896

32N

roads, dump, blacksmith shop,
shafts, placer wash, tunnel, smoke
stack, house, cabin

3439

North Pole
Location
Little Annie
(Walker
Consolidated
Mines)

1897

32N

trail, shaft, mine road

3446

Cleveland

1897

33N

2°2

trails, tunnels, cabin

3462

Bandana Suprise
Don Pedro

1897

32N

6w

shafts, office & house, road, tunnel,
shaft house

3464

Kangaroo

1897

32N

road, open cut, cabin, placer
workings

3465

Evening Star
Donkey Location
Progress Location

1897

32N

wagon road, tunnels, shafts, house,
open cut

3485

Last Chance

1897

32N

roads

3536

Richmond

1898

33N

6w

house (just outside), roads, tunnels,
trail

128


Downing, C. S.
c. 1970s Information Book for Shasta Dam Guides.
Unpublished. Bureau of Reclamation, Shasta Dam.

Eaton, Richard B.
1959 Centennial of I.0.0.F. Lodge at French Gulch.

The Covered Wagon, pp. 47-48. Shasta
Historical Society, Redding.

Fay, Robert

1970 Keswick Watershed Report. Submitted to Bureau
of Land Management, Redding.

Frank, B. F., and H. W. Chappell
1881 ist ni i

The History and Business Directory of Shasta
County. Independent Book and Job Printing
House. Redding.

Frisbie, Mabel Moores, and Jean Moores Beauchamp
1973 asta: ie Queen - Published for the
Shasta Historical Society by the California

Historical Society, San Francisco.

Frost, Jeanne E.
c. 1960s Miscellaneous Shasta County Historical Data.
Ms. on file, Shasta Courthouse Museum, Shasta
State Historic Park, Shasta.

Giles, Rosena A.

1949 Shasta County, California: A History.
Biobooks, Oakland.

Goll, Victor
1954 History of the William Goll Family. The

Covered Wagon, pp. 27-28. Shasta Historical
Society, Redding.

Gove, Philip Babcock (Editor in Chief)
1976 We f W. i

the English Language Unabridged. G. & C.

Merriam Company, Springfield, Massachusetts.

Greenwood, Roberta S., and Laurence H. Shoup
1984 i i i
iv: on, Volum H i ti
Submitted to California Department of
Transportation, Sacramento.

121


Fox Hunting and Cricket
Horse Racing .....
Reservoirs ......+.+e.
Keswick Reservoir

Shasta Lake... ...
Whiskeytown Lake ...
Roads/Trails ........
Tower’s Wagon Road . .
Sacramento River Trail
Beltline Road. ....

Sawmills/Planing Mills...
Coggins Mills ....
Mammoth Mine Sawmill
Burns Sawmill. ...

Schools ....

Blair-Stella-Whiskeytown school

Gladstone Mine School .
Hart School... . .
Iron Mountain School .
Mammoth Mine School . .
Spring Creek School . .
Taylor School .....
Whisky Creek School . .
Uncle Sam Mine School .

Settlements/Towns/Mining Camps

Camp Bailey .

Copley .......-.
Coram... ee eee
French Gulch’ . oe
French Gulch Chinatown
Grizzly Gulch. ....
Hart .. 2. 2. 2. we we ee
Hooverville......
Jillsonville .....
Kennett ........
Keswick ........
Kett .... ee ee
Mad Mule canyon see
Matheson .......
Middle Creek .....
Motion ........
Old Diggins ......
South Park ......
Stella ........
Taylor ........

Thelma ........
Tower House . . o
Unknown settlement oe
Waugh. . rer

Whiskeytown ee ew eee
Whitehouse ......


Lydon, Philip A., and J. C. O’Brien

1974 nes and Mine: Resource of Shast. nt:
California, County Report 6. California

Division of Mines and Geology, Sacramento.

Masterson, Grace Grattan

1963 Cattle Drives of the Eighties and Nineties.
The Covered Wagon, pp. 18-21. Shasta

Historical Society, Redding.

Martin, Ilse B., David T. Hodder, and Clark Whitaker
1981 iew ti tori
Euro-American and Other Immigrant Groups in the
Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Forest Service,
Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Redding.

McGregor, Alexander
1890 Shasta County,

Tenth Report of the State
Mineralogist, pp. 627-658. California State
Printing Office, San Francisco.

National Archives of the United States
1978 Federal Register. Department of the Interior,
Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service -
National Register of Historic Places, Annual
Listing of Historic Properties. February 7,
1978, Part II issue, Vol. 43, No. 26: 5163-
5345, Washington, D.C.

Nielsen, Beatrice

1965 Twilight Comes to the Gladstone. The Covered
Wagon, pp. 1-9. Shasta Historical Society,
Redding.
Prokopovich, Nikola P.
1965 Siltation and Pollution Problems in Spring
Creek, Shasta County, California. Journal
American Water Works Association, Volume 57,

No. 8, pp. 986-995.

Renfree, Mary
c. 1960s History of Old Iron Mountain Mine. Ms. on
file, Bureau of Land Management, Redding.

Reynolds, Terry S.
1980 Battle Creek Hydroelectric System - CA-2.
Submitted to Historic American Engineering
Record, Washington, D.C.

123


crops had been ruined from the slickens (mining debris)
clogging the waterways. But the economic losses were too
great to both farmers and miners, causing hydraulic mining
regulations to change, and mining to resume (Toogood 1978: 71).

Slattery and Welch
These individuals conducted hydraulic placer gold mining
approximately five miles northeast of French Gulch. It
was a small producer (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:131). Water
was obtained from Clear Creek and Clines Gulch through a
three-mile long ditch (Brown 1915:54,55).

MINES / MINING CLAIMS

Placer mining was the most popular mining method prior to
about 1880. Between Shasta and the Tower House flowed Clear
Creek and its tributaries: Mill, Slate, Boulder, Grizzly, New
York, Brandy, Whisky, Dry and Salt creeks. These creeks were
worked over from 1848 to the mid-1860’s many times by
impatient, reckless miners or by thorough, persevering mining
companies, to the physical detriment of the surrounding
countryside (Toogood 1978:16,17).

Rockers and pans were first used by the miners to collect
gold. In 1852-53, miners began improving their techniques and
began constructing flumes, ditches, and sluices for use as
gold recovery. But these construction projects were costly
and too expensive for one man to build causing the miners to
organize into mining companies or partnerships (Toogood
1978:18). The May 19, 1852 issue of the

reported the following ambitious project of one-such mining
company on Clear Creek:

WATER COMPANIES. Among the different projects for
supplying the mines with water, there are none that yield
more satisfactory results than the Shasta County Mining
and Water Company, which has been organized, under the
act, for the purpose of turning off Clear Creek, upon one
of the richest sections of country in the northern mines.
The company owns the saw mill and is (sic) now rapidly
sawing out the lumber, for their flumes. They have nine
mites to carry the water. The work is seven feet wide
and four feet high and will be able to carry twenty-eight
solid feet of water eights months in the year.

In June of 1852, a seven to eight pound lump of gold
interspersed with quartz was found in Whiskey Creek. The 1852
California Census recorded a population of 4,050 in Shasta
County. Nearly half were miners living in mining camps at
French Gulch, Mad Ox Cafion, One Horse lown, Clear Creek, Mad

41


to be pre-1945, with a few exceptions. Furthermore, this work
has additional preferences, based primarily on time and funding
constraints. For instance, the rich history of hydroelectric
development and later mining in the region is only glossed over
as much of this information is available in other readily
available publications. The history of various ethnic groups in
the region, especially Native American Indian and Chinese, has
been little explored, in part owing to the difficulties in
obtaining scarce information and the focus on non-ethnic history.

Detailed archival studies were not part of this contract, as much
of the information was derived by intent and practical necessity
from secondary sources. An in-depth exploration of the history
of land-ownership changes is not a component of this work. It is
well-known that not only has this ownership changed from Native
American Indian to Spanish, Mexican and then American, but that
various laws dating from the American Period have influenced the
dynamic ownership pattern that exists today. Federal decisions
alone have resulted in railroad grants (originally resulting in
checkerboard pattern Central Pacific Railroad lands), homesteads,
mining claim patents, Indian allotments, etc. The formation of
the Forest Service in 1905 from select General Land Office
administered lands resulted in land transfers in several
episodes. The designation of Bureau of Reclamation lands followed
on the heels of the Reclamation Law of 1902 and hydroelectric
developments. The Whiskeytown Unit of the Whiskeytown-Shasta-
Trinity National Recreation Area has been administered by the
National Park Service since 1963, largely from Bureau of Land
Management lands.

This compilation should enhance the management of cultural
resources within the Interlakes region, especially those on
federal lands. It should also serve as a historic reference
suitable for educational, interpretive, and research purposes.
The author has provided a valuable service in this regard.

Eric W. Ritter, Ph.D.
General Editor

iv


breathe and work efficiently (Kristofors 1973:37).

During 1898, 221,895 tons of ore were taken from the
mine, 168,541 tons were smelted, and 8,273 tons of
finished copper was marketed which amounted to a net
profit of $815,000 (Renfree c. 1960s:7). From 1898 to
1904, federal agencies investigated alleged fume damage
to vegetation caused by the fumes released from the
Keswick smelter (Kristofors 1973:25). In 1902, the Major
Western Federation of Miners struck regarding the right
of union membership and the mine temporarily shut down
(Kristofors 1973). By 1905, open air roasting had almost
been eliminated because complaints from fume damage led
to the abandonment of open air roasting (Kristofors
1973:40). In 1905, a federal injunction closed the
Keswick smelter, and in 1907 a new smelter had been built
and was operating at Martinez, where ore was now being
shipped (Kristofors 1973:25). By 1915, the old smelter
had been dismantled. Mine equipment included 11 miles of
narrow gauge steam railroad which hauled ore from the
mine to the main railroad line; cars, shops, a 75 h.p.
electric hoist, pumps, dwellings, etc. There were 350
men employed at the mine. Timber was supplied from a
large tract of land the company owned on the Pit River
from where timber was cut and floated down the Pit and
the Sacramento rivers to Keswick (Brown 1915:26). In
1915, a "Minnesota Mill" began crushing ore at the portal
of No. 8. It was the first flotation mill of its kind
used in California. This mill eventually processed
between 500 to 600 tons of ore per day. The Minnesota
Mill closed down in 1919 because of low copper prices but
began operating again in 1928 and operated for only a
year and closed down again. In 1929, a 250-ton
cyanidation (cyanide) plant was completed and put to work
mining gossan with a daily capacity of 500 tons (Lydon
and O’Brien 1974:38). A deep and narrow ravine which cut
across the course of Slick Rock Creek was used as a
tailings storage area from an open-pit mining operation
undertaken in 1929 (Kett 1947:133,134). In 1932, 600
tons were being processed daily at the plant (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:38). In 1939, the cyanide plant had been
newly remodeled and was treating 750 tons of gossan ore
daily (Averill 1939:145). This was the largest mining
operation in Shasta County in 1939 (Averill 1939:145).
The cyanide plant operated until 1942 (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:41). Approximately 13,000 tons of magnetite was
mined in 1961. Magnetite mining ceased in 1962. Mining
operations were suspended in 1962 anc the mine was sold
to Stauffer Chemical Company in 1967 and to Iron Mountain
Mines, Inc. in 1976. It was placed on the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) National Priority List as a
Superfund cleanup site in 1983. Cleanup work commenced

58


HISTORICAL FINDINGS
AERIAL TRAMWAYS

Balaklala Mine Tramway
Balaklala Mine owners built a smelter at Coram (Figure
5a) in 1906 and ore was brought to it from the mine by
way of a 16,500 ft. aerial tramway until 1911 when the
tramway was closed down (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:33). The
tramway was built with heavy cables, iron buckets, and
apparatuses affixed to a series of elevated towers the
length of its route. It ran two-thirds of the way
straight up the mountain from the Coram terminal, made a
left turn and continued on in another straight line to
the end terminal at the mine where an angle station was
located which changed the tram’s course. The tram was
gravity operated meaning loaded buckets traveling down
the mountain pulled the empty buckets up the line to the
mine (Roberts 1981:26).

Hornet Mine Tramway
See Iron Mountain Mine Tramway.

Iron Mountain Mine Tramway
This tramway was built to carry ore from the mine to the
main railroad line at Matheson and replace the
deteriorated, expensive-to-operate Iron Mountain Railway.
Construction began in 1920 and operations were initiated
in late 1921. The first section built contained
approximately 24 miles of rope-way from a point close to
the Hornet Mine to a point on the Southern Pacific
Railway a few miles north of Keswick. This system
transported between 75 to 100 tons of ore per hour. Tram
building was difficult and expensive and involved the
erection of many high towers at very inaccessible
locations. Associated with the tram were ore bunkers,
main line railway sidings, warehouses, and dwellings
(Kett 1947:129,130). In 1953, the tram was extended an
additional mile from Keswick to Matheson making it 18,000
ft. long. The tram contained 92 buckets each capable of
carrying 3/4 of a ton with movement of 50 tons of ore per
hour (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:70). The tramway proved to
be an economical asset (Kett 1947:130). It operated
intermittently into the 1970s. Remnants of it and the
transfer structure still exist at Matheson (Royston
Hanamoto et al. 1991:7).

