Friday, December 28, 2007

Rising From the Lake Part 3

Continued from Part 2

The name Keswick may be familiar to many of you, from the dam. But did you know it had a British influence? Originally founded in 1897 by 2 beer bottlers from Redding, a group of British bachelors came to “Kezzick” by train, bringing cricket, lawn tennis and fox hunting with them.

River cities, like so many others of that time, thrived or declined because of the railroads. Construction crews founded many river towns. These flourished when construction on the railroads stalled. When construction resumed, however, many towns were abandoned.

The history of Shasta – the lake and the county – is full of such stories. Though much of our history is under water or razed in the name of progress, the stories remain. There are tales of controversial cemeteries, battles, and more. History can be fun, if you know where to look.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Rising From the Lake Part 2

Continued from Part 1


A graveyard had survived more than thirty years under Shasta Lake, robbed when the waters drew back because of drought.

Imagine a boat pulling up, late afternoon or early evening. Several men get out. With a few tools, plenty of sweat and struggle, they pull the black sleek metal from its long embedded sanctuary. Did they think about the people buried there as they stole the boundary marking their final resting place? Or was this simply easy pickings – an opportunity to get cheap fencing? We’ll never know – no one saw them with their plunder.

Other things showed up that year. More than a hundred prehistoric Indian sites were revealed across the dried-up lakebed. Many of these had been along the original rivers and creeks. According to a retired archeologist of the Forest Service, some sites dated back more than 500 years!

Among the many artifacts found by the Forest Service were milling stones, net weights, things that go back as far as 4,000 years. When looting became rampant, many disappeared. The Forest Service later removed the artifacts, establishing collections at both Shasta College and at the Visitor’s Center at Shasta Lake. Many of these can still be seen.

Sad to say, much of our local history has disappeared. Though pictures remain, we forget the rich tapestry of lives and events that happened within the past hundred years.

Rising From the Lake Part 1

Graveyards rising from the lake. Looting in broad daylight.

The year was 1977. Having been plagued by drought for seven years, the river arms that fed Shasta Lake dried up. Manzanita trees withered and died. The lake fell to its lowest level ever and, in the process, a lot of history got revealed.

An old cemetery emerged near where the once thriving town of Kennet used to be. Kennet itself is now so deep under the lake that it never gets exposed.

Lola M. Schwartz - Librarian for the Shasta Historical Society - and her husband, Jim were boating on Lake Shasta that summer and saw this amazing sight.

“It was very exciting”, she remembers. There was a black wrought-iron fence all around that cemetery. It looked brand new – the water had preserved it. And you could tell where the graves were. Those that had been moved were sunken and those that (remained) were smooth.”

Throughout that summer, Lola and Jim visited the cemetery often. In a later visit, Schwartz found the fence was missing – someone had stolen it!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Western Ingenuity Part 2

Continued from Part 1


David “Att” Aldridge was always looking for creative ideas to bring in money. Like many people of that time, by age twelve Att had to go to work to help out.

To supplement their meager food cache, the oldest Aldridges would hunt wild hogs in the surrounding hills every year. They‘d fatten the hogs up, slaughter them, then store the meat for the hard winter ahead.

In 1875, Att noticed an over-abundance of wild acorns and had an idea. Why not hunt a really large number of wild hogs, fatten them on corn and the wild acorns, then herd them to Anderson (thirty miles away) and sell them at the stockyards. In those days, Anderson was a major railroad hub. Att figured if they drove enough hogs there, they would make more money then they’d ever had!

A skillful hunter, Att first organized his younger siblings to help gather acorns. When they were through, the pile was ten feet high! Then, to make sure there was a secure place to herd the hogs into, Att recruited his younger brother, Bill, to help reinforce their corral.

The next day, they proceeded to hunt and herd wild hogs down from the hills. Over a period of days, with his younger brother and 3 yapping dogs, they managed to catch 542 wild hogs!

