Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Shasta and Siskiyou Counties, on our way to the Oregon Border - 6/24/2014

We woke up early, had a quick breakfast at the Black Bear Diner, and then we were on the trail again continuing our Shasta County sites.  Our first stop was Bass Hill (CHL 148).
This site was along the Oregon-California stage coach road and was a favorite hold-up spot by bandits.  This plaque is to recognize the stage coach drivers who braved bad weather, robbers, and rough roads to bring the mail or passengers from town to town.  It is also rumored that Black Bart twice robbed Horace Williams, a stage driver.
The lake below shows just how badly we need some rain!
We moved along to another stage coach plaque, the Southern Stage Station (CHL 33).
Simeon Fisher Southern built the Southern Hotel and Stage Station near this site around 1859.
The hotel was host to famous folks including President and Mrs. Hayes, General W. T. Sherman, Mr. and Mrs. Jay Gould, and General Sheridan.
Who wouldn't want to stay in the shadow of Mt. Shasta?
Next we went to Castle Crags State Park to find Battle Rock (CHL 116).
In June 1855 a battle broke out between the miners and the Native Americans in the area (mostly the Modoc tribe).  The miners had muddied the water supply leading to the salmon not doing their annual run.  The Native Americans didn't have any food, so they were stealing supplies from the settlers leading to the troubles.
During the bloody battle many were killed and even more were wounded including poet Joaquin Miller who wrote about the events in his Battle of the Castle Crags.
Our first site in Siskiyou County was tricky to find, the Strawberry Valley Stage Station (CHL 396).
The town of Shasta was originally named Strawberry Valley and near this plaque was the stage station that served the town until the railroad reached here.  Next to the station was the Berrryvale Post Office, first postmastered by Justin Hinckley Sisson, as well as the Sisson Hotel.
Mr. Sisson was quite a guy-- a fisherman, huntsman, guide, and philanthropist (he donated the land for the first school as well as the town lands provided the streets be named for his family members). His San Francisco Chronicle obituary said "He knew more of the secrets of Mt Shasta than any living man.
He had made the ascent to the summit scores of times and was an invaluable guide to those desirous of climbing the mountain. He knew the habitats of the grizzly bear and had shown his marksmanship many times in battle with this ferocious beast."

At the Emigrant Trailo Crossing of Present Highway (CHL 517) the wagon trains crossed into Shasta Valley and Yreka.
The actual trails are about 600 feet north of the plaque in the middle of nowhere.
To have a better look at where the trail would have been, we scaled the hill...
and found gorgeous views of Shasta to the south-- and not much worth taking photos of to the north.
Libi did get to see some cool volcanic rock on the side of the road...
as well as a cool sculpture garden/veteran's memorial.
On the way to our next site we saw more proof of the secessionist movement.
Our two final sites before we left the state were both near the cute town of Yreka.
The first is the West Miner Street-Third Street Historic District, Yreka (CHL 901) or more succinctly, the old downtown of Yreka.  There are 7 original buildings from the founding of the town in 1851.  Yreka was founded due to all the gold nearby and served as a commercial and transportation center.  We spent some time walking around, shopping, and having lunch here.
Our final site for the day was the Site of Fort Jones (CHL 317).
At first we thought that this plaque, on the side of a bank with a mural, was the best we could do....
after a quick internet search we found the actual site just a bit down the road.
The Fort was established in 1852 and named after Colonel Roger Jones the Adjutant General of the Army.
There is a great history of the fort here.  Many famous Union and Confederate soldiers served here before the war including Phil Sheridan, George Crook, George Pickett, and Ulysses S. Grant was supposed to serve here but was AWOL during his entire assignment or he had resigned from that company prior to the post (there are conflicting stories on the matter).
Libi had asked Daddy if it was possible to have one foot in California and one in Oregon.  Determined to make this happen (and not on the side of Interstate 5) we took some back-country roads and used our GPS to locate the 42nd Parallel...
so here is Miss Libs with one foot in each state!

Monday, June 23, 2014

Sutter, Colusa, Glenn, and Tehama Counties - 6/23/2014

Today we departed for our grand summer adventure from my folks home in Stockton.  The plan is to travel up Interstate 5 hitting some northern sites as we go, visit family in Oregon and Washington, and then drive down the 101 hitting all the northwestern sites as we go.  When all is said and done we hope to hit around 50 sites, see lots of family, and enjoy some much needed family time!

Our first stop was in Sutter County to visit one of two sites they have there, the Site of Hock Farm (CHL 346).  The farm established in 1841 by John Sutter was the first non-Native American settlement in the county.  Sutter had hoped that he and his family could retire here, but he eventually lost the land due to high mortgages.
The farm was located on the Feather River and had cattle, orchards, grain and a vineyard.
The memorial building you see behind Libi is made from some of the iron that was used on the original buildings-- it's really cool up close!
Our next (and final) Sutter County site was for the Propagation of the Thompson Seedless Grape (CHL 929).  It was here that the English immigrant William Thompson settled and grew the first Lady de Coverly grapes.
Out of the three cuttings he purchased from New York only one survived due to flooding.  His seedless grade was displayed in Marysville in 1875 and named the Thompson seedless grape.  From this one surviving plant all the seedless grapes in California were propagated.
We kept moving north to Colusa County.  Our first stop was the Colusa County Courthouse (CHL 890)
This is the oldest courthouse in the Sacramento Valley. 
Built in 1861 using the Federal/Classic Revival style architecture-- the state says that this southern style architecture was evidence of the county's states' rights sympathies during the Civil War. 
We didn't find anything to point to that while we were there but we will take their word for it.
Since we visited on a weekday we were able to walk through the halls.  We found some really cool things including this Washington sculpture...
 
