THE HISTORIC LIME KILNS

Above: the historic lime kiln fully intact, date unknown. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

There are two wood burning lime kilns which were made from natural stone in the Clear Creek area of western Shasta County in between the pioneer towns of Briggsville and Horsetown at Bulgin Gulch (name also found as Buljon Gulch & Bulgin’ Gulch). Since the early 1850s the production of quicklime remained active at this location. The limestone was extracted and fired to quicklime then hydrated into lime to be utilized as the main source for making plaster and mortar for building purposes. Today, both kilns are located on private property.

Among the earliest known owners and operators of this lime kiln operation was Samuel R. Clough, a native of England, who ventured west from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania with his wife Debora (Turner) Clough, and their daughter Mary K. Clough to Shasta County. The family settled at Briggsville about 1855 when Samuel R. Clough partnered with Isaac Parks in the lime kiln industry. Then on, June 20, 1855, a dissolution of partnership was dissolved by mutual consent for their lime kiln business of which Clough took sole possession of.

Above: an advertisement for lime by Samuel Clough, from the September 15, 1855 edition of the Shasta Courier newspaper.

Two years later, Debora (Turner) Clough had the Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta publish a notarized announcement to the public stating the following facts:

“SOLE TRADER

KNOW ALL BY THESE PRESENT, that I, Debora Clough, and wife of Samuel Clough, a resident of Briggsville, in Shasta County, and State of California, do hereby declare my intention to avail myself of an “Act to authorize married women to transact business in their own name as sole traders,” passed April 12, 1852 in conducting the Lime Kiln, and business connected there with about a half mile from Briggsville in said County of Shasta. And I do further declare that the whole sum invested in said business aforesaid does not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars. Witness, my hand in seal at Shasta this 16th day of February, 1858.” (SIC) This announcement was notarized by Homer A. Curtiss, a notary public and resident of Shasta.

It was rather unusual for women to conduct business in the lime kiln industry; and she was a pioneer woman. Eventually, more women exercised their rights as sole traders in Shasta County. Then on, April 12, 1858, a sheriff’s sale took place against Samuel Clough at Briggsville for his personal property. This personal property consisted of “one town lot, thirty feet front and running back one hundred feet, situated in the town of Briggsville, together with a two-story frame dwelling house situated thereon."

By December 4, 1858, Debora (Turner) Clough owed the County of Shasta $8.40 in delinquent taxes which included one house, a lot of lime, and debts in Briggsville. Apparently, she paid them off because the amount didn’t roll over into the following year’s delinquent tax list.

According to the 1860 U.S. Census, the Clough family was living at Shasta, when their district was enumerated on June 5, 1860. It was probably due to the sheriff’s sale of their property two years before at Briggsville which forced them to move to the county seat. Samuel was the head of the family at the age of thirty-four and his occupation was listed as a brick mason. His wife was listed at the age of thirty, with no occupation given which is rather interesting because of her interest in the Sole Traders Act. Their daughter Mary K. Clough was listed at the age of nine years old; it was more than likely that she attended school at Shasta.

Six years later, Debora (Turner) Clough relocated to Idaho, where she married a second time to Stephen J. Pierce. It’s not known what happened to Samuel R. Clough, he seems to have disappeared from historical records. The historic lime kilns on Clear Creek appeared to have been abandoned after the Clough’s operated it.

According to the “Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, California – County Report 6” written by Philip A. Lydon and J.C. O’ Brien, they reported that this lime kiln operation produced small amounts of quicklime prior to 1893. Then in 1926, brief periods of activity occurred at this site, “when a few hundred tons slaked lime were produced and sold for agricultural use. Idled since.”

Retraction: In my book, A Journey Through Time: Ono and the Bald Hills, page 17, published by Preserving Memories in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2008. I documented Debora (Turner) Clough’s name as Dana Clough which is incorrect. The correct name is: Debora (Turner) Clough. Sometimes recorded as Deborah. She was born in 1831 in Pennsylvania and Debora (Turner) Clough Pierce died at Emmett, Gem County, Idaho on June 28, 1908 at the age of seventy-seven.

Above: a zoomed in shot of the lime kiln from Clear Creek Road. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on January 10, 2021.

Resources:

Dissolution - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 23, 1855

Sole Trader - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, February 20, 1858

1860 U.S. Census

1870 U.S. Census

1880 U.S. Census

1900 U.S. Census

Place Names of Shasta County by Gertrude A. Steger revision by Helen Hinckley Jones, ©1966 by La Siesta Press, Glendale, California

Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, California – County Report 6 – by Philip A. Lydon and J.C. O’ Brien ©1974 by California Division of Mines and Geology, pages 1-178.

A Journey Through Time: Ono and the Bald Hills by Jeremy M. Tuggle, published by Preserving Memories, Charlotte, North Carolina. 2008 Pages 95. ISBN: 978-0-9742576-8-6