Mammoth Mine Tramway
The Mammoth Mine tramway was approximately two miles long
(Figure 5b). Ore was transported approximately a mile
from the mine to what was known as the headhouse located
on the edge of a limestone ridge where it was loaded into

11


FIGURE 13

a. Smelter of the Mountain Copper Company, Keswick (early 1900’s).
Note vegetation on hills killed from fumes.

b. Roasting stalls used by the Mountain Copper Company, Keswick
(early 1900‘s).

56


4143

Butte
Normandi
Black Metal
New Eldorado
Copper Alps
Wintun
Dewey
Grand Prize
Himalaya
Hobson
Omega

Oro Blanco
Sampson
Seaver
South Fork
Western

1903

33N

6w

tunnels

4144

McKinley
Big Chief
Blue Jay
Cold Spring
Copley Creek
Dry Creek
Emma Star
Frozen North
Garnet

Iron Cap
Jasper

Lucky Boy
McKenzie
McKinley
Pony
Rainbow
Rain Crow
Rocky Gulch
Ruby

Spring Gulch
Sunny South
Trade Dollar
Trail

White Grouse

33N

Z*2

road, tunnels, Copley trail

132


1978:51). Another Dreadnaught Mine (copper and silver)
was located in another section in 1902 (California
Division of Mines and Geology 1902).

Early Bird Mine

Silver mine. This mine has yielded approximately 72,098
oz. of silver (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:135).

East View Mine

Gold mine. The East View Mine was also known as the

Winnie Mine. The 1933 workings included a 500 ft. adit
(Averill 1933:21).

Eiller Mine
Gold mine. The Eiller Mine was also known as the Gold
Hill Mine. It was active from 1880 to 1889, in 1928 and
1929, and during the 1930s. The earliest workings
include a 400 ft. long adit and a 1,900 ft. long adit
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:115). From 1880 to 1889, the
mine was equipped with a mill and two 1,000 lb. stamps
plus a canvas plant. In 1928-1929, the Gold Hill Mining
Co. cleaned out and retimbered 700 ft. of the lower 1,900
ft. (approximate) tunnel. Equipment in 1933 included a
cookhouse, a bunkhouse large enough to accommodate 10
men, and a blacksmith shop (Averill 1933:22).

Ellis Mine
Gold mine.

Emigrant Mine
See Truscott Mine.

Evening Star Mine

Gold mine. The 1915 workings included a 1,100 ft. tunnel
and 1,000 ft. of drifts. Three men were employed (Brown

1915:42). Holdings included the Bright Star and Iron
Mask mines.

Evening Star Mine

Gold mine. This mine was active in the early 1900s and
has now been long idle (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:115).

Fremont Mine
This mine contained free gold and sulfides in 1902
(California Division of Mines and Geology 1902).

Friday-Louden Mine

Copper mine. Workings consisted of approximately 1,000
ft. of tunnels in 1915 (Brown 1915:21).

49


Shasta County. 1862.


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23



operated. The mill operated for only a few months and
was then moved to Trinity County (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:42).

Annie Mine
See Nellie and Annie Mine.

Aurora Mine
Gold mine. This was a claim of the Desmond Mine (Toogood
1978:56).

Baker Mine
Gold mine. This mine reportedly yielded $5000 prior to
1933 and contained two adits 120 ft. and 135 ft. long
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:111). Some of the ore was worked
with a hand mortar equipped with a screen, a small
amalgamating plate, and a spring pole for the pestle
which ground the ore (Averill 1933:7).

Balaklala Mine
Gold, silver, copper, and zinc mine. The main mine shaft
is located near the south fork of Squaw Creek and the
smelter was located at Coram (Figure 5a). A 16,200 foot
(three mile long) aerial tramway transported ore from the
mines to the smelter (Kristofors 1973:18). A wagon road
also connected the mines with the smelter (Kristofors
1973:17). It was estimated that the Balaklala claims
included the largest body of sulfide ore on the Pacific
Coast (Dittmar 1906). In 1900, the mine was developed by
the Balaklala Mining Company of San Francisco (Kristofors
1973:25). Mine ownership consisted of the Balaklala
Mining Company in 1900-1902, Western Exploration Company
in 1902-1905, the White Knob Copper Company in 1906, and
the Balaklala Consolidated Copper Company from 1906 to
1919 (Kristofors 1973:18). From 1902 to 1905, a bond was
secured on the property by the Western Exploration
Company and extensive development work was undertaken
(Kristofors 1973:25).. In 1905, assets were acquired by
the First National Copper Company who transferred the
assets to the White Knob Copper Company, Ltd. who
established the Balaklala Consolidated Copper Company
(Kristofors 1973:25,26). The company operated a store
and post office at the mine as well as cottages for the
married men with families (Kenyon 1971:50,51) including
two and three-story wooden dormitories (Figure 12a). A
stage pulled by four horses operated between Coram and
the mine carrying mail, express, and passengers (Kenyon
1971:50,51). In 1906, the smelter was completed near
Coram and was hailed as the largest and most modern
smelter on the Pacific Coast (Kristofors 1973:25,26).
The smokestack was 18 ft. in diameter and 250 ft. high
(Kristofors 1973:46). The smelter was the first

43


moved away (Toogood 1978:31). After a ten-year hiatus, track
laying resumed north in 1882 through the Sacramento River
Canyon (and the study area) (see Figure 4).

In 1884, hydraulic mining was shut down by court order
because of the destruction it caused. After this order was
executed, lode mines and dredging became the principal mining
methods. In 1896, copper replaced gold as the number one
mineral produced in Shasta County. Associated with the copper
mines were smelters, aerial tramways, rail lines, power lines,
wagon roads, and buildings. Remnants still exist from all
these features. The copper industry was a tremendous economic
stimulus to the county. Employment opportunities increased,
new transportation routes were developed, and isolated towns
grew into major communities almost overnight (Kristofors
1973:3).

The Mammoth operation on Iron Mountain was the largest
and most successful copper mining enterprise in the county.
When their smelter was completed in 1907 at Kennett, it was
the undisputed king of smelters (largest and most modern) on
the Pacific Coast (Figure 5a). The company continued to
retain its position as the largest California copper producer
until it closed the smelter and mines after World War I
(Kristofors 1973:34).

During The Depression years of the 1930s, gold output in
California became almost as high as it had been during the
Gold Rush. Gold mining was curtailed during World War II and
has not substantially revived itself since (Clark 1979:xi).

In 1913, Shasta County ranked first in the state in the
production of copper, silver and pyrite, third in lead, and
sixth in gold. In addition, the county ranked fourth in the

total mineral production of the State, exclusive of petroleum
(Brown 1915:7).

Today, ironically, the most popular mining method has
returned to the original and simplest way - placer mining with
a gold pan or small sluice box, conducted by weekend, amateur
gold prospectors.

In 1938, construction began on Shasta Dam, the key
structure of the Central Valley Project (CVP) initiating a
third historic period of regional development. The CVP is one
of the nation’s major water development projects and brought
many jobs and people to Shasta County. Many additional
downstream structures were constructed relating to this
massive project.

What follows are the alphabetical listings of major
regional places, features, mines, etc. where more detail can

7


3894

Smokey Placer

1901

32N

2 cabins, shaft

3905

Sulphide
Yellow Jacket
Rose Bud
Oxide
Choporral
Copper

1901

33N

6w

mine road, tunnel, trail

3937

Lawson Butte
Sheep Spring
Columbia
Montana

99

Colorado
Marlin
Nescot
Rosin
Interview
Beaten Copper
Blue Jay

Big Buck
Doe
Sunshine
Comet
Bories

Poker

44

Black Oak
Pine Bur
Sage

Lester

33N

6w

tunnels, cabins, boarding house,
trails, open cuts

3982

Treat

1902

32N

6w

open cuts

3983

Little Rover

1902

32N

6wW

ore road

Lyon’s Cons.

Black Marie

1902

33N

tunnels, cabin, open cut

AAA.

1902

32N

school house, shafts, 8 dwelling
houses, barn, hall, road

Switchback

1902

32N

RR, open cut

Time Check

1902

32N

RR, tunnels, shaft, open cut

Baltic

1902

33N

2/2 /2

130



Keswick
Named for Lord William Keswick of London, president of
Mountain Copper Company which owned Iron Mountain Mine.

Iron Mountain
Named for the iron ore it contained (Steger 1966:40).

Mad Mule Canyon, Gulch, Mountain
Named for one of William Banghart’s pack mules that went
mad in the early 1850s (Steger 1966:45).

Mad Ox Gulch
Named for an ox that went mad at the Mad Ox Mine (Steger
1966:46).

Matheson
Named for James Matheson, founder of Mountain Copper
Company (Steger 1966:46).

Motion Creek
Named by a goldminer who overindulged in drinking
"knockumstiff" and went through the m-o-o-t-i-o-n-s of a-
pu-u-k-i-n (Conway 1970:47).

New York Flat
Supposedly named for a group of miners from New York who
mined in the area and made the place their headquarters,
possibly during the days of the Gold Rush (Masterson
1963:19).

Old Diggings
When the abandoned mines were reopened after a quarter
century of nonuse, the area was called 01d Diggings
(Steger 1966:50).

Sacramento River
Spanish name meaning Holy Sacrament. It was discovered
in 1818 by a Spanish expedition on the day of the holy
sacrament (Steger 1966:8).

Schilling
The Schilling Post Office was named for storekeeper and
first postmaster John Schilling (Salley 1977).

Shasta (mountain, lake, dam, town)
First reference to a form of the word was "Shastasta"
made in 1814 by a Northwest Company fur trapper for a
tribe of Indians who lived at the mountain (Zanger
1992:17). The town of Shasta was possibly named for
Mount Shasta, which at the time of naming, was in Shasta
County and can be seen from the hills of town. Shasta
Dam was officially named in 1937 and took its name from
the mountain (Steger 1966).

Shirttait Peak
Named for four goldminers who were caught in a landslide.
All were killed except Wilbur Dodge who was saved when
his shirttail caught on a snag allowing his wife to pull
him to safety (Steger 1966:58). See also Dodge Creek.

Spring Creek
Named for the numerous springs near its source (Steger
1966:60).

76


a. French Gulch
Dredging Company
dredger. Compliments
of Shasta Historical
Society.

c. Keswick photo from
1923. Shows part of
the smelter slag
dumps, the bare hills,

and heavy erosion from

smelter and
devastation of hills
from smelter fumes.
Photo taken 1923.
Compliments of Shasta
Historical Society.

FIGURE 10

FRENCH GULCH DREDGING
“Smooth-Running, Efficient, Well-Ordered”

30

b. Stagecoach going down
Main Street in French
Gulch, circa 1910.
Compliments of Shasta
Historical Society.



included miscellaneous machinery, a shop, and dwellings.
Reduction equipment included an electrically powered 20-
stamp mill, eight Triumph concentrators, and an old 3-ton
chlorination plant plus four employees (Brown 1915:56).
Crosscut work was conducted in 1922 and 1923.
Approximately 1,500 ft. of old workings were cleaned out
in 1938 and 1939 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:51).

Three Sisters Mine
Gold mine. This mine was discovered in 1895. It
produced until 1905. The 1913 holdings included a 1,350
ft. adit, 800 ft. of drifts, a 200 ft. long stope, and a
200 ft. winze. Gold was recovered by amalgamation in a
Huntington Mill (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:126).

Tom Cook Mine
See Whiskey Hill Mine.

Trinity Mine
See Shasta King Group.

Truscott Mine
Gold mine. Truscott Mine holdings once included the
Martin Mine and the Iron Mask Mine (Averill 1933:53). It
is located two miles east of the Tower House. The mine
was discovered in approximately 1887 and was
intermittently active until 1913. The 1912 production
was reported as either $60,000 or $100,000. The mine
contains four adits, plus drifts and a stope. There were
300 ft. of new drifting dug in the early 1930s (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:126). In 1933, an old mill building
contained a 14-stamp Straub mill rated at 20 to 30 tons
every 24 hours, a 5-stamp mill of 850 lb. stamps,
amalgamating plates, plus a circular concentrator
(Averill 1933:54).

Uncle Sam Mine
Gold mine. This mine was discovered in 1886 by J. Conant
who sold to Dakin and Associates. It was one of Shasta
County’s noted quartz mines. The following four tunnels
and other miscellaneous data existed in 1890 (McGregor
1890:639,640):

- No. 1, south vein 116 ft.

No. 2, south vein 750 ft.

No. 3, south vein 800 ft.

Gillispie tunnel 230 ft.
Elevation 2,040 ft.
Length of ore shoot 200 ft.
Kind of timber used Pine
Kind of powder used Gelatine,

71


Clipper Mine

Gold mine. The Snyder Mine was included in the holdings
of the Clipper Mine. Both mines were known as the
Carnegie Group in 1915 (Brown 1915:37). Ore was crushed
in a-10-stamp mill during the 1890s and 1900s (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:113) and conveyed 1,500 ft. to the mill on a
Hallidie tramway. During this time the mine was owned b
W. V. Huntington et al. of Kennett (Crawford 1894:246).

Colma Group
Copper mine (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:105).

Complex Mine
See Iron Mountain Mine.

Compton Mine
Gold mine.

Copley Mine
Gold mine. The 1915 workings included a 310 ft. tunnel,
60 ft. drift and 60 ft. stope (Brown 1915:39).

Crystal Group
Copper mine. This operation consisted of 23 claims in
the Flat Creek Mining District in 1915 (Brown 1915:20).

