OFT FORGOTTEN PLACES IN SHASTA COUNTY (PART III)

The history of Shasta County is often told through the stories of its most celebrated communities—Shasta, Redding, Whiskeytown, and Kennett. Yet scattered across the mountains, valleys, and canyons of the county were dozens of lesser-known settlements that briefly flourished before disappearing from the landscape. Born from the excitement of the California Gold Rush, the expansion of mining, and later the arrival of the railroad, these forgotten communities played important roles in shaping Northern California during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Some existed for only a few years, while others endured for decades before economic decline, changing transportation routes, or the construction of Shasta Dam erased them from the map. Today, many survive only in newspaper accounts, government records, survey maps, and the memories preserved by local historians.

Among the earliest mining settlements was Bulgin Gulch, also known as Bullion Gulch or Buljon Gulch, situated within the Clear Creek mining region of western Shasta County. During the 1850s the gulch attracted miners and prospectors seeking placer gold, including James Regan and G. M. Roach. The district later became the center of a legal dispute when merchant and miner Paul De Pray successfully contested Roach's mining claims before ultimately purchasing them at a sheriff's sale in August 1863. Although the settlement never established its own United States Post Office, nearby streams supplied water to its residents until mining activities dwindled around 1870 and the camp faded into history.

Farther north, the bustling mining town of Pittsburg was established in 1853 along Squaw Creek in what later became the Shasta Lake basin. At its height, the community contained dozens of homes, bakeries, blacksmith and shoemaker shops, and even a barber. The prosperity of the settlement gave rise to the Pittsburg Mining District, but like many Gold Rush communities, its fortunes proved temporary. By approximately 1862 Pittsburg had largely disappeared, and today its former location rests beneath the waters of Shasta Lake. Nearby Copper City, established in 1854, survived much longer before eventually sharing the same watery fate following construction of Shasta Dam.

Another early settlement, Clarkville, was established in 1856 on the north side of Battle Creek within the Rancho Buena de Breisgau Mexican land grant. Founded by Jeremiah Clarke, the community persisted into the late 1860s and even served as the location of the Clarkville Election Precinct. Though little remains today, its site survives on what is now Gover Ranch, offering another reminder of the county's vanished frontier communities.

High above Squaw Creek stood Circle City, a small mining settlement overlooking Bully Hill. While few physical traces remain, the community once relied upon the Winthrop Post Office and maintained close connections with neighboring mining towns including Copper City, Delamar, Sallee, and South Sallee.

Bully Hill. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

Travel and commerce also gave rise to settlements such as Jackass Flat, strategically located where roads from Horsetown and Briggsville converged on the route to Middletown. The town served as an important resting place for mule trains and freight packers transporting supplies into the mining districts. Its nearby pastures allowed exhausted animals to recover before continuing their journeys, making Jackass Flat an indispensable stop along one of the region's busiest transportation corridors during the Gold Rush and California’s early statehood.

Among the county's most intriguingly named communities was One Dog Town, a small mining camp that flourished briefly during the early 1850s near Clear Creek. Although little survives today, official county records from 1855 reference the settlement as a landmark when describing the boundaries of Shasta Township, confirming that it was once a recognized point on the frontier landscape. Like countless other placer mining camps, One Dog Town likely consisted of cabins, tents, stores, and saloons serving nearby miners. As gold production declined, the settlement quietly vanished, leaving behind little more than its colorful name and scattered documentary references.

Not all forgotten communities centered solely upon mining. Hogtown, located near present-day Keswick, developed as an early suburb of Shasta during the 1850s. It became widely known for its Oakland Race Track, where horse racing, mule races, jack races, foot races, gymnastics, and even cockfighting attracted large crowds. Under promoter Thomas J. Stump, Hogtown became one of the county's principal entertainment centers during the early years.