The task of driving wild hogs to market was a daunting one. But Att wasn’t discouraged. He had another brilliant idea in mind.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Western Ingenuity Part 1

The Wild West. The name conjures up romanticized pictures of wagon trains, outlaws and wide-open spaces.

Shasta County figured into the fabric of the Wild West, though in a different way. Pioneers from across the country came to our area in the 1850’s and 1860’s, settling around the Shingletown area. Surrounded by small farms and ranches, Shingletown began as a well-traveled stagecoach stop and trading post.

An early pioneer family was the Aldridge family, headed by William and Mary Ann Aldridge. Raised in North Carolina– practically neighbors with Daniel Boone – the patriarch and his wife, son William and daughter Martha, soon followed Boone to Kentucky. With the promise of 640 acres of land by the federal government, the family again decided to move. With a brief stop in Missouri (where William married Mary Jane “Polly” Greenburg), the Aldridges braved the Oregon Trail out to the Oregon Territory.

Wanderlust struck again, however, this time to William. Moving from their family homestead, by 1862 he and Polly settled on a 160-acre ranch in the Shingletown area.

Life was hard for those early settlers. With a family that eventually included 14 children, money was extremely scarce. Raising first cattle and later sheep, the Aldridge family branched out into other money-making endeavors.

All Things Silverthorne Part 2

Continued from Part 1

Business was good. In 1864, Dr (J.E.) George Silverthorne started a 2nd barge on the McCloud River. Later, because of the “new” road (from Yreka to modern-day Red Bluff), he relocated the ferry to Turntable Bay. The ferries ran from 1852 until 1944, when lake, steadily rising because of the newly completed Shasta Dam, forced the sale of the ferry by the Board of Supervisors.

An active participant in area politics, Silverthorne was elected County Supervisor for three terms. He also acted as guide to the Superintendent of Baird Fish Hatchery. Together they explored Baird Cave and etched their names in the rock walls of what’s now known as Shasta Caverns. You can still make out their names near the entrance.

There are other “Silverthorn(e)s”. Silverthorne Cemetery was a well-known Indian resting place, located on land donated by “Dr. George”, who had the distinction of being the only white man buried there. Before Shasta Lake filled, all the graves were relocated to the Central Valley Cemetery.

Merle Haggard’s song, Silverthorn Mountain, is another Silverthorne namesake. Haggard, by the way, was once a co-owner of the famed Silverthorn Resort.

The name Silverthorn(e) is associated with history, pioneers, music, even scandal. I’m sure I’ll revisit this. Stories this rich deserve to be told.

Friday, October 26, 2007

All Things Silverthorne Part I

The name Silverthorn is synonymous with boating and summer getaways (as in the Silverthorn Resort) on Shasta Lake (California). But the name is also a nugget of our county’s history.

The name was originally spelled Silverthorne, as in Dr (J.E.) George. Dr. Silverthorne came to northern California in 1852. Early on, he married a full-blooded Indian who took the name Lucy. She lived to be 105 years old.

A real entrepreneur, one of his very lucrative businesses was mining in Shasta County. Dr. Silverthorne was a major stockholder in a large gold, silver and copper mine, along with Major Pearson B. Reading (one of the two namesakes for the town of Redding, California). He also had a successful vineyard and winery on Silverthorne Mountain (who knew we had wineries then?). But his best-known venture was the Silverthorne Ferry.

The first (and the last) of its kind in the area, the ferry was run by four generations of Silverthornes. With mining so prolific on the Pit River, Dr. Silverthorne quickly saw a need he could fill. His ferry – a large, flat, rectangular barge – ran on a wire cable, carrying men and wagons to the nearby mining town of Copper City. It also ferried sheep and cattle herds across the river, though only in small groups. Fees for these runs, set by the Board of Supervisors, ran as high as four to six dollars, a large sum in those days!