Desmond Mine
Gold mine. The Desmond was also known as the Red Cross
Group. The Desmond Mine opened in 1896 at the head of
Novell’s Gulch and Red Gulch. It was owned by the
Desmond brothers, members of a family who had lived in
the area for 20 years and who owned the Oak Bottom Hotel.
The brothers installed a small water-powered stamp mill
with 450-lb. stamps in 1898. The Red Cross, Aurora, and
Blue Bird mines were claims of the Desmond and had
tunnels varying in lengths of 50 to 100 ft. Work had
slowed considerably by 1905, but in 1913 owner Jerry
Desmond uncovered a 3-ft. vein (Toogood 1978:56) that
reportedly yielded 150 tons of $20 ore in the mid-1930s
(Lydon and O’Brien 1974:114). In 1939, the State
Mineralogist declared the mine idle and workings below
the adit-level full of water (Toogood 1978:56).

Diamond-King Mine
See Copley Mine.

Dreadnaught Mine
Gold mine. Ore from this mine was crushed in a 10 foot
arrastra in 1893 and 1894 using water from the south fork
of Spring Creek. The arrastra crushed one ton of ore per
day. Mine operations were limited to only four months of
the year when water flowed in the creek (Toogood

48


Quantity of powder used

Distance to lumber
—Cost of lumber

dynamite

1,500 lbs. per
month

1 to 3 miles

15¢ per ft.
Length of road built 5 miles
Cost of road built $9,000
Length of ditch built 3,300 ft.
Character of ore Iron and copper

sulphurets
Screens No. 40 wire
Plates, size of apron 4x 6 ft.
Width in sluice 16 inches
Length in sluice 16 ft.
Size inside battery 4 ft.
Plates on battery Silvered
Kind of feeder used Challenge
Kind of metal for shoes and dies Steel
Kind of compressor used National
Name of drill used Phoenix
Number of stamps 20
Weight of stamps 900 lbs.
Drop in inches 6% inches
Drops per minute 84
Height of discharge 7 inches

Duty per stamp in 24 hours
% of recovery saved in battery

14 to 2 tons
65%

% of recovery saved on plates 33%

% of recovery saved in sulphurets 1 3/4%
Number of men employed in mine 31

Number of men employed in mill 5

Number of men employed outside 14

Total number of men employed 50

Average mine wages w/board $2 per day
Average mill wages w/board $2 to $4
Average outside wages w/board $1.75

The mine employed approximately 75 men in 1892 and
included four shafts (listed above), a tramway, an
academic sabbath school, and a Methodist chapel (Shasta
Courier 4-30-1892). In 1894, a 1,700 ft. tramway flanked
the hillside to a double incline track 475 ft. long which
led.to the mill. A three-drill compressor plant was
operated by water power under 250 ft. pressure as was a
30-stamp mill and Huntington roller mill with four
Triumph and 10 Frue concentrators part of the time. The
mill averaged approximately 60 tons every 24 hours. A 60
horsepower engine ran the mill machinery part of the year
(Crawford 1894:258). The compressor plant was destroyed
by fire in 1913 (Brown 1915:59). The mine produced
$1,000,000 from a maximum depth of 450 ft. before 1913
while operated by the Sierra Buttes Mining Company. Ore

72


Morton & Bliss Mine 10-stamp
Snyder Mill 10-stamp
Texas Consolidated Mine 20-stamp
Truscott Mine S5-stamp & 14-stamp Straub
Uncle Sam Mine 30-stamp
Walker Mine 10-stamp

TUNNELS

Clear Creek Canal Tunnel
See entry under Ditches/Canals.

Diversion and Railroad Bypass Tunnel
T33N RSW, Sec. 15. This tunnel is located beneath Shasta
Dam on the west side. It was built to safely bypass the
mainline of Southern Pacific Railroad trains during the
excavation and early stages of work prior to the
completion. of the new railroad relocation, and to divert
the waters of the Sacramento River during later stages of
concrete work on the dam. The first train through the
tunnel occurred in 1939. It is now plugged with a 466
ft. long section of cement (Downing c. 1960s:38,39).

Pertinent Data
(Downing c. 1960s:38,39)

Construction started 1938

Holed through 1939

Length 1820 ft.

Height 28 ft.

Width 26 ft.

Type of construction Concrete lined
Contractor Colonial Construction

Co., Spokane, WA

Railroad Tunnel

T33N R5W, Sec. 29. This railroad tunnel is located 1/2
mile north of Motion Creek. It is approximately 500’
long and 17’ wide and was built in the 1880s. It was
lined with a concrete reinforcement in 1923. It is
slightly curving resulting in the opposite openings not
being visible from within. The tunnel structure is
apparently stable (Royston Hanamoto et al. 1991:13).

Spring Creek Tunnel
This tunnel inlet is located on the east side of
Whiskeytown Lake and travels easterly through the Rock
Creek Siphon, then to the Spring Creek powerplant (Bureau
of Reclamation 1983:7).

107


17

11

12

10

14
15
16

17

18

19%
20%

Stella
Road

T32N_R7W

Camden’s Toll Road
Toll Road from Shasta
Madame Brown’s
Camden’s Toll Road
Toll Road from Shasta
H. Jackson’s House
Camden’s Toll Road
Toll Road from Shasta
Camden’s Toll Road

T33N RSW
Trail
Power Line
Road
Trail

Power Line

Copper Group Claims
Cable Tram
McKinley Group Claims
Power Line

Wagon Road

Trail

Trail

Trail

Power Line
McDaniel House

Ed Cedar House

Trail

Power Line

Road and R.R.

Power Line

Power Line

Trail

Power Line

Tram

Balaklala Road
Balaklala Group Claims
Unnamed Mining Claims
Road

Tram

Balaklala Group
McKinley Claims

Trail

110

Denny’s 1904 Map
GLO Plat 1866-1869

GLO

Plat
Plat
Plat
Plat
Plat
Plat
Plat
Plat
Plat

Plat

Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s

GLO

Plat

Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s

GLO

Plat

Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s

GLO
GLO
GLO
GLO
GLO
GLO

GLO
GLO

Plat
Plat
Plat
Plat
Plat
Plat

Plat
Plat

Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s

GLO
GLO

Plat
Plat

Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s

GLO

Plat

1868
1868-1881
1868
1868
1868-1881
1868
1868
1868-1881
1868

1869-1881
1908 Map
1908 Map
1869-1881
1908 Map
1908 Map
1917-1919
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1869-1881
1869-1881
1869-1881
1936

1936

1936

1869-1881
1936

1908 Map
1908 Map
1936

1869-1881
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map

1869-1881


CEMETERIES

Catholic Cemetery (French Gulch)
T33N R7W, Sec. 22. Terence Maher donated two acres for
the establishment of the Catholic Cemetery in 1855.

I.0.0.F. Cemetery (French Gulch)
T33N R7W, Sec. 22. This cemetery is located on the west
side of Main Street in downtown French Gulch and is used
only by members of the Independent Order of Oddfellows
(I.0.0.F.) and their families.

Porter and Morrell Family Plot
T33N R7W, Sec. 22. This is a private pioneer family
cemetery located on the east side of Clear Creek beside
Cline Gulch Road in French Gulch. The first burial was
Charles Joseph who died December 22, 1861. The last
burial was Joseph Howe Porter in 1945. The cemetery
supposedly contains 12 bodies (Anonymous c. 1950s).

CHINESE

California’s Gold Rush beckoned people from all around the
world and many nationalities quickly came. One of the people
who responded in great numbers were the Chinese. But the
Chinese were usually not accepted or even tolerated by
Euroamericans, or even by local Indians. The miners and
settlers resented the Chinese for aspiring to become rich and
then return to China. The Chinese were willing to work long

hours for low pay which caused great consternation among the
whites.

Their cultures were completely different; their diets and
eating styles were different, their religion was very
perplexing, they loved to gamble, and many openly smoked
opium. Very few Chinese women came here, and the few who did
were usually prostitutes. The Chinese always worked in groups
and first worked the mines or claims deserted by white miners,
or leased a mine or a claim. They were very efficient and did
what was called "teaspoon mining" whereby they cleaned up what
the less-patient whites had overlooked. Some became very
wealthy as a result of this mining technique.

The Chinese eventually undertook placer, hydraulic, and
hardrock mining as the methods evolved. Others became ditch
builders, laborers, cooks, laundrymen, gardeners, and a very
few became merchants. Many were employed in the 1870s on the
Central Pacific Railroad to Redding and later in the 1880s
when tracks were extended north through tne Sacramento River

15


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editor’s Foreword ....... +. eee
Abstract . 2... 6 ee eee ene
Acknowledgements .........
Table of Contents ...... .
List of Figures ee ee ee .
Introduction ........
Historical Findings .... .
Aerial Tramways .... .
Balaklala Mine Tramway .
Hornet Mine Tramway . . .
a

Iron Mountain Mine Tramway
Mammoth Mine Tramway .
Reid Mine Tramway .. .
Arrastras ........
Bridges ...... ee ee we we
Clear Creek Bridge ee ee ey
Whiskey Creek Bridge . .
Cemeteries .. oe . see
Catholic cemetery (French Gulch) .
IOOF Cemetery (French Gulch) ..

Porter and Morrell Family Plot (French G

Chinese .. 1... ee eee ee ene

Churches ........ .
Catholic Church (French Gulch) | oe
Methodist Chapel ...... .
St. Rose’s Church (French Gulch) .
Taylor Church.....

Conveyor Belt .... 1. 6 6 se ee eee

Dams... 6 ee ee ee ee ee ee
Keswick Dam... ... 2... ee
Shasta Dam .. . ee
Spring Creek Debris and Pollution c
Whiskeytown Dam.........-.

Ditches/Canals .........-+.-.
Clear Creek Canal.........
Cline Gulch Ditch. .......
Slattery and Welch Ditch .....

Williams & Company Ditch ..
Dredging Companies . . oo.
Consolidated Gold Dredging Company
Enterprise Engineering Company
French Gulch Dredging Company
G&H Mining Company ....
Lincoln Gold Dredging Company
Pioneer Dredging Company . .
Electric Power Companies .....
Erosion Control Projects .....
Ferries . 2... 2 ee eee eee
Waugh’s Ferry .......44.6.-.

ix

ontrol

1

rr fe ey

eo

nh


1986 Fact Sheet - Shasta Dam - Shasta Powerplant -
Shasta Lake - Keswick Dam, Powerplant, and
Reservoir - Central Valley Project, California.
Bureau of Reclamation, Sacramento.

U. S. Department of the Interior, Keeper of the Register
1969 French Gulch National Register of Historic
Places Inventory Record. Washington, D.C.

Vaughan, Trudy

1986 Archaeological Investigations at a Sacramento
re “29

California. City of Redding and Bureau of Land
Management, Redding.

Ward, Lois
1954 A Panorama. The Covered Wagon, pp. 11-13.
Shasta Historical Society, Redding.

Wiegel, Cliff R.

1908 Map of the Central Mineral Region of Shasta
County, California. Reprinted by the Shasta

Historical Society, Redding.

Yank, Errol A.

1928 n t t

Ci: iste
+ Printed by The Searchlight,
Redding.

Zanger, Michael

1992 Mt. Shasta. Celestial Arts Publishing,
Berkeley.

INDIVIDUALS CONSULTED

Carlson, Donald (Don). French Gulch.
Landles, Alice. Mendocino.

Landles, Thomas. Mendocino.

Landles, Janet. French Gulch.
Dowling, Libbie. French Gulch.

Hart, Richard. Shasta.

Larramendy, Ramona. French Gulch.
Lloyd, William (Bill). Redding.
Nichols, Gwen. Redding.

Westlake, James (Jim). Lower Springs.

125


4145

Blaine

Alta

Bryan

Hill
Jefferson
Cold Feet
Snow Slide
Chingapin
Cold Stream
Babe in the Woods
Last Choice
Blenheim
Triangle

1903

33N

ow

tunnels, cross cut

4146

Cold Water

1903

33N

6w

tunnel

i 4148

Great Verde
Blue Vein
Copper Bank
Red Copper

1903

33N

6w

5 adits

4165

Giant Mill Site
Helena Mill Site

33N

6w

wagon road, tunnels, bunk house,
houses, Gladstone Mill, road

4225

Good Hope

1904

33N

4226

Good Medicine

1904

33N

tunnel

4244

Phil Sheridan
US Grant
WT Sherman

1904

33N

22/2

tunnel, crosscut

4261

Triumph
Gold Nugget

1904

33N

4322

Lafayette Cons.
Confidence

1904

33N

mess house, open cuts, RR, store,
barn, 2 bunkhouses

4371

Standard

1904

33N

4372

Letitia

1904

33N

tunnel

| 4416

Rainbow
Backbone
Northstar
Eureka

1905

34N

2/2/2] 2/2*2

open cuts

133



into the creek. The major part of town now lies beneath
Whiskeytown Lake (California Department of Parks &
Recreation 1976:164). Whiskeytown is located within the
boundaries of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.

The following California historic places are not located
within the Interlakes Recreation Area, but are close by:

Father Rinaldi’s Foundation
California Historical Landmark #483. Catholic Church
stone foundation built through efforts of Father Rainaldi
[correct name spelling) at Shasta. But, the foundation
never materialized into a church (California Department
of Parks & Recreation 1976:192,193).

