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!