The river was dangerous, especially in winter. Accidents happened regularly, tipping terrified people and horses into the swollen raging river. Silverthorne and his daughter would then have to make daring rescues in the treacherous waters. Still, his ferry was the mainstay for travelers and miners all year round.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Miners and Farmers Feud Part II

Continued from Part 1

Smelters in northern California caused a lot of problems. And this wasn’t just locally. In the early 20th century, courts from Illinois to Tennessee heard similar cases. One of these cases even made it to the Supreme Court. The issue was money and commercial interests versus the environment and quality of living.

After years of suing local mining companies, in 1907 local farmers were able to force the closure of Keswick’s smelter. Then they went after the biggest polluter of all– the Mammoth Smelter.

The farmers took Mammoth Mining Company to court. They didn’t succeed in closing the smelter, but the judgement did force the mining company to modify their equipment. Unfortunately, it ended up being too little, too late.

Noxious fumes, smoke & poisonous toxins killed vegetation and fish from Red Bluff to Mt. Shasta and east all the way to Chico. Even today, the balding of the hills around what’s now Shasta Lake is still evident. After over 100 years, the vegetation has been extremely slow to make a comeback.

Miners and Farmers Feud Part I

Spread Eagle, Early Bird, Afterthought. These are some of the mines honeycombing the hills across Shasta County. A map of these looks like big splotches of gold paint thrown onto a canvas. You can see this map at the Shasta County (CA) Historical Society.

Gold wasn’t the only thing found in our hills. Copper was plentiful too. Unlike placer gold, which was panned, copper had to be mined. And that created big problems.

Our area’s copper wasn’t pure. It had large amounts of zinc in it. Smelting – the heating process separating impurities - contributed to an on-going war between farmers and miners.

There were 5 major smelters in northern California from the late 1880’s to 1920,, including Bully Hill, Balaklala, Afterthought and Mountain Copper. The largest smelter on the West Coast, however, was above Kennet. Owned by the Mammoth Mining Company, it operated for 20 years. During World War I, when copper prices were highest, it employed almost 1000 men.

The war between farmers and the mines was simple and obvious. Every day, farmers and townspeople would wake to huge clouds of thick black smoke wafting down from the mines. The horrible stench of sulphuric acid, a product of the smelters, reeked for miles. Mineral by-products of smelting would run like rivers into nearby creeks, turning the water red, killing the fish. Wildlife grew scarce because of it.

Farmers complained of damage to orchards and crops; townspeople complained of health problems. Mining companies boasted that the smoke was beneficial to the orchards, accusing farmers of poor crop management. “Spin” (the art of taking something negative and telling people it’s beneficial) sure has been around a long time!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Mrs. Brown and Red Bluff Part 4

Continued from Part 3

After leaving upstate New York with some of her 13 children, Mary Brown settled in Red Bluff in 1864. Faced with resentful transplanted Southerners and vicious attacks by one of three local newspapers, Mrs. Brown and her family managed to thrive. Helped by a generous fund raising campaign that snowballed across the northstate, she secured a home for herself and her children. Soon after settling in, though, trouble appeared.

On Valentine’s Day, 1866, barely a month after the Browns moved in, Mrs. Amanda Hoag filed a lawsuit, claiming the property where the house stood had been given to her as a gift. And who was her attorney? None other than her brother,
J. Granville Doll the real estate baron-turned-lawyer.

Now the plot thickens. When the judge began considering the lawsuit, he uncovered a question as to the ownership of the land where Red Bluff was standing! It all came back to 1850, when California became a state without the requisite land survey to determine boundaries. So, even though the townspeople had incorporated, they still could lose everything they thought they owned!

The judge in the case, Judge Warren Earl, then took an unusual step. To protect the town and land from any other claims, he bought the entire 297.38 acres of Red Bluff in the court’s name. The land was to be held in trust by the court until the legitimacy of the town’s existence was resolved.

Now Judge Earl was also the judge in the Mary Brown–Amanda Hoag lawsuit. As he now owned all the actual land in question, he then resolved the suit in Mrs. Brown’s favor!