Pioneer Baby’s Grave
California Historical Landmark #377. The last remaining
known gravesite in a pioneer Jewish cemetery (California
Department of Parks & Recreation 1976:150). Located 3/4
of a mile west of Shasta alongside Hwy. 299W.

Shasta (State Historic Park)
California Historical Landmark #77. This was once a
renowned Gold Rush mining and freighting town. It had
many influences on the study area and is located just
south of it. It served as County Seat from 1851 to 1888.
A number of standing structures and the partial remnants
of 2-story brick commercial buildings remain and are

maintained by the State (California Department of Parks &
Recreation 1976:110).

Shasta Courthouse

California Historical Monument. It is located within the
borders of Shasta State Historic Park.

Tower House Historic District
T32N R7W, Sec. 3. This was placed on the National
Register of Historic Places on July 2, 1973 (Federal
Register 1978:5177). It is a Gold Rush era mining
complex and includes Bickford Mine (El Dorado), and the
1850s era Tower House Hotel, barns, bridges, and
dwellings (California Department of Parks & Recreation
1976:116). The district is located within the boundaries
of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and is
administered by the National Park Service. The district

lies on the outside southwestern edge of the Interlakes
Recreation Area.

139


California Power Company brought in electricity for the entire
operation (Nielsen 1965:2,3).

Today, there is no electricity on the property. All power is
derived from portable generators (Ramona Larramendy, French
Gulch, personal communication 1994).

The Keswick Electric Power Company was established in 1900 by
H. H. Noble to provide electricity for Mountain Copper
Company’s smelter at Keswick. Power arrived in 1901 from the
newly built Volta Powerhouse on Battle Creek in eastern Shasta
County. In 1902, the company reorganized as the Northern
California Power Company (Reynolds 1980:24).

EROSION CONTROL PROJECTS

Toxic fumes from the Keswick, Coram and Kennett smelters
denuded the watersheds from below Keswick Dam to approximately
six miles north of Shasta Dam (Figures 1, 5a, 5b, 10c).

Normal winter rains averaging 60" falling on these denuded
slopes during the years 1905 to 1919 resulted in extensive and
severe erosion and produced a maze of gullies (Anonymous c.
1968). Huge tailing piles, unstable man-made cuts, in
addition to the denuded land, caused an unusually high erosion
of loose surface deposits within the Spring Creek Basin
(Prokopovich 1965:988) .

In an attempt to suppress erosion, restoration work commenced
in 1922 with the planting of 25 small experimental plots in
which various experimental grasses, clovers, brush species and
hardwoods were planted. All that survived were the hardwoods.
Another grass and tree planting experiment was conducted from
1932 until 1938. Successful plantings included ponderosa
pines and willow cuttings. From 1949 until 1953, a
cooperative work program between the United States Forest
Service (USFS) and the United States Bureau of Reclamation
(USBR) was undertaken. Work consisted of constructing small
brush dams, planting conifer trees, willow cuttings, and
miscellaneous brush and oak seeds (Anonymous c. 1968). There
were 171,114 erosion checks constructed plus 2,663,600 pine
seedlings and 587,879 broad-leaf seedlings and cuttings
planted (Prokopovich 1965:991). This same program continued
from 1953 until 1967 under the auspices of the USBR (Anonymous
c. 1968). The plantings in the vicinity of the present-day
Spring Creek Powerhouse were generally not successful because
of the highly acidic soil conditions (Prokopovich 1965:991).
However, within the broader region the watershed restoration
efforts are clearly evident in the current vegetation cover, a
part of the changing historic landscape.

32


FIELD ‘N NOTES

vi UA audi’ mee at Powmenty 22 2X

Page from field notes of William Magee, early U.S. Government surveyor

viii


Maximum base width 1040 ft.

Crest length 1110 ft.
Crest elevation 816.0 ft.
Outlet works A 6 ft. diameter concrete

lined tunnel with two 2.25
ft. sq. gates to a 6.5 ft.
flat bottom concrete
conduit.

Whiskeytown Dam

Construction work began in 1959 on Whiskeytown Dam. In
May, 1962, the first waters and first boaters entered the
lake, and President John F. Kennedy dedicated the dam
Sept. 28, 1963. Whiskeytown Dam and lake were part of
the Trinity River Project authorized by Public Law 386,
84th Congress on August 12, 1955, whose principal purpose
was to increase the water supply for irrigation and other

beneficial uses in the central valley of California
(Toogood 1978:79).

DITCHES / CANALS

A constant water supply was imperative to early miners. In

order to obtain it, ditches and canals were dug or built for
water transport. Traces of ditches and canals can still be

found in many places throughout the study area.

Clear Creek Canal
Of all the historic ditches or canals built in Shasta
County, the Clear Creek Canal was by far the most
important. Construction began on Christmas Day, 1853
(Shasta County Record Book E:655,656) and ended almost
two years later on December 21, 1855 (Shasta County
Record Book E:655,656). In 1857, it was officially
incorporated as the "Shasta County Canal Company" (Shasta
County Record Book E:655,656). This canal was located
just south of the study area and probably exerted some
influence on the events there.

Clear Creek Canal was built to provide a dependable year
round water supply to miners. When it opened, it was
thought to rank among the state’s most costly and durable
mining enterprises of its kind (Toogood 1978:82).

In 1855, the main trunk length was upwards of 40 miles,
and included 10 additional miles of side ditches and an
approximately four acre reservoir. It also included
dams, ditches, aqueducts, flumes, and a 460-ft. tunnel
through hard rock. Upon completion the canal
immediately altered the physical surroundings and gold

26


approximately 4,500 ft. Pumping installations included a
Babcock-Wilcox steam boiler, a Corliss-Hamilton engine,

and an old-style Cornish plunger pump (Renfree c.
1960s:4).

A federal investigation took place between 1898-1904 for
alleged fume damage to vegetation caused by fumes
released from the smelter resulting in the closure of the
smelter in 1907 (Kristofors 1973:25).

Mammoth Copper Mining Company Smelter
The Mammoth Mine smelter was built at Kennett in 1905 and
enlarged in 1907 (Figure 5b). Upon completion of the
enlargement, it replaced Balaklala’s smelter at Coram as
the largest smelter on the Pacific Coast. It was the
largest copper producer in California during its peak
production years of 1908-1919 (Kristofors 1973:26).
During peak operations, as many as 2,300 men were
employed at the mine (and smelter) which included as many
as 20 different nationalities from around the world
(Martin et al. 1981:88). The smelter and mine closed in
1919 because of a decline in copper prices (Kristofors
1973:26). The smelter briefly reopened in 1923
(Kristofors 1973:80). In 1925, the smelter was sold for
salvage and dismantled (Kristofors 1973:26).

STAMP MILLS

Stamp mills were essentially large "hammers" consisting of
pieces of heavy machinery dropped vertically onto ore and/or
rocks so as to crush the ore into workable dust. This method
replaced arrastras. Stamp mills existed at each mine listed
below.

Ajax Mine 5-stamp

American Mine 5-stamp (replaced by
a 10-stamp)

Benson Mine 2-stamp and 5-stamp

Clipper Mine 10-stamp

Desmond Mine 450 lb. stamps

Gambrinus Mine 10-stamp

Gantm Mine 10-stamp Straub

Gladstone Mine 30-stamp

Iron Mask Mine 5-stamp

Iron Mountain Mine 20-stamp

Lost Confidence 20-stamp (1890)

Mad Ox Mine 10-stamp

Phoenix Mine 10-stamp

Red Rover Mine 10-stamp

Minnesota Mine 10-stamp

106


Sutter’s sawmill. Sutter tried to keep the discovery a
secret, but word leaked out and the Rush was on. What
followed was the greatest mass movement of people since the
Crusades. Men of all races, creeds, and callings from all
over the world hurriedly traveled to California by various
routes and means to seek their fortune.

Later the same year, Pierson B. Reading discovered gold in
Clear Creek and the Rush soon spread to Shasta County. This
was the first discovery north of the El Dorado County find by
James Marshall and triggered the great rush of 1849 (Southern
1942:23,24). The discovery site is south of the study area.
French Gulch, an important historic mining community, is also
located on Clear Creek. By 1849, the Gold Rush was in full
swing.

The mining history of the area can be divided generally
into two distinct periods: gold and copper. The gold mining
period commenced early on in 1848 during the Gold Rush in the
area of Clear Creek and spread outward in all directions (see
Figure 2). The copper mining period commenced just before the
turn of the 20th century, and, like gold before it, came to be
the king of minerals in Shasta County and its major industry.

(Gold mining returned to prominence for a short time during
The Depression.)

The 1848 Clear Creek gold discovery resulted in the
establishment of many mining camps in the vicinity of the
creek and the ISRMA. The largest and best known were
Horsetown and Whiskeytown, both of which no longer exist, and
Shasta, which became for a time the seat of government of
Shasta County. Shasta is now a state historical monument, and
many of the old buildings have been restored. Much of the
early gold production was from placer deposits in Clear Creek
and its tributaries (Clark 1979:142)

The earliest and the nearest newspaper to the area was
the Shasta Courier established at Shasta in 1852, although the
i i was reported as being published at
Grizzly Gulch at an even earlier time. In August, 1855 the
reported rich diggings around Whiskey Creek,
and more specifically all along Clear Creek.

Streams in the immediate and nearby vicinity of the study
area which flowed into the Sacramento River from the west were
rich in placer gold and therefore attracted hundreds of gold
miners during the Gold Rush. Early mining communities known
as Horsetown, Middletown, and Briggsville soon sprang up south
of the study area and were thriving by 1855 (Lydon and O’Brien
1974:56) (Figures 2, 3).

The first type of gold mining undertaken was placer

3


Smelters/Roasting Stalls ..........
Balaklala Mine Smelter ........
Iron Mountain Mine Smelter ... .
Mammoth Copper Mining Company smelter
Stamp Mills ...........e46..
Tunnels . 2.1 2 ee ee ew ew ee we ee
Clear Creek Canal. ... ee eee
Diversion and Railroad Bypass Tunnel
Railroad Tunnel... ........
Spring Creek Tunnel .........
Spring Creek Powerplant Tailrace Tunne
Data Retrieved from Historic Maps/Plats oe
T32N RSW
T32N R6W
T32N R7W
T33N RSW
T33N R6W
T33N R7W
T34N RSW
T34N R6W
T34N R7W
Recommendations .....
Conclusions .......
References Cited .

er ee

Appendix 1 .. . . o . ee ee we
Historic Patented Mines anda Features within the
Interlakes Special Recreation Management Area

Appendix 2... ... eee er

California Inventory of Places and

National Register Properties
French Gulch Historic District ....
Iron Mountain Mine and Keswick Smelter
Keswick Dam... . ee rs
Keswick Smelter Site. er rr rs
Reid Mine. .......-.
Shasta Dam ........-.
Whiskeytown .. . oe .
Father Rinaldi’s Foundation .
Pioneer Baby’s Grave .. .
Shasta (State Historic Park)
Shasta Courthouse .....
Tower House Historic pistrict .

xvi

Page
104
105
105
106
106
107
107
107
107
107
108
109
109
109
110
110
111
113
113
113
114
115
117
119

126

137

137
138
138
138
138
138
138
139
139

139
139


ABSTRACT

In 1994, the author was contracted by the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) to complete a historical (pre-1945) assessment
of the Interlakes Special Recreation Management Area of western
Shasta County, California. This rugged mountainous zone is
located between the communities of French Gulch on the west and
Shasta Lake City (Central Valley - Summit City) on the east. The
Sacramento River and Clear Creek are the principal drainages and
the Klamath Mountain ranges in the locality have had both a
constraining and influential effect on past activities. This
study area comprises approximately 74,845 acres, or about 117
square miles, and includes within its boundaries both private
lands and public lands managed by the Forest Service (Department
of Agriculture), the Bureau of Land Management (Department of the
Interior), the Bureau of Reclamation (Department of the

Interior), and the National Park Service (Department of the
Interior).

Rich mineral resources, in addition to hydroelectric
development, have heavily influenced historical events and are
discussed at length in this report. Also of importance has been
the development of transportation routes such as roads and
railroads and the establishment of settlements alongside them
including French Gulch, Keswick, Shasta, Redding, and Shasta Lake
City.

Early entries by Euroamerican trappers and explorers in
northern California had little effect in the study area.
Historic Native American uses were quickly curtailed by the
miners and aside from a few Indian allotments, cemeteries, and
noted places, their presence was soon centered elsewhere in the
county. The post-contact history of the Native American Indians
is not a focus of this report.

This history deals with people and places, as well as gold
and copper mining and hydroelectric power development, the two
major industries undertaken within the study area. Mining can be
divided into three distinct episodes. The first, the Gold Rush,
erupted in 1849, peaked in the 1850s, and faded by the late
1850s. Soon thereafter, government surveyors began laying out
township, ranges, sections, and mining properties. Early placer
mining efforts during the Gold Rush were gradually, but not
totally, supplanted by later hydraulic, lode, and dredge
techniques. The second major mining type was copper mining which
became a major industry in the 1880s and replaced gold in 1896 as
the number one mineral produced in Shasta County. Copper mining
was a tremendous economic stimulus to Shasta County as was gold
mining previously. Copper was mined until 1969 with peak
productions years occurring from 1897 to 1919 and during 1924 and
1925. Gold production peaked again from 1908 to 1915, and once
more from 1936 to 1941 during The Depression when the price of

Vv


If the developmental history of the ISRMA had to be
reduced to a short statement, it would be mining and,
beginning in the 1930s with the initiation of Period 3,
development of water control and hydroelectric power (the
Central Valley Project). Mining brought Euroamerican men to
the area in large numbers just as it continues to do today
on a much smaller scale. During the Gold Rush and just after
many Chinese immigrants came to work in the mines as well,
eventually moving out to other areas and jobs. Mining, in one
form or another, as well as the Central Valley Project, guided
and influenced much of the history of the study area as well
as other portions of Shasta County and beyond.