Transportation routes also sustained communities such as Welshville, a teamster station situated between South Sallee and Delamar. Named for William Welsh, whose extensive freight operations utilized teams of horses hauling supplies between Bella Vista and Bully Hill, the settlement also included a blacksmith shop operated by A. R. Schettig. Like many communities along the Squaw Creek corridor, Welshville ultimately disappeared beneath the waters of Shasta Lake.

The twentieth century brought new settlements driven less by placer mining than by railroads and industrial development. Bonita, also known as Pitt, emerged north of Kennett as an important railroad junction connecting the Sacramento Valley and Eastern Railroad with the Southern Pacific Railroad. Nearby Culp Station developed as a railroad siding north of Cottonwood during the 1920s, while neighboring Panorama briefly shared a similar purpose before both communities faded with changes in railroad operations.

One of the county's most ambitious mining boomtowns was Sallee, established in 1900 near the famed Bully Hill mines. Streets were carefully surveyed, substantial buildings quickly erected, and businesses opened in anticipation of long-term prosperity. However, legal disputes over ownership of the townsite soon engulfed the community, leading to lawsuits, injunctions, and competing land claims. Despite these challenges, nearby South Sallee and Delamar continued to grow alongside the mining industry, with local media outlets reporting new construction throughout the district during 1900. Ultimately, however, declining mining activity brought an end to these once-promising town sites.

The final chapter in this story belongs to Smith Center, a company town established in 1915 by the Shasta Dredging Company west of Gas Point. Designed to house employees working the company's dredging operations, the community consisted of seventeen homes arranged in a semicircle and relied upon the Gas Point Post Office to send and receive mail. Like so many industrial settlements, its existence was closely tied to the fortunes of a single enterprise, and once those operations ceased, the town quietly disappeared.

Today, little remains of these forgotten communities exist beyond weathered foundations, abandoned roads, submerged townsites, and scattered documentary records. Yet together they represent an essential chapter in the history of Shasta County. Their miners, merchants, railroad workers, freighters, and families helped build the economy and character of northern California long before many of today's communities existed. Although time has erased most physical evidence of their existence, the stories of these vanished settlements continue to remind us that the history of Shasta County extends far beyond the towns that survived.

RESOURCES:

From Pitt River - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 14, 1853

From Pitt River - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 21, 1853

Mining - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 14, 1855

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 29, 1855

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 16, 1858

Sheriffs Sale - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 24, 1864

New Discovery - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 9, 1866

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 16, 1866

Shasta’s Second Smelter City - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 31, 1900

Bully Hill Activity - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, April 6, 1900

The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 19, 1900

He Defended Himself With A Hatchet - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 7, 1904

Train To Delamar In Seven Months - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 18, 1907

The Governor of Hogtown is Dead - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, June 4, 1907

Smith Center Name of Dredger Town - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding. April 27, 1915

Shasta County Has A Promising New Town - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, April 28, 1915

Power Lines to Smith Center Now Complete - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, June 8, 1915

Farewell to Thomas Family Leaving For Smith Center - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, October 22, 1915

New Times Table Effective Sunday - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 24, 1921

Southern Pacific Making Larger Yards In Redding - The Searxhlight newspaper of Redding, May 21,  1925

Shasta Development Reported Planned By Railroad; Actiin Is Not Yet Opened - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 23, 1930

S.P. Will Not Move Yards From Dunsmuir and Gerber To Anderson As Reported - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 4, 1930

The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 25, 1930

Our Storied Landmarks – Shasta County, California, written by May H. Southern, published by Balakshin Printing Company, ©1942.

My Playhouse Was A Concord Coach, an anthology of newspaper clippings and documents relating to those who made California history during the years 1822-1888, by Mae Hélène Bacon Boggs. Published by Howell-North Press ©1942

Shasta County, California A History by Rosena Giles, published by Biobooks, ©1949.

Fun Was Hard To Come By In Pioneer Whiskeytown - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 27, 1963

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

U.S., Appointments of U.S. Postmasters, 1832-1971