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.

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.