LISN,. B.GW.

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Historic Mineral Survey Plat (Iron Mountain Mine vicinity)

118


Wooden, one story with bell tower-steeple
on east side of the Main Street. (Should

ose’s Cat! ic lurch). See
Figure 8.

* I.0.0.F. Hall, c. 1860s. Two story wooden
building with metal roof on west side of

Main Street. (Should be: built in 1913).

* Feeney Hotel, built in 1887. Two story
wooden building with one story annex,
covered portico with turned wood columns,
and metal roof. (Should be: built in 1853
as an addition to the Batavia House and
called the French Gulch Hotel.) Contained
34 rooms plus outside cor-als, stables and
sheds. Saloon built by R shard Feeney in
1885 in front section of present hotel.
Remainder of present hotel built also by
Feeney in 1888 and renamed Feeney Hotel.
Became a haven for bootleggers during the
1920s. Changed ownership in the 1940s and
became once again the French Gulch Hotel.

Gartland Cabin, c. 1856. Oldest remaining
French Gulch building. (Note: This
author has been unable to find any
information on this cabin. Those French
Gulch residents interviewed were asked
about this cabin and none had ever heard
of it).

Historic buildings still remaining in French Gulch are
the I.0.0.F. (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) Lodge
building, the French Gulch Hotel, Franck’s Store
(currently--1995--known as E. Franck & Co.), the false-
fronted building on the east side of Franck’s Store
(presently--1995--remodeled as apartments), St. Rose’s
Catholic Church (Figure 8), and the Franck residence.

Wooden sidewalks present when French Gulch was founded
still exist on Main Street. The town has seen two
pertods of prosperity approximately 50 years apart. The
main industry is still gold mining. Total gold output
for the district up to 1970 was $30 million (Smith
1994:97).

French Gulch Chinatown
Chinatown was located just south of French Gulch a short
distance south of St. Rose’s Catho’ic Church on the same
side of the road (Donald Carlson, French Gulch, personal

96


possible future value (Kett 1947:108). In 1879, James
Sallee assayed an ore sample and discovered it contained
gold and silver, which prompted the three men to become
partners and conduct small scale mining operations. A
Honolulu company bonded the property in 1884, built a 20-
stamp mill, but soon returned the property and equipment
to Magee, Camden and Sallee who continued to operate it
for the next decade (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:37).

In 1894, Iron Mountain Mine was purchased for $300,000 by
the Mountain Mines Company, Ltd., of London, England
(Kristofors 1973:25). In 1896, assets of this firm
passed to Mountain Copper Company, Ltd. who began serious
mining operations (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:37). The
company extended a prospect tunnel, discovered a great
body of sulfide copper ore, and began investing heavily
in mining facilities (Martin et al. 1981:87). In 1895-
1896, a narrow-gauge, 1i-mile long railway was built from
the mine to the smelter on Spring Creek under the
supervision of M. M. O’Shaugnessy (Kristofors 1973:25).
The railroad was eventually abandoned in favor of an
aerial tramway which carried ore from the mine to the
main railroad line at Matheson (Royston Hanamoto et al.
1991:7). In 1896, a smelter was completed at Keswick and
Keswick soon became the second largest community in
Shasta County (Kristofors 1973:25) (Figure 13a). The
smelter was located 3/4 of a mile west of Southern
Pacific Company’s California and Oregon rail line
(Kristofors 1973:17) and was the first successful smelter
in Shasta County (Martin et al. 1981:88). Limestone was
quarried from Sec. 32, T34N R5W and used as flux in the
smelter. This deposit ceased prior to 1906 (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:142). From 1896 to 1905, the Mountain
Copper Company (Iron Mountain Mine) was the largest
producer of copper in California (Kristofors 1973:25).
The major years of mining operations were from 1896
through 1919. Keswick and Taylor were the major smelter
communities (Kristofors 1973:18). Company buildings,
residences, and recreational facilities were built on the
side of the mountain near the mines and consisted of the
following (Renfree c. 1960s:4,5):

Manager’s house:
A single-story, 7~room building with two large brick
fireplaces and a wide porch all around. This
building cost approximately $4,500 to construct.
Superintendent’s houses:
There were three. All were wooden and contained

four or five rooms. Each cost approximately $3,000
to construct.

55


Mammorne BO

BaLAKLALA

Srugwarce
Smecrer ©

Buweve

Beesa Visa

Minevince

LEGEND Taken from
Roaos —— DENNY'S MAP OF
RANLROADS SHASTA COUNTY

Rees 1015



3543 Busy Bee 1898 33N 6W | tunnels ]
3574 Great Eastern 1898 32N SW | tunnels, trail
33N
3575 Jealous (Flat Creek | 1898 32N SW | cabin, prospect shaft, tunnels, mine
Mining District) road
3576 Carrie 1898 33N SW | pipe line, power house, office,
roads
3578 Great Eastern 1893 33N SW | tunnels
32N
3585 Minnesota 1898 32N 6W | mine road, mill, tunnels, blacksmith
Consolidated shop, boarding house, office &
store, powder house
3622 Queen Ann Placer 1899 32N SW | shop, house, road, open cuts
3631 Extension 1899 32N SW | 7 houses, open cut, roads, shafts,
tunnel
3636 Kingsnake Placer 1899 32N SW | pipeline, RR, open cut trail
3717 Owl 1899 33N 6W | open cuts, tunnels, cabins
Gray Squirrel
Gold Bar
3728 Alice 1899 32N SW | shafts, tunnels, 2 cabins
3737 Dunn Bros. 1899 32N SW | open cuts, shafts, stable, boarding
& house, blacksmith shop, tunnel
6w
3744 Hidden Treasure 1902 33N & 6W | tunnels, Iron Mtn. RR, bunk house,
Great Eastern 32N stage road
Wedge
Big Dipper
Keystone
Last Link
3839 Shasta King 1900 33N 6W | open cuts, tunnels
Lookout
Last Chance
Grandview
Sunnyside
Addenda
3840 Lost Desert 1900 33N 6W | open cuts, sled road, boarding and
Protection bunk house, trails, tunnels, cottage
Golden Age
Anything
Tar Flat
June Bug
3847 Nonsutt 1900 32N SW | open cut, road, boarding house

129


Lone Star Mine ...

Loraine Mine .......
Lost Confidence Mine ...
Lost Desert Mine .....
Louden Mine... .....
Lucky Boy Mine ......
Mad Dog Mine .......

Mad Mule Mine... ....
Mad Ox Mine. .......
Maduro Mine .

Magee Claim. ......

Mammoth Mine .......
Manlove Mine .......
Marion Mine. .......
Marshall and Walters Mine .
Martin Mine... .....
Mascot Mine. .......
Mattie Mine. .......
Menzel Mine. .......
Merry Mountain Diggers Mine
Minnesota Mine ......
Morton & Bliss Mine... .

Mountain Copper Mine .. .
Murray Mine. .....
Nellie and Annie Mine .
No. 8 Mine ......
North Star Mine. ...
Ohio Consolidated Mine
Old Diggings .....
Old Mine ........
Oregon Consolidated Mine
Peerless Mine.......
Phoenix Mine .......
Providence Mine...
Pugh & Lindsay Mine .
Queen Mine .....
Rattler Mine ....
Red Cross Mines .. .
Red Cut Mine ..
Red Rover Mine . .

Reid Mine...
Reynolds Mine .
Richmond Mine. ......
Scottish Chief Mine... .
Shasta King Group. ....
Shasta Mine... .

Shasta Quartz and Placer Mini

Shirttail Mine .

Skookum Mine ......-+.e-s . .
Slide Mine .... 2.2. + ee ee eee
Snyder Mine... ... 2 eee . .

Company


2955 Little Nellie 1890 33N 6W | open cut, ore bin, tunnels, 2 |
blacksmith shops, trail, road, barn,
house, Iron Mtn. wagon road

2977 Ridge Gold 1890 33N SW | sled road, ridge road, open cut

&
34N
2979 Snyder 1890 33N SW | roads, dump, tunnels, blacksmith
& shop, trail sled roads, mill
6w

2998 Sacramento 1890 32N SW | road, buildings, mill, boarding
house, wood road, shaft, bunk
house

2999 Josephine 1897 32N SW | mine road |

3021 Texas Cons. Mines | 1890 33N SW | roads, mill, wire cable, cabins,

& Mill shafts, open cuts
Texas

Georgia

Belcher

Texas #2

Alta & Hellis

3027 Live Oak 1890 32N 6W | road, open cut, trail

3030 Bonanza 1890 33N 6W | 2 lodging houses, cabin, tunnels,
boarding house, office, storeroom,
tramway, blacksmith shop, road

3037 Ohio 1891 33N 6W | Balaklala house (just outside), open

Hidden Treasure cuts, trails, tunnels
Mountain Side
Pioneer
3054 Kit Carson 1891 32N SW | cabin, wagon road, shafts, tunnels,
Spanish Open cuts
Millsite

3091 Ellis 1891 33N SW | tunnels, sled roads

3104 J.S. Johnson 1891 33N 6W | roads, tunnels

3109 Newton 1891 33N SW | trails, cabin, open cut

&
6w
3229 Mammoth Garfield | 1893 32N SW | mill, roads, trail, tunnels
&
33N

127


Early gold mining scene depicting a horse-powered arrastra, a man
gold panning, and a third working with a rocker (Clark 1979:xii).

13


Baseball
Baseball was a very popular sport as early as the 1870s.
Almost every community boasted a team as well as a field
of play (see front cover). Baseball fever existed then
as it does today, according to the following 1879 Shasta
Courier article:

...Although the Plow Boy Team has some
excellent players, it was clearly seen
that they were no match for the Shasta
team, and at the expiration of 3 hours and
45 minutes, the game closed with a score
of 42 to 18 in favor of Shasta.

Tennis
In the late 1890s, a standard sized tennis court was
built for approximately $300 on the Iron Mountain Mine
property near the staff house. A steep hillside was
excavated in order to build the court. The court had a
12’ netting around it to stop the balls from going over
the sides. If a ball went over, it was lost forever.
The court was a popular place for staff and visitors, and
a place where many tournaments were held between company
teams or private teams who came from Redding to play.

Football
A football field was also built on Iron Mountain Mine
property and was used almost every Sunday during good
weather. Eventually, another football field was built at
Redding where return games were played. The English
Association type of game was played, which was not well
known here in the West. In addition to playing against
Reddingites, teams came up from as far away as San
Francisco and Berkeley.

Fox Hunting and Cricket
Other forms of regional recreation included cricket and
fox hunting. Fox hunting was conducted on the plains
across the Sacramento River below Redding by the
employees of Iron Mountain Mine (Kett 1947:113).

Horse Racing

A horse racing track existed at French Gulch (location
unknown) in 1855 (Frost c. 1960s).

RESERVOIRS

Keswick Reservoir ;
Keswick Reservoir is an afterbay reservoir for Shasta

84


APPENDIX 1

HISTORIC PATENTED MINES AND FEATURES
WITHIN THE
INTERLAKES SPECIAL RECREATION MANAGEMENT AREA

Dudley Placer
Claim
2082 North Star 1883 33N TW | trail, tunnels
2519 Mtn. Rose 1886 33N 6W | trail to Copley, tunnel, house,
quartz mill, road
2520 Black Bear 1886 33N 6W | 2 wagon roads, tunnels, sled road,
trail
2521 Brown Bear 1886 33N SW | sled road
&
6w
2546 Central Quartz 1887 32N 5W | boarding house, shafts, tunnel, ore
(Old Diggings & bin, wagon road
Mining District) 33N
2547 Shasta Quartz 1887 32N 5W | boarding house, shafts, tunnel, ore
& bin, wagon road
33N
| 2662 Mockingbird 1887 33N SW | tunnel, sled road
2663 Gray Eagle 1887 33N 5W_ | sled road, open cut
&
6w
| 2714 Grizzly Bear 1888 33N SW | road
2715 Hockeye 1888 33N 5W | open cuts, trails, road, shaft, tunnel
&
6w
2725 Empire Quartz 1887 32N 5W | mill, ore bin, buildings, tramway,
shaft, wagon road
2849 Grand Prize 1889 32N SW | road, lodging house, boarding
Wedge Location house, tunnels, blacksmith shop,
Wash. Location RR, ore bin, shafts
| 2942 Black Sentinel 1890 32N TW | sled road, mill, tunnels
2949 Hornet Gold & 1880 33N 6W | open cut, tunnels, cabin, trail
Silver

126


Taylor
Named for Clay Taylor, attorney for Mountain Copper
Company (Steger 1966:63).

Waugh
Named for Joseph Waugh who operated two ferries across
the Sacramento River in 1855 and built and operated the
Middle Creek Hotel in 1883 (Steger 1966:65).