But that’s not the end of the story. The U.S. Secretary of the Interior issued a ruling confirming Red Bluff’s legitimacy. Even the state legislature got into the act. More than two years after the original lawsuit against Mrs. Brown began, the California Legislature passed an act on March 6, 1868 authorizing the county judge, Judge Charles Brainard, to begin distributing titles to people that had already filed claims or were living on property in and around Red Bluff.

Mrs. Brown finally received the title to her house she’d moved into more than two years before, on July 6, 1868.

As a side note, the land bought by Judge Earl remained in the county court’s hands for years. Even today there are disputes as to where exact boundaries lay – be they alleyways, right-of-ways, etc. All this goes back to poor widow Brown.

Bowing to continued ill-will and threats, after only six years Mrs. Brown and her children moved on. But the small one-story house still stands. It’s almost been torn down twice, due to disrepair. It’s been occupied almost continuously since Mrs. Brown lived there. But the house has been moved south - one block west on Main, just south of Willow. It’s still on one of the original 4 lots, and rooms have been added on.

There’s still no plaque there to tell that the house holds a pivotal place in Red Bluff’s history. For if not for Mrs. Brown, the town just might not be here today!

Friday, September 28, 2007

Graveyards Rising From the Depths

Graveyards rising from the lake. Looting in broad daylight.

The year was 1977. Having been plagued by drought for seven years, the river arms that fed Shasta Lake dried up. Manzanita trees withered and died. The lake fell to its lowest level ever and, in the process, a lot of history got revealed.

An old cemetery emerged near where the once thriving town of Kennet used to be. Kennet itself is now so deep under the lake that it never gets exposed.

Lola M. Schwartz - Librarian for the Shasta Historical Society - and her husband, Jim were boating on Lake Shasta that summer and saw this amazing sight.

“It was very exciting”, she remembers. There was a black wrought-iron fence all around that cemetery. It looked brand new – the water had preserved it. And you could tell where the graves were. Those that had been moved were sunken and those that (remained) were smooth.”

Throughout that summer, Lola and Jim visited the cemetery often. In a later visit, Schwartz found the fence was missing – someone had stolen it!

Can you imagine it? Was it late afternoon or early evening? A boat pulls up. Perhaps several men get out. With a few tools, a lot of sweat and struggle, they work to pull the black metal from its long embedded sanctuary. Did they think about the people buried there as they toiled to steal the boundary marking their final resting place? Or was this simply easy pickings – an opportunity to get cheap fencing? We’ll never know – no one saw them with their plunder.

Many other things showed up that year. More than a hundred prehistoric Indian sites were revealed across the dried-up lakebed. Many of these had been along the original rivers and creeks. According to a retired archeologist of the Forest Service, some of these sites dated back more than 500 years!

A lot of artifacts were found by the Forest Service. Milling stones, net weights, things that go back as far as 4,000 years. These were left there for their “protection”. However looting became rampant and many disappeared. Because of this, the Forest Service later removed the artifacts, establishing collections at both Shasta College and at the Visitor’s Center at Shasta Lake. Many of these can still be seen.

Sad to say, so much of our local history has disappeared. Though pictures remain, we forget the rich tapestry of lives and events that happened within the past hundred years. So many stories yet to tell.

Mary Brown & Red Bluff Part 3

Continued from Part 2

Mary Brown, widow of infamous abolitionist John Brown, stood in the midst of a mystery history almost forgot.

This story begins before the Browns arrival in Red Bluff, although they were unquestionably linked with the unfolding circumstances.

When a state entered the Union, as California did in 1850, surveys were made to determine its official borders. In the haste to recognize California, this wasn’t done, creating many legal problems.

“Red Bluffs”, as it was originally known, sat at the farthest accessible point north on the Sacramento River. That made it ideal for steamboat travel, which brought new settlers and abundant commerce.

One of these early settlers was J. Granville Doll. He was to be a critical figure in solving the riddle of Mrs. Brown’s home and legal problems that still occur with real estate borders in Red Bluff today.

Mr. Doll wanted to build a land empire. After settling in the area, he purchased federal land grants for property in and around the Red Bluff area. Forming a land corporation with 2 other businessmen, the company continued purchasing land grants in northern California. They then had the land surrounding Red Bluff officially surveyed, intending to lay out various developments, then sell these for huge profits.