 and this poster inside their hall of records.
Our next Colusa sight was way off the beaten path-- Swift's Stone Corral (CHL 238).
You can see the stone corral outline on the hill in the photo above.  Granville Swift (who you will learn more about at our next site) built this corral out of stone when he realized that there was no timber in the surrounding county.  There were lots of flat stones in the area, so they used them and along with his partner Frank Sears they built this corral.
In Glenn County our visit with Mr. Swift continued at the Granville P. Swift Adobe (CHL 345).
Granville came to California via Oregon from Kentucky.  Granville was quite the guy-- his great uncle was Daniel Boone, he participated in the Bear Flag Revolt, he helped design the bear flag, and in 1848 he struck it rich mining gold.  In 1849 he partnered with Frank Sears and purchased a cattle ranch.  His cattle was herded by Indian vaqueros.  Rodeos were held here at the adobe annually.
Our next find was quite exciting-- since it was nowhere near where the state said it would be and many of the sites we use as reference hadn't located this plaque.  We were victorious and did locate the Site of the First Posted Water Notice by Will S. Green (CHL 831).
William Semple Green is called the "Father of Irrigation in California"-- due to all the droughts that plagued the Sacramento Valley he was a believer that irrigation would bring more people to settle here.  He posted a notice on an oak tree on December 18, 1883 stating that 500,000 miner's inches of river water was being diverted for irrigation.  Will Green held many important titles including CA state assemblyman, CA state treasurer, and US Surveyor General for California.
Our next site is a first for us-- Ron's rule for getting sites is that we get as close as we can without trespassing.  Today Ron broke that rule!
I knew that there was a private plaque for the Indian Military Post, Nomi Lackee Indian Reservation (CHL 357) due to some research beforehand.
When we finally found the site down a long dirt road we could see the plaque in the distance...
 
 but the gate on the road stopped Libi and I.
 
 Ron was not deterred-- and he climbed the fence and went in.
 
 Libi and I watched from the safety of the car while Ron got the plaque photos!
Now about the site--- It was here that the Nomlaki Indians (not sure why the state misspelled their name) were rounded up before being moved to Round Valley in 1866.  During the difficult move about half of them perished during the walk.  Today only two people still speak the Nomlaki language, but they are trying to increase that number.
Next we drove to a neighborhood in Tehama to find the next site, First Tehama County Courthouse (CHL 183).
On nearby land was the Union Hotel, where the County Board of Supervisors rented space to meet from 1856-1857 when the county seat was moved to Red Bluff.
A short drive away we found the Home of Mrs. John Brown (CHL 117).
You may recall John Brown the abolitionist who made history at Harper's Ferry-- if not you can read his story here
In this home (which is now a doctor's office) John Brown's widow and children lived until 1870.  The house was actually purchased by people in the area who respected John Brown and his ideals. (note from Ron: as we drove to this site, Heather told me that I would be jazzed about this site. I am quite the John Brown enthusiast, so I was SUPER excited to visit here!!)
Next we came upon the Residence of General William B. Ide (CHL 12).
William B. Ide was a participant in the Bear Flag Revolt who also wrote a mandate encouraging American annexation of California.
Under the Bear Flag Party he was appointed the first and only President of the California Republic.  Sadly the adobe was already closed by the time we arrived.
We now leave Tehama County and moved to Shasta County to see the Reading Adobe (CHL 10).  This site is in a residential neighborhood down another dirt road.
Pierson B. Reading was another pioneer who participated in the Bear Flag Revolt.  He was one of the first to visit the location of the Marshall gold discovery, he prospected for gold himself, was a Whig candidate for governor, and a very influential early Californian.
 Next up was Fort Reading (CHL 379) named after Pierson B. Reading.
The fort was built in 1852 to protect the settlers from the local Native Americans.  It was the first and largest fort in Northern California.  The fort flooded often when Cow Creek overflowed during the rainy season so the fort was eventually abandoned in 1867.
Our final site for the night (or at least we thought it was going to be our last) was the Dersch Homestead (CHL 120).
This home was built in 1850 by Doc Baker as a stopping point for emigrants following the Lassen or Nobles Trails into California.  In 1861 the Dersch family took over the land.  In 1866 after years of bad relations between the whites and the natives a raid of the homestead occurred and Mrs. Anna Maria Dersch was killed.  A posse was formed to go into the Dye Creek Indian Camp and most of the natives who lived there were killed as retaliation.
We had a lovely dinner with Ron's former principal and his family.  Afterward John said that he knew where a few historic sites were near their home, so off we went!  Our first stop was the Old Town of Shasta (CHL 77).
The town was originally named Reading's Springs (after our friend above Pierson Reading) but was renamed Shasta in 1850.  It was quite a booming place since the road ended here and the Oregon pack trail began.
Even though the main business section was destroyed by fire in 1853, many of the original shells of the buildings were preserved and are there today.
We did a little exploring before driving to our next site.
This one was pretty cool-- the Pioneer Baby's Grave (CHL 377).  The plaque is above but the grave still exists down a set of wooden steps.
Charles Brownstein died as an infant in nearby Red Bluff in 1864.  His parents wanted to bury him in a Jewish cemetery, but there wasn't one near their home.
They made the difficult journey to Shasta to bury him.  Concern for his grave caused a rerouting of Highway 299 in 1923.  People still visit and leave toys for the pioneer baby.
Next we visited the Whiskeytown Dam which was as close to Whiskeytown (CHL 131) as we got..
The dam was dedicated by JFK-- one of Ron's favorites.
The town was settled in 1849 as a mining town along the Whiskey Creek.
The creek got its name when a barrel of whiskey fell off a pack mule and broke in the river.
Thanks John, Ginny, and Jeffrey for a fun night!


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