Whiskeytown
Named for the miners’ ability to drink a barrel of
whiskey a day (Steger 1966:65). Popular local legend

claims it was named for a barrel of whiskey that fell off
a pack mule into the creek during Gold Rush days. The
Whiskeytown Post Office was not established until 1952
because the Whiskeytown name was considered unacceptable
by the federal government.

Whitehouse
Named for the Whitehouse & Bliss Mining Company that
operated a mine at the site in the 1870s (Steger
1966:65).

POST OFFICES

Blair
This post office was established at Whiskeytown in 1881.
It became the Stella Post Office in 1885 and was named
for the first postmaster Eunice Blair (Salley 1977). See
also Schilling, Stella, Whiskey Creek, and Whiskeytown
Post Offices.

Boralma
The Boralma Post Office was established in 1901,
discontinued in 1906 and located seven miles west of
Kennett (Salley 1977). Its exact location and name
origin are unknown.

Copley
This post office was established in 1886 and discontinued
in 1913. It is located two miles south of Coram at the
base of Copley Mountain near the Sacramento River north
of Middle Creek. It was named for a Mr. Copley (first
name unknown) who operated Camp Bailey, a nearby vacation
resort (Salley 1977).

Coram
This post office was established in 1906 and discontinued
in 1922. It was named for Joseph Coram, part owner of
Balaklala Mine and was located near Motion Creek and the
Sacramento River (Salley 1977).

77


Spanish Mine ..
Spardy Mine...

Spread Eagle Group.

Spring Gulch Mine
Star Gulch Mining
Stevenson Mine .
Stowell Mine ..
Sugar Loaf Mine .
Sulphide Mine . .
Summit Group

Sunshine Mine . .
Sutro Mine ...

Texas Consolidated Mine

Three Sisters Mine

Tom Cook Mine .
Trinity Mine .
Truscott Mine .
Uncle Sam Mine
Utah Mine...
Virginia Mine .
Vulcan Mine. .
Walker Mine. .
Waters Mine...
West End Quartz

Whiskey Hill Mine
Winnie Mine...
Wood Gulch Mine .
Woodward Mine . .

Yellow Jacket Mine .
Newspapers ......

Grizzly City Gazette

Placenames... .

Balaklala Mine .

Bohemotash Mountain

Buckeye .....
Clear Creek...
Cline Gulch...
Copley .....
Coram... .

Democrat Mountain
Dodge Creek . .
Franklin City .
French Gulch .
Grizzly Gulch .
Hart .....
Keswick... .
Iron Mountain. .

Mad Mule Canyon, Gulch,

Mad Ox Gulch . .

Mine
Whiskey Creek Water

Company
& Min

on

xiii

eee ee ee

Orerere
5

Pe «OO wc eee we

jountain

»

rr. oe

m


to avoid conflicts with construction of Shasta Dam and
Shasta Lake. The present railroad tracks adjacent to
Iron Mountain Road were constructed in 1948 as a spur
line to haul ore. The route was owned by the Bureau of
Reclamation and was necessary to avoid rising waters
caused by the completion of Keswick Dam. The route was
closed in 1962 when Iron Mountain Mine ceased operations.
The tracks remained in place until the late 1980s when

they were dismantled and sold (Royston Hanamoto et al.
1991:7,8).

When construction work began on Shasta Dam in 1938, a new
route was built to the east through the Sacramento River
Canyon. The last through train traveled on the old
tracks May 23, 1942. Track between Redding and Shasta
Dam was retained as a branch line and the rest was
inundated by the waters of Shasta Lake. The branch line
was purchased by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation in 1949,
but Southern Pacific continued as operator. In 1950, a
portion of the branch line was relocated as a result of
the building of Keswick Dam. The new branch line left
the Sacramento River and traveled up Middle Creek through
Kett and Keswick returning to the river north of Spring
Creek (Royston Hanamoto et al. 1991:7).

Abandoned Southern Pacific Railroad remains in the study
area include bridge abutments south of Keswick Dam
constructed from cut dimension stone during the 1880’s,
most of the concrete culvert creek crossings north of
Keswick Dam built at a later date, and a tunnel dating
from the 1880s reinforced with concrete in 1923

(Royston Hanamoto et al. 1991:9). Southern Pacific
railroad depots were located at Copley, Coram, Keswick,
Kett, Matheson, Middle Creek, Morley, and Motion.

RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Before good roads were built on Iron Mountain, many house
parties were held with the guests staying for the weekend and
attending a dance and a picnic. Guests would travel up and
down the mountain on the Iron Mountain Railroad (Ward
1954:13).

Beginning in the late 1930s, Shasta County began working with
state and federal agencies to develop recreational facilities
in this picturesque mountainous terrain where the focus was no
longer on its rich minerals (Toogood 1978:78).

83


which such a road would offer not only to the
citizens of Siskiyou, but of Shasta, and I

- venture the assertion that the road can and

~ will be made by individual enterprise. The

—people on the line of the proposed improvement
can and will subscribe as liberally on the
Shasta side as you propose doing on the Yreka
side of the mountain. I think we may perhaps
obtain aid from the citizens of Weaverville in
making a portion of the road, that portion of
it from Shasta to the waters of the Trinity, as
by so doing they would be overcoming the chief
impediment in the way of making a wagon road to
Weaverville. I have not had an opportunity of
conversing with many of my neighbors since the
receipt of your favor, but I feel that I can
Pledge them all to donations or subscriptions
proportionate with their means. Personally, I
would not be pecuniarily benefitted at present,
but would certainly be a loser were the road to
be diverted up the line of the Sacramento
River, and for this reason I will subscribe the
sum of ten thousand dollars, payable in
installment whenever needed: and many others,
as I before remarked, have signified a
willingness to aid the enterprise by labor and
money. When I first located where I now
reside, few supposed that wagons would ever
reach me, but now stages make regular trips,
and with expenditures of a very few thousand
dollars, any load could be taken to my place
then be hauled to the town of Shasta. This
improvement is a result of little more than my
individual labor, and the expenditure of a few
thousand dollars, and from actual observation
of the country.

The road over Scott Mountain to Yreka was completed in
1859 at a cost of $25,000. The California Stage Company
began running stages on it that year and to Portland in
1860 (Martin et al. 1981:46).

In February, 1860, the Shasta Turnpike Road Company
compteted a survey for a new wagon road from Shasta to
the Four Mile House, a hotel owned by Nicholas Maher
(Toogood 1978:29).

In 1862, plans were announced to build a road up the
Sacramento Canyon to Yreka, bypassing the road from
Shasta to Yreka by way of the Tower House and French
Gulch. The California Stage Company, which traveled the
road over the mountains to Yreka, vowed to invest as much


in the area to obtain a post office in 1856. Owner Ben
Mix served as postmaster (Toogood 1978:31) By 1862, the
community had lost its bloom (Toogood 1978:24).

A tent camp known as "Hooverville" existed on the
outskirts of Whiskeytown during The Depression years made
up of families migrating to the area (Toogood 1978:62).

The following relevant quote is from the Redding Record-
Searchlight of 7-1-1952:

...a combination grocery store, filling station
and bar building...stands on the new highway
one block south of the now-vacant hotel.

The townsite of Whiskeytown is California Historical
Landmark #131 (California Department of Parks &
Recreation 1976:118), but most of the original town is
now under the waters of Whiskeytown Lake. Today’s
Whiskeytown is located within the boundaries of the
Whiskeytown Unit of the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity
National Recreation Area and is privately owned and
managed.

Whitehouse
T32N R5W. Whitehouse was a mining town established in
the 1870s by A. A. Anthony and named for his company,
Whitehouse and Bliss of London, England (Steger 1966:65).
Denny’s Map of 1904 locates Whitehouse.

SMELTERS / ROASTING STALLS

The meaning of smelting, according to Webster’s Third New
t ns

(Gove 1976:2151) is to melt or fuse (ore) in order to separate
the metal. Therefore, smelters and roasting stalls were a
necessary mining operation. However, smelters caused great
environmental damage (Figures 5a, 10c, 13a, 13b).

The reduction process involved blast furnaces and stall
and heap roasting. All methods produced sulfur dioxide which
was emitted directly into the atmosphere and resulted in
tremendous damage to the vegetation it came in contact with
(Fay 1970). Fluxes were required in the smelting process.
Quartz was used as flux and was obtained from many local mines
(Renfree c. 1960s:1).

Untold numbers of trees were cut for the needed timber in
the mine tunnels as well as the fuel for the open ore fires
and the smelter furnaces. The burning c.e caused toxic

104


Giant Consolidated
Copper mine. The Giant is located 34 miles southwest of
Shasta Dam and includes 23 patented claims, open cuts,
and a 310 ft. adit (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:106).

Gladstone Mine
T33N R6W, Secs. 7, 8, 17 & 18. Gold mine. The Gladstone
was located in 1887 approximately four miles northeast of
French Gulch in Cline’s Gulch (Averill 1939:135) (Figure
7a, 7b). It was comprised of six claims in 1894 in which
there were five main tunnels from 80 to 200 ft. apart,
all connected. Reduction was performed by a 20-stamp
mill operated by water power four months out of the year
and by a 140 horse-power engine the remainder of the
year. Stamps weighed 850 lbs. each and made 95 drops per
minute. The entire works were lighted by electricity.
Electric bells were used in the lower workings. Water
power was derived from Cline’s Gulch through a one-mile
long ditch (Crawford 1894:249). Operations had ceased by
1900 because of court litigation and because the quartz
vein was lost. I. 0. Jillson purchased the stamp mill
the same year for $1,500 but his mine superintendent and
two miners sent to dismantle the mill believed the mine
should be checked for a possibly rich ore body. An
exploratory tunnel was driven and cut through a vein
containing high grade ore. This discovery caused Jillson
to leave the stamp mill in place and purchase the
Gladstone for $7,500 in 1900.

From 1901 through 1910, great expansions and improvements
took place at the mine. A saw mill named Shingle Shanty
was built on Grass Valley Creek west of Buckhorn Summit
and provided all the lumber. A power plant was built on
Crystal Creek to provide above-ground electricity. By
1909, the mill was completely electrically powered and
ten additional stamps had been added to the 20-stamp
mill. The new stamps weighed 1,050 lbs. each and dropped
6" 106 times a minute crushing ore through a 40 mesh
screen. The mill processed 100 tons per day.
Approximately 60 men worked in the mine and approximately
40 men worked in the mill. Additional men worked in the
carpenter, electric, machine, and timber assembly shops.
Other employees included cooks, maids, and maintenance
people. The mine employed between 200-300 people at this
time. All drilling was done by hand before 1910. After
1910, drilling was done with jack hammers (Lintz
1985:27,28).

Gold production from 1901 to 1912 was $2,389,491.78 in
gold bar and $109,739.90 in table concentrates (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:43,44). The 1915 holdings included a new
joisting plant (375 h.p., two-reel drums), a compressor

51


Cottages:

There were 25 family cottages built, each with three
or four rooms. Each cottage rented for either $10
or $12 per month and each cost approximately $600 to
-construct.
Bunkhouses:
Two bunkhouses, each with 16 rooms were constructed.
Rooms were rented for $1 per month.
Staff Quarters:
One two-story building containing 16 rooms was
constructed and cost approximately $4,500.
Mess and Entertainment Hall:
This facility included a dining room and kitchen,
canteen, billiard room, music room, toilets, etc.
Office buildings:
Two buildings, each with two stories were built.
The upper floors were occupied by the general
manager, and the accounting, catering, and
engineering departments. The lower floors were used
for hardware and general storage. Each building
cost approximately $6,000 to construct.
Store:
A large general merchandise store was built on the
southeast corner of the Iron Mountain property. The
store carried clothing for men and women, groceries,
small hardware items, beer, etc. The building cost
was approximately $3,000 to construct.
Tennis court:
The tennis court included a 12 ft. netting ali
around it. It was used a great deal by the staff,
visitors, and groups from Redding. Construction
cost was approximately $300.
Football field:
The field was used almost every Sunday during good
weather. Teams traveled from as far away as San
Francisco and Berkeley to play.

In 1897, the silver mill was destroyed by fire as well as
the sawmill, all the stores, the office, assay
department, hospital, messhouse, reading room, canteen,
plus a number of small buildings (Renfree c. 1960s:2).
There were 80 roasting stalls built on the north side of
Spring Creek above the Keswick smelter (Figure 13b). As
many as 350,000 tons of ore was burned simultaneously for
60 days, giving off huge volumes of sulphur dioxide
gasses. The men who worked on the roasters were called
“roaster stiffs" and were easily recognizable because the
fumes caused their hair and whiskers to turn green. The
roasting stalls were eventually abandoned in favor of
heaps scattered at isolated places along the Iron
Mountain railroad tracks because the concentration of
fumes was so intense it was difficult for workers to

57


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Fie Lee
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Early location notice for mining claims in region.

xviii


Lake and Spring Creek powerplants and a regulating
reservoir to even out the flow of water through the
Keswick powerplant. The reservoir capacity is 23,800
acre ft.; total reservoir area consists of 640 acres;
shoreline is 25.5 miles; length is nine miles, and the
maximum water depth is 118 ft. (U. S. Department of the
Interior 1986:4,5). In 1968, the Bureau of Reclamation
and Shasta County entered into a 30-year cooperative
agreement and transferred recreational management of the
lake to the county (Royston Hanamoto et al. 1991:7).
Average annual inflow into the lake from 1943 to 1970 was
6,091,300 acre ft. (Bureau of Reclamation 1983:6).