There was a problem – people had already settled on some of the land and they didn’t want to move! This didn’t stop the land corporation. They began filing lawsuits to clear the “squatters”.

Winning many of the lawsuits, the corporation then threw occupants off “their” land. The citizens of Red Bluffs fought back, incorporating the town and electing town officials. They figured that would stop the would-be land barons.

Now what do these real estate squabbles have to do with Mrs. Brown? Wait for Part IV, the conclusion of this story.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Mary Brown & Red Bluff Part 2

Continued from Part 1


After her husband, John Brown, was hanged for treason in 1859, Mary Brown and her family lived in poverty. In 1860, however, the Browns received financial help - from abolitionist societies, the Republic of Haiti, and royalties from a book about John Brown. Their fortunes had definitely improved!

In 1863, one of Mary’s daughters returned from a trip west with stories of California. Tired of harsh winters, Mrs. Brown and some family members packed up and headed west. After a stop for winter, they moved on in 1864.

Joining various wagon trains making their way across country, they often faced persecution when fellow travelers discovered their relationship to John Brown. Most of their prized sheep were poisoned because of this. Though the Civil War was winding down, emotions still ran high about slavery and abolitionists.

Danger came from many sources. Indian attacks were frequent. At one point, rebel deserters joined their wagon train. Learning about the Browns, they threatened to kill her son, Salmon Brown, and possibly the rest of the family. Fearing for their lives, the Browns escaped late at night, along with a few sympathetic families. Traveling as quickly as they dared, their wagons stayed only three hours ahead of their attackers! Finally, they eluded them.

After six grueling, arduous months, the Browns reached California. They entered the town of Red Bluff on September 30, 1864. Destitute, ragged and weary, they must have wondered what kind of reception they’d find.

Expecting the worst, they instead received a warm welcome. News of their travels had preceded them. An article in a local newspaper mentioned the shameful treatment the family had continually endured. The author urged the town’s citizens to welcome the Browns with kindness, putting aside any resentment or rancor because of their infamous relative.

The story of Mary Brown and the town of Red Bluff continues, with a multi-county fund-raising campaign, a notorious land baron with dreams of building an empire, and a lawsuit that threatened to abolish the town of Red Bluff! It’s a tale of struggle, triumph and mystery. So stay tuned for the next installment – you won’t be disappointed!

Mary Brown and Red Bluff Part 1

The story of a one-story house near downtown Red Bluff begins back East, in the 1800’s. There’s nothing remarkable about the house. Yet this modest building was built for and at one time was home to the family of John Brown of Harper’s Ferry fame.

There are riddles, twists and turns to this story.

John Brown believed slavery was wrong, He felt slaves would inevitably rise up and revolt against their masters. The strong sentiment on both sides of this issue showed up here in the northstate. But that’s another story.

Settling in northern New York, Brown workied first as a teacher to free and runaway Negroes, then as a farmer. He married twice - his second wife, Mary Day Brown, being the focus of these stories.

Married at seventeen, with little schooling, Mary Brown often found herself raising her growing family alone. Her husband and oldest boys were gone for long periods to the then Kansas territory.

During the 1850’s, the United States was trying to stave off civil war. When territories were considered for statehood, generally two states were created – one as a slave state and one free. Citizens voted to decide which way they would go. When Kansas was considered for statehood, pro-and anti-slavery people descended on the divided territory. Guerilla fighting between the factions was rampant, with John Brown and his sons in the thick of some of the most vicious battles.

In 1859, with Kansas leaning towards becoming free, Brown returned home. The family, including 13 children, was destitute. Instead of finding ways to help, Brown turned his attention to creating a slaves’ rebellion. That’s where Harper’s Ferry comes in.

Brown decided to raid the heavily-guarded U.S. Army arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Historians agree it would have been impossible to succeed. Brown’s family, however, has always maintained he knew this and instead intended for this to be a catalyst – the “match” to light up a successful slaves rebellion.