Shasta Lake
This large body of water was formed by the backed up
waters of the Sacramento, McCloud, and Pit rivers behind
Shasta Dam, which was built beginning in 1938. These
waters formerly flowed freely into the Pacific Ocean and
caused, during floods, millions of dollars in damage to
Valley farmlands, towns, and cities. The mainline of
Southern Pacific Railroad had to be rerouted to make way
for the lake resulting in the construction of 12 tunnels

and eight bridges (U. S. Department of the Interior
1986:4).

Pertinent Data
(U. S. Department of the Interior 1986:4)

Capacity (normal) 4,493,000 acre ft.
Capacity (gross) 4,552,090 acre ft.
Area of lake 29,500 acres
Shoreline 365 miles

Length 35 miles

Maximum water depth 515 ft.

Drainage area 6,665 sq. miles

Whiskeytown Lake
This reservoir is manmade and was formed by damming Clear
Creek. A portion of the water comes from the Trinity
River which is diverted into the lake through the Clear
Creek Tunnel which passes through the Trinity Divide and
emerges from the hillside above the west end of the lake
and the Judge Francis Carr Powerhouse. The lake began
filling with water in 1962. Total capacity is 241,100
acre ft. The water is first used for power generation,
then travels by another tunnel to the Keswick Reservoir
where it is mixed with water from Shasta Lake and
released through the Keswick powerplant into the
Sacramento River (U. S. Dept. of the Interior 1985).

85


mining, and it was conducted with shovels and pans. Soon,
rockers, long toms, and sluice boxes were used which greatly
increased the amount of gravel one man could wash (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:56).

Hydraulic mining began in 1855 upon completion of the
Clear Creek Canal (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:56). The main trunk
stretched some 40 miles. It began near the Tower House and
ended at Olney Creek. When it was completed, it provided
sufficient water power to hydraulically mine gold which caused
immediate alteration of the landscape and caused gold
production to rise dramatically around Shasta (Toogood
1978:20), although mostly to the south of the study area.

In February, 1858 a severe storm and flood battered the
area causing great damages to mining operations, bridges,
flumes, and dams. The resulting damages probably influenced
the course of events during the next year when placer mining
lost its bloom (Toogood 1978:23,24).

In February of 1867, another severe storm and flood
occurred which again caused great damages and washed away
dams, bridges, flumes, and nearly filled the Clear Creek Ditch
with sand and gravel. By this time, the placers of the area
had been pretty well worked out and exhausted. When this
happened, many people left the area causing it to rapidly
depopulate (Toogood 1978:25).

The January 11, 1868 issue of Mining and Scientific Press
(176, No. 2) stated that miners were undertaking new, unusual

mining methods to break down hillsides and creek banks for
washing in their sluice boxes. Shafts and adits were sunk in
the deep-seated gravel beds where immense magazines of
dynamite were placed and exploded - shattering thousands of
tons of earth and rendering it easily broken down and washed
away with water (Toogood 1978:20).

In 1870, the California-Oregon Stagecoach Company
rerouted their stagecoaches from the Shasta-Yreka Road through
. French Gulch to the Sacramento River Canyon route, thus
completely bypassing Shasta, Whiskeytown, Tower House, and
French Gulch (Toogood 1978:31) (Figure 2).

In 1872, railroad tracks were being laid in the southern
part of Shasta County. During the same year, track laying had
reached the Sacramento River in present day Redding. The
coming of the railroad ended the importance of Shasta as the
transportation center of the north, and gave prominence to the
newly established railroad town of Redding (Martin et al.
1981:50). By 1880, Shasta no longer greeted the majority of
travelers to northern California (the new town of Redding was
serving that purpose) and much of the area’s population had

5


HOTELS / WAYSIDE INNS / STOPPING PLACES

The earliest hotels served as convenient social centers for
travelers and local citizens who wanted refreshment, company,
entertainment, news of family affairs, and the latest
information on gold strikes (Toogood 1978:31).

Brown’s House

Brown’s House (hotel) existed at the mouth of Grizzly
Gulch in 1855 according to an article in the s
Courier of 8-11-1855. It is also shown on Denny’s 1904

Map of Shasta County and as "Madame Brown’s" on the GLO
1868 plat at BLM, Redding.

Empire Hotel

Four

This facility was built in the mid-1850s. It was an
elegant and commodious wooden structure. In 1856,
travelers from Shasta via the Trinity and Scott Mountain
to Yreka and Jacksonville, Oregon, changed from stages to
mule passenger trains at the Empire Hotel. The hotel was
demolished in 1931 (Southern 1942:45).

Mile House

This is shown on "Historical Base Map 1 - 1850-1880" on
the east side of Whiskey Creek (Toogood 1978:88). This
business was opened in 1853 by owner Nicholas Maher and
consisted of a two-story hotel and bar with nearby
corrals (Shasta Courier 7-23-1853).

French Gulch Hotel

T33N R7W, Sec. 22. See "Settlements/Towns/Mining Camps"
entry.

Tower House

T32N R7W, Sec. 3. The Tower House was not located within
the study area; it stood at the very southwest edge.
Because of the importance it played in the early history
of much of the study area, it is included in this report.

In 1852, Levi Tower purchased the property which already
included a trading post and a bridge across Clear Creek.
Tower immediately set to work with hired carpenters and
enlarged the trading post into a wooden, 40’x60’, 21-
room, 3-story hotel (Smith 1994:257,258) (Figure 11).

The Tower House soon began serving as a community center,
election precinct, mining district, communication hub,
and quasi-courthouse (Toogood 1978:36). In 1858, the
hotel became the stage depot for the California-Oregon
Stage Company and leased stables to provide fresh horses
for the trip to either Weaverville or Yreka (Toogood
1978:31).

36


to the Central Mine Spur located between Keswick Station
and Motion. The railroad had one oil-burning
conventional rod-type engine and hauled quartz rock which
was used as flux at the Iron Mountain smelter (Colby
1982:77). (The Old Diggings Railroad and the conjoined
Central Mine Spur are illustrated on Wiegel’s [1908]
Map.)

Central Pacific Railroad

See Southern Pacific.

Gladstone Mine Railroad

Iron

T33N R6&7W. In 1915, the mine operated an electric train
railroad which included ten cars capable of hauling 2,200
lbs. each. Ore was hauled from the mine to the company
mill. Electric power was supplied from the Northern
California Power Company (Brown 1915:44).

Mountain Mine Railroad

This was officially known as the Iron Mountain Railway
Company (Kett 1947:110). The 11-mile long railway was
built from the mine to the smelter on Spring Creek under
the supervision of M. M. O’Shaughnessy (Kristofors
1973:25). Construction work started in early 1895 and
was completed in February of 1896. Iron Mountain’s
railway was 36" gauge of 40 lb. rails. Maximum grade was
3.75% on tangents while curves were compensated according
to the degree of curve. During full operation, it had
some 34 miles of spurs and side tracks in the operating
yards and passing sidings on the mainline. There was
also a three-rail system at the end of the smelter road
which enabled the handling of standard broad-gauge cars
from Southern Pacific’s mainline (Renfree c. 1960s:3).

In addition to the curves, a double loop existed near
Iron Mountain (Kett 1947:110).

The railway connected the mine with the smelting works
and ran on a uniform downgrade for approximately 11
miles, thence another mile to the Southern Pacific
mainline at the mouth of Spring Creek (Renfree c.
1960s:1).

By 1920, the railway had deteriorated to a point
requiring practically all new ties and rails as well as
new rolling stock. The cost of operation, taxes, and
upkeep had become very burdensome. In addition, because
the railway was a common carrier, its operation had to
conform with all Interstate Commerce Commission rules and
regulations as well as the Railway Commission of the
State of California. Rather than undertake costly repair
work, the company decided instead to build an aerial
tramway system, a substitute form c° transportation that

81


St. Rose’s Catholic Church at French Gulch
(Frisbie and Beauchamp 1973:8).

19


Anonymous
c. 1950s

1858

c. 1968

REFERENCES CITED

Cemetery Book. Compiled by Shasta Historical
Society, Redding.

Shasta County Farms in 1858. Appendix to State
s h_ Session. Shasta Courthouse
Museum, Shasta State Historic Park, Shasta.

Shasta Keswick Restoration Program History.
Ms. on file, Shasta-Trinity National Forest,
Redding.

Averill, Charles Volney

1933

1939

Gold Deposits of the Redding and Weaverville

Quadrangles. California Journal of Mines and
Geology. State Mineralogist’s Report 29, pp.

3-73. California State Printing Office, San
Francisco.

Mineral Resources of Shasta County, California.
California Journal of Mines and Geology, State
Mineralogist’s Report 35, pp. 108-191.
California State Printing Office, San
Francisco.

Brown, G. Chester

1915

Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County,
Siskiyou County, Trinity County. Chapters of
State Mineralogist’s Report Biennial Period
1913-1914. California State Printing Office,
San Francisco.

Bureau of Reclamation

1983

Cabitto, Joe
1977

Central Valley Project, Shasta/Trinity River
Divisions. Project Data Book. Revision 6/83.
Sacramento.

Growing up American - A Young Italian Comes to

Shasta County. The Covered Wagon, pp. 43-52.
Shasta Historical Society, Redding.

California Department of Education

1942

The Central Valley Project. Compiled by
workers of the Writers’ Program of the Work
Project Administration. California Department
of Education, Sacramento.

119


INTRODUCTION

This report is a historical overview of western Shasta
County’s Interlakes Special Recreation Management Area (ISRMA)
(Figure 1) with 1945 generally as the cut-off date with a few
important exceptions. This document is set up alphabetically
by theme and/or category. It is not a comprehensive history
of places, persons, or events, nor a treatise, but rather a
document meant to provide general information on the regional
history as well as serve management needs. This chronicle does

. not deal with Native American Indian history nor does it cover
changing ownership and jurisdictional patterns over time.

The main industry to take place in the ISRMA throughout
history has been mining. Many minerals have been mined
throughout the years. Of them, gold and copper have been the
undisputed kings.

California’s gold mining has been important in the
history and development of the western United States as well
as significantly influential in the development and perfection
of mining and metallurgical processes. California produced
more than 106 million troy ounces of gold between the years
1848 and 1967. This was far greater than any other state and
represented approximately 35% of the total United States
production (Clark 1979:1,2).

The second highest gold producing area of California is
the Klamath Mountains region. Shasta, Siskiyou, and Trinity
counties are the principal gold districts with placer deposits
being the largest source of gold (Clark 1979:132). The French
Gulch district has been the most productive source of lode-
gold (Clark 1979:xi).

The Shasta copper-zinc belt is also located in the
foothills of the Klamath Mountains in west-central Shasta
County. The two main areas of mineralization are the West and
East Shasta districts. Part of the East Shasta district lies
beneath Shasta Lake while the West Shasta district lies in the
Interlakes area. Gold and silver-bearing gossans were mined
in both of these districts during the 1860s. Copper and zinc
ores were mined in large quantities beginning in the 1890s and
lasting into the 1920s. The ore was treated and processed in
smelters built especially for that purpose. The estimated
total gold output for the West Shasta district up to 1979 was
520,000 ounces (Clark 1979:142).

toric Con: the Stud: a

The California Gold Rush began at Coloma in 1848 when
James Marshall discovered gold in the tailrace of John

1


Blue Danube Mine

Gold mine. This property included three patented claims
on 45 acres in 1933 (Averill 1933:11).

Bohemotosh Mine
Copper mine (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:105).

Bonanza Mine
Gold mine. This mine was a gold quartz mining operation
consisting of three claims. It produced small but rich
gold deposits prior to 1914 (Toogood 1978:57).

Brick Flat Mine
Pyrite mine. This mine was one of many holdings of Iron
Mountain Mine. Mining began in 1956 and ceased in 1962.
The mine closed in 1963 (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:70,73).
See Iron Mountain Mine.

Bright Star Mine
See Evening Star Mine.

California Mine
See Walker Mine.

Camden Claim
See Lost Confidence Mine.

Carnegie Group
See Clipper Mine.

Central Mine
Gold mine. This mine was early~on owned by Whitehouse &
Bliss of England who sent ore to the Kennett smelter for
processing. A. A. Anthony was the mine superintendent
for many years (Goll 1954:27). Between 1885 and 1895,
Huntington mills crushed the ore. The millsite was
located beside the Sacramento River, some distance from
the mine (Logan 1926:170). In later years, ore was
shipped to the Keswick smelter by way of an approximately
five-mile long narrow gauge railroad that ran from Quartz
Hill to the Central Spur between Keswick Station and
Motion (Colby 1982:77). Total output during those years
is estimated at approximately $500,000. A tramway
delivered ore from the mine to the railroad (Logan
1926:171). The mine produced $45,000 in 1912. It has
been idle since the smelters shut down in 1919 (Lydon and
O’Brien 1974:43).

Clara Mine

Gold mine. This mine was a small producer. It contains
a 700 ft. adit (Lydon and O’Brien 1974:113).

47


It is recommended that further historical study be
conducted of the remains of the Iron Mountain Mine aerial
tramway at Matheson.

It is- recommended that further historical research into
the Southern Pacific Railroad Company tunnel at T33N R5W,
Sec. 29 be undertaken with special regard to its
eligibility for nomination to the National Register of
Historic Places. This tunnel is significant because it
was excavated as part of the original railroad track
construction during the 1880s by Southern Pacific
Railroad Company. As an adjunct, this Redding to Shasta
Dam segment of the railroad deserves further analysis.

Middle Creek Hotel (Frisbie and Beauchamp 1973:81)

116


Kett

Keswick of London when mining operations began in 1896
(Gudde 1969:37). Mountain Copper Company built a smelter
at Keswick (Figure 13a). When completed in 1896, Keswick
was the second largest community in Shasta County
(Kristofors 1973:25). One thousand people lived at
Keswick in 1900, which included the community of Taylor
to the south (Steger 1966:42).

Federal investigations began in 1898 for alleged fume
damages to vegetation caused by the fumes released from
the Keswick smelter (Figure 10c). In 1905, a federal

injunction was secured against the smelter forcing it to
close (Kristofors 1973:25).

Keswick Railroad Station was located in Sec. 17 according
to Denny’s Map of 1904. Keswick was maintained as the
railway terminal for the shipment of crude ores and
various supplies. By 1907, all smelting had ceased at
Keswick, although Keswick continued to be maintained as
the railway terminal. Then, in 1921, the railway machine
shop was removed to a point on Boulder Creek where it was
more convenient to both the Iron Mountain and Hornet
mines. This was the end of activities at Keswick, and
the town soon became little more than a ghost town, which
it remained for many years (Kett 1947:127,128).

A portion of Southern Pacific Railroad’s branch line was
relocated through Kett and Keswick in 1950 because of the
building of Keswick Dam (Royston Hanamoto et al. 1991:7).

A portion of Southern Pacific Railroad’s branch line was
relocated through Kett and Keswick in 1950 because of the
building of Keswick Dam (Royston Hanamoto et al. 1991:7).

Mad Mule Canyon

This canyon was named for a pack mule that went ona
rampage. The canyon was noted for its nuggets as early
as 1851 (Steger 1966:45). The mouth of Mad Mule Canyon
served as a collection area for county and state taxes in
1852, indicating it was a densely populated area (Toogood
1978:26). In 1853, it served as a voting precinct
(Steger 1966:45).

From the Shasta Courier of 1-11-1868, there is the
following:

...all the claims on Mad Ox and Mule Canyons
have yielded an ounce a day to the hand, some
of them double that amount--the gold generally
being coarse, many of the pieces weighing
several ounces. These diggings are said to pay

100


1982:77). The area was again prospected in the 1930s
(Clark 1979:140). The district contains the Texas,
Mammoth, Central, Reid, Evening Star, Walker, and Calumet

mines. The Reid is the deepest mine in the district
(Averill 1939:146,147).

South Park
T32N RSW, Sec. 20. The fully plotted town listed as
South Park existed only on paper (Shasta County

Assessor’s Map Bk. 65:16) at this location as development
never took place. See Thelma.

Stella
T32N R6W, Sec. 16. Stella existed at this location
according to the Denny’s Map of 1904. The Stella Post
Office was located at Whiskeytown from 1885 until 1909
(Salley 1977). There were 35 registered voters living in
Stella in 1928 (Yank 1928).

Taylor
T32N R5W, Sec. 20. Both Taylor and Keswick were major
smelter communities for the Iron Mountain Mine
(Kristofors 1973:18). The community of Taylor adjoined
and lay immediately to the south of Keswick. The town
started to grow in 1895 shortly after ground was broken
to begin the building of the Keswick smelter. First came
saloons, then more saloons (30 total), then stores, two
hotels, several boarding houses, a drugstore, the Taylor
Post Office, a church, a livery stable, and the Mountain
Miner weekly newspaper. The town also included, for a
time, a school house and five teachers who educated
approximately 300 children, a Justice of the Peace,
Justice of the Peace court, and a jail that was always
full. Taylor claimed approximately 1,600 to 1,800
residents at its peak (Kett 1947:113).

Thelma
T32N RSW, Sec. 20. Like South Park, a fully plotted
"paper" town existed at this location (Shasta County
Assessor’s Map Bk. 65:19) but development never took
place. Thelma and South Park adjoined each other.

Tower House ;
T32N R7W, Sec. 3. The Tower House was the converging
point of three old trails of vital importance to the
settlement and exploration of northern California (Figure
11). They were the road through French Gulch over the
Scott Mountains to Yreka, the road to Weaverville and
Humboldt Bay, and the road to and from Shasta.

The Tower House is not located within the study area - it
stands at the very southwest edge. But because of the

102


gold rose from $20.67 to $35.00 an ounce. This price increase
sparked renewed interest in gold mining and attracted thousands
of hungry and homeless people into California who engaged in
mining as a new way of life. An aftermath of copper smelting was
severe regional environmental damage; reclamation efforts began
soon thereafter and continue to this day.

The second major industry was large-scale water control, and
resulting hydroelectric power development, which commenced in
1938 when construction began on Shasta Dam, the key structure of
the Central Valley Project and one of the nation’s major water
development projects. This vitally important dam and all of its
downstream related structures are discussed briefly in this
report.

vi


1922 and discontinued in 1962. It was named for James

Matheson, founder of Mountain Copper Company (Salley
1977).

Old Diggins

This post office was established in 1918 and discontinued
in 1927 (Salley 1977). See Hart.

Schilling
This post office was established at Whiskeytown in 1917,
discontinued in 1931, reinstated in 1931, and changed its
name to Whiskeytown in 1952 (Salley 1977). See also

Blair, Stella, Whiskey Creek, and Whiskeytown post
offices.

Stella
This post office was established at Whiskeytown in 1885
and discontinued in 1909 (Salley 1977). Earlier and

later post offices at Whiskeytown were Blair, Schilling,
Whiskey Creek, and Whiskeytown.

Taylor

The Taylor Post Office was established at Taylor in 1897
and discontinued in 1922. It was named for attorney Clay
Taylor, for whom the town was named (Salley 1977).

Waugh
The Waugh Post Office was established in 1885 in the
Middle Creek Hotel near the mouth of Middle Creek and the
Sacramento River. It was named for Joseph Waugh, the
owner of the hotel, and the first postmaster. The post
office was discontinued in 1906 (Salley 1977).

Whiskey Creek
The Whiskey Creek Post Office was established at
Whiskeytown in 1856 and discontinued in 1864 (Salley
1977). Earlier and later post offices at Whiskeytown
were Blair, Schilling, Stella, and Whiskeytown.

Whiskeytown
This post office was established in 1952 by changing the
name of the Schilling Post Office. Previous post office
names were Blair, Schilling, Stella, and Whiskey Creek.
The Whiskeytown name was considered unacceptable by the
federal government until 1952 when it was finally
accepted. (Salley 1977). The post office is still in
operation as of 1995.

Whitehouse .
This post office was established at the Central Mine in
1893, discontinued in 1906, re-established in 1907, and

79


Length of crest
Aggregate

Cement
Piping and conduit

(up to 48")
Cooling pipe, installed
Reinforcing steel
Plate steel,

15’ penstocks
Steel for outlet
conduits, coaster
gates, valves plus
many other lesser items

Thickness at base,
including spillway
apron

Thickness at crest

Width of crest roadway
and sidewalks

Downstream face of dam

Type

Spillway

Outlet works

Foundation

24

Natural aggregate from pits
near Redding. Oversize
crushed. Low heat cement.
Temperature control with
river water and
refrigerated water in
extreme heat. Aggregate
and mixing water cooled in
summer and heated in
winter.

3,460 ft.

11,975,000 tons

6,757,500 barrels

4,000 tons

1,348 miles
13,000 tons
6,000 tons

9,000 tons

883 ft.

30 ft.
39.5 ft.

31 acres

Concrete curved gravity,
embankment wing

Overflow section near
center of dam controlled by
three 110- by 28-ft drum
gates.

18 102" diameter conduits
through dam in three tiers
(6" upper, 8" middle, 4"
lower) controlled by 14 96"
wheel-type gates (upper and
middle) and four 102" tube
valves. Five 183" diameter
steel pipes through dam,
controlled by five 15" x
19’ coaster gates deliver
water to the powerplant.
Hard, tough, durable
green-tone, usually hard
and sound beneath


21*
22*
23

27*

28*
29%

30%

31*
32*

33%
34*

3

6*

7*

gx

10

Coram townsite
Power Line
Flume
O&CR.R.
Road

Aerial Tram
Smelters
Coram Station
RR and Road

Trail
Wagon Road
O& CR.R.

Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s

GLO Plat
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s

1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map

1869-1881
1908 Map
1908 Map

Trinity Copper Properties Wiegel’s 1908 Map

Flume

Indian Allotment

No. Calif. Power Line
No. Calif. Power Line
Trail

Copley

Copley Post Office
O& CR.R.

Wagon Road

Unnamed Mining Claims

Churntown
Old Road

33 6W

Statesman Group Claims
Mining Claims

Wagon Road

Trail

Uncle Sam Mine
Virginia Mining

Co. Claims

Mining Claims

CPRR

CPRR

CPRR

CPRR

Gladstone Group

No. Ca. Pwr. Co. Line
Gladstone Group

No. Ca. Pwr. Co. Line
Power Line

Electric Pwr.

Trans. Line

111

Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
GLO Plat

1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1869-1881

Denny’s 1904 Map

Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s

GLO Plat
Wiegel’s

Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
GLO Plat
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s

Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
Wiegel’s
GLO Plat

1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map

1869-1881
1908 Map

1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1882-1919
1908 Map
1908 Map

1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1908 Map
1917-1919


ROADS / TRAILS

The first roads were actually trails used by man and beast.
Shasta was the terminus of the wagon roads, where miners’
supplies were transferred to the backs of mules. As more gold
was discovered, more miners arrived, as did express companies

and stage companies, and the trails were constructed into
wagon roads.

The mule trail to Yreka from Shasta began at Shasta and
followed Rock Creek up to its source at the hillside springs,
thence on to Whiskey Creek, to French Gulch, and over the
mountains to Yreka. The trail was intentionally laid out on
the high ground and avoided the gorges of the creeks. At
intervals of approximately every eight miles, the trail
descended to the creek so the mules could obtain water
(Frisbie and Beauchamp 1973:82).

The first known road from Shasta into the study area was that
built by Levi Tower from Shasta to his Tower House in 1852.

Tower’s Wagon Road
This road was the main rival of the Sacramento River
Canyon road which the leading residents of Yreka felt was
the shorter and easier route to the outside world, as did
the residents of the Sacramento River Canyon (who would
definitely prosper from such a road in the canyon). The
road, from the 1850s until the arrival of the Central
Pacific Railroad in the 1870s, went from Shasta to the
Tower House to French Gulch northward through Scott
Valley and Callahan and on to Yreka (Greenwood 1984:18).

The road eventually extended all the way to Yreka on the
north, and to Weaverville and beyond to the west. It
became known by many names throughout the years.

Southern (1942:46) called it the Shasta and Yreka
Turnpike Road and stated that portions of it still
existed on Main Street through French Gulch in 1942. The
Shasta Courier of 7-23-1853 called it the Trinity and
Yreka Road, and a week later the Yreka and Weaverville
Road. The Shasta Herald called it the Tower House to
Yreka Road on 8-20-1859. Charles Camden became owner of
the portion from Shasta to the Tower House after Tower’s
untimely death in 1865 and turned it into the Camden Toll
Road. In 1924, the State of California constructed
Highway 20 over much of the same route and finally,
following more construction by the State, the road became
what it is today, Highway 299 West.

Levi Tower’s road was, according to his brother-in-law
Charles Camden, the first prelimin-ry free wagon road
from the Tower House to Shasta (Toogood 1978:26).

86


production around Shasta, generally, to the south of the

study area.

The first 18 miles of the canal were completed by June
1855 from the Tower House southwest along Clear Creek,
past the mouth of Grizzly, Boulder, Whiskey, Brandy, Dry,
and Salt creeks. Water ran through ditches three feet
deep, four feet wide at the bottom, and six feet wide on
the top. The water even provided sufficient power to
hydraulically mine (Toogood 1978:20). An aqueduct was
located at Bull Gulch according to the Shasta Courier of

10-20-1855.

Only those who purchased water rights to the

canal could use it (Toogood 1978:22).

The following article is from the Shasta Republican of

October 20,

1855:

The Clear Creek Canal. This important
work which has been in course of
construction since last Christmas, will,
we are informed, be completed with all its
branches, by the middle of November.

A low dam has been built at the head of
the Eastern bank of Clear Creek, a few
hundred yards above the Tower House. The
Western Fork, also, is dammed and its
waters received into the ditch which then
enters the flat below Camden’s mill.
Passing through the mill race which is
made tributary, the water is conducted two
hundred yards in a flume, along the almost
perpendicular mass of rocks which form the
bluff on the west side of Clear Creek.
Following the west bank a mile and a half,
it crosses the creek in an aqueduct forty-
five feet above the stream and is then
introduced upon a flat, a few acres in
extent, through which an ancient channel
of the creek passes, where some well-
paying claims are now being worked.

Passing on, the canal winds among the
hills,--now running in a channel blasted
through the rock, then piercing a ridge,
until after a course of thirteen miles it
reaches Whiskey Creek, which is crossed in
a flume sixty feet above the water. The
line is then thrown upon a rocked and
rugged hillside; where, for nearly a mile,
the excavation was mostly performed with
powder and the drill. On arriving at the

27