History shows Brown lost. Captured at Harper’s Ferry, by none other than Colonel Robert E. Lee, Brown was tried, convicted of treason and conspiracy, and sentenced to hang.

So what does all this have to do with the northstate? Patience. Read on!

Monday, September 17, 2007

Women Brave the West Part 2

Continued from Part 1

In 1908, Mary Endicott Arnold and Mabel Reed - cousins of General John Bidwell of Chico and friends since childhood - traveled across the country. Their adventure led them to sail on a small boat, landing in the coastal town of Eureka.

Understand how extraordinary this was - two young women traveling alone at the turn of the 20th century. Women didn’t have many rights then and rarely traveled. Single, with no chaperones, no experience, and clothes that didn’t fit where they were going, all they had were an eager curiosity and a determination to explore.

No one met their boat. Entering a nearby saloon, they learned a mail carrier would be back soon. Later, discovering what the women wanted, the mail carrier first said he wouldn’t take them. After much pleading, however, he agreed, telling them to severely limit their baggage, handing them four flour sacks to use!

Early the next day, they set out by wagon towards the mountains. They stopped for lunch at a small ranch, a regular stop for travelers. Afterwards, Mary and Mabel learned they'd have to ride the rest of the way. Both had barely ever ridden ponies, much less spirited western horses! Determined to go on and hiding their fears, they bravely mounted their horses, silently praying they wouldn’t fall off.

The mail carrier wasn’t happy. After being silent for hours, he suddenly announced he was in a hurry, that they were slowing him down. Saying he was going to get his dinner and that the horses would find their own way, he rode off!

Up til then, they'd been going up and down narrow treacherous mountain trails. Darkness had settled in. Riding for hours in an endless driving rain - drenching the women to the skin - the wiind whipped through the trees on all sides, mercilessly slashing their faces and arms. Terrified and with little choice, the women continued on.

After two frightening hours, they made it to Hoopa, an Indian reservation near Willow Creek. Soaked and shivering, the young women found the mail carrier inside having dinner in the Indian Agent’s warm, well-lit home. They then learned that the flour sacks filled with their clothes had been left behind! The only clothes they had now were the ones they on.

This was just one of many adventures Mary and Mabel had – both in the West and back East. Who would have thought these two inexperienced young women would succeed in their hazardous journey? Perhaps they were more than the sum of their parts, so to speak. Perhaps it’s a lesson for all of us – to see that the pioneer spirit lies deep within all of us, waiting to be ignited by an idea that fires our imagination and inspires us to act.

Women Brave The West Part 1

By the early 1900’s, the “Wild West” had been written and talked about for decades. Cheap land and wide-open spaces drew thousands of men looking for adventure. For women, however, options were limited.

Two women from New Jersey decided to change that. Mary Endicot Arnold and Mabel Reed - friends since childhood - were cousins of Anne Bidwell, wife of famed General John Bidwell who settled and prospered in the area we know as Chico.

In 1908 - deciding the East was too tame - Mary and Mabel made the hazardous journey across country to visit their cousins. While there, they noticed General Bidwell employed Indians around his property. They were intrigued. Feeling the local Indians were too submissive, the young women longed to see Indians that were “more real”.

While attending a glamorous party at Bidwell mansion, amid the fine crystal, champagne and elegant ballgowns, they met a Special Indian Agent. Longing for adventure, they proposed a radical idea to him. Let them travel further west into the mountains to find some “real Indians!” Skeptical, he finally agreed to help the insistent travelers. Appointing them “Field Matrons in the United States Indian Service, Department of Interior”, they were to be paid $30 a month plus travel expenses (a very generous sum in those days, especially for women).

In a whirlwind, the excited women packed countless trunks and bags for their trip. Shortly, after traveling by coach to San Francisco, they boarded a small ship, it’s only passengers.

With constant rain dogging the entire trip, they finally arrived in Eureka.

What would they find there? Check out Part 2 for more of this adventure.