Oft Forgotten Places in Shasta County

This article might be turned into a series about oft forgotten place names in Shasta County, California, which were formerly up-and-coming places to live in our beautiful region of northern California. Let’s take a look at some of them today and explore their history below...

Above: an 1884-1914 map of Shasta County, California, showing Allen's Station or Allen. The United States Fish Hatchery at Baird on the McCloud River is also shown here. Source: Cal Topo.

Allen’s Station also known as Allen, it was a community which was overshadowed by the townsite of Baird, situated in Section 23, Township 34, North, Range 4 West and a half-mile north of the United States Fish Hatchery at Baird on the McCloud River. It was a settlement, resort and a favorite stopping place during its prime which attracted nationwide travelers. Local resident George Allen established this one-time thriving location in 1872. Years later, in 1881, a man named Intrepid Morse Wiley, became the operator of the resort and stopping place at this location which was also called Allen’s Station. Breakfast, lunch and dinner meals were sold for twenty-five cents a plate and the meals were prepped here by Wiley and his wife. 

It was a first-class hotel and restaurant with an open fireplace and comfortable furniture which made their patrons feel at home while lounging around. Swimming, and fishing were popular here along the river as well. However, it was no match for the new community of Baird becoming the larger community in the area and the Biard United States Post Office came to fruition by the United States Postal Service headquarters in Washington D.C., on April 8, 1878, with Myron Green as the first postmaster. The townsite of Baird and its U.S. Post Office was named in honor of Professor Spencer E. Baird, the first Federal Fish Commissioner. 

Later on, the Baird United States Post Office was discontinued on January 31, 1920, which made the population decline in the area. Eventually it was re-established again on October 16, 1929, and it wasn't until July 17, 1933, when it was discontinued again. Allen's Station and Baird are now under Shasta Lake, and in the end, Baird became an oft-forgotten place as well.

Above: the townsite of Baird, in Shasta County, outgrew the community of Allen's Station.

Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

Elderton, was an agricultural community where farming and stock-raising was the main industry which helped establish this community. This community was settled in 1860, and later that year, on October 17, 1860, John C. Divine took charge as the first postmaster of this United States Post Office, and it became a townsite complete with a rural general merchandise store which housed their United States Post Office. The townsite of Elderton was a booming location which was located four miles west of Cottonwood. However, the prosperous growth of the town of Cottonwood merged with this oft-forgotten locality and its United States Post Office became discontinued on September 20, 1862, as Cottonwood burgeoned with success and Elderton's mail route was rerouted to the Cottonwood United States Post Office at that time. 

Above: a list of post offices in California showing those in operation in March of 1853. Kilna (Potter's Ferry) is mentioned in the Shasta County group. It was one of three post offices in Shasta County at that time. From the Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 26, 1853

During 1852, the Wright Ferry, which was owned and operated by Eugene Wright & Otis Seaman sold their ferry to William Potter Jr., and Potter changed the name of this ferry to Potter’s Ferry which was then located one hundred yards south of the mouth of Spring Creek. Potter then relocated his ferry below the mouth of Rock Creek on the Sacramento River near Middle Creek (north of the present-day site of the Ribbon bridge.) Kilna, was a nearby settlement at the mouth of Middle Creek which was first settled in 1852 and later that year the United States Postal Service headquarters in Washington D.C., established a United States Post Office there on November 10, 1852, with William Potter Jr., as the first postmaster due to its flourishing population. It was located at the site of Potter’s Ferry, which was owned and operated by local ferryman, William Potter Jr., on the Sacramento River at Middle Creek. The town of Kilna boomed overnight and yet just as quickly as the townsite emerged out-of-nowhere it faded into becoming a footnote in history. On October 27, 1853, the United States Postal Service headquarters in Washington D.C., discontinued Kilna’s United States Post Office. William Potter Jr., was the last and only postmaster at this locality. The town of Kilna declined in population and it became deceased just as quickly as it emerged. Years later, a town called Waugh also known as Middle Creek formed at the same location as Kilna, and is now considered a ghost town along the Sacramento River Trail at Middle Creek with a few reminders of its hey-day remaining.

Believe it or not, Shasta County had a thriving mining settlement called Nebraska, which was located on Clear Creek, and situated in between the burgeoning towns of Texas Springs and Briggsville. Nebraska was a thriving community which saw an increase of population from 100 residents to 750 residents in 1855 due to lucrative gold strikes in the area.  Five years later, only two residents remained in this declining community due to the mines not producing lucrative ore, and by 1861 the settlement deceased. Even today, Texas Springs and Briggsville outgrew Nebraska and there are a few relics from those townsites which remain visible to the public eye.

Above: the town of Texas Springs is featured on the official 1862 map of Shasta County. Note: it's called "Texas" instead of Texas Spring and Briggsville is called "Briggs" instead of Briggsville. Nebraska is not mentioned on it had vanished before Colonel William MaGee surveyed this map in February of 1862. It became the first official map of Shasta County.

Pine View, was another booming lumber settlement which was first settled in 1884. It was located eight miles west of Shingletown and fourteen miles north-east of Balls Ferry. Pine View included a one-room schoolhouse which was established there on May 4, 1885, and was utilized to advance the education of the local school children in the area who were taught there by one teacher. The schoolhouse was erected in 1885 on the Balls Ferry to Shingletown Road approximately a half mile east of the Lack Creek bridge.

Later, the Pine View schoolhouse was relocated to an open meadow about a half-mile of Lack Creek bridge. Florence Pugh was the teacher here in 1899 and 1900. The school continued to be utilized until May 9, 1919, when the school was transferred into the Sheridan School District due to a decline in the community’s population which eventually was the death knell of this locality.

RESOURCES: 

List Of Post Offices - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 26, 1853

List Of U.S. Post Offices and Postmasters in the State of California - The San Joaquin Republican newspaper of Stockton, August 18, 1854

Clear Creek Ditch - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 27, 1855

Increase Of Our Population - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 3, 1855

List of Post Offices on the Pacific Coast - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 25, 1862

San Francisco Bulletin newspaper of San Francisco, March 15, 1879

The Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 8, 1884

The Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 10, 1884

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

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

SHASTA LAKE DROUGHT: CAMPBELL'S TROUT EGG COLLECTING STATION (A HISTORIC SITE)

As Shasta Lake continues to be in drought there are many oft-forgotten relics and historical sites which keep emerging from the depths of this lake. On the McCloud River arm of this lake is a historic site pertaining to Ellery Creek. At this location the remains of a rock or stone structured building is visible which was operated by Shasta County pioneer and fish expert Jeremiah Blizzard Campbell, a native of New Jersey, and his son, Joseph Campbell which was built in the early twentieth century. This site was a fish egg collecting station for trout and they would eventually store these eggs in their incubators in this building until they hatched. Find out more about the area and about the Campbell's in my newest video to date. This video was filmed on location at that point on May 28, 2022. On that day the water level for Lake Shasta was 120.61-ft., below the crest of Shasta Dam or at 946.39-ft., elevation below full pool. 

RESOURCES:

1870 U.S. Census

Domesticated Trout. How To Breed and Grow Them by Dr. Livingston Stone. Published by James R Osgood, Boston ©1873, pages 347. 

McCloud River Salmon Fishery - The Pacific Rural Press newspaper of San Francisco, December 4, 1875

McCloud River Salmon Fishery - The Pacific Rural Press newspaper of San Francisco, December 11, 1875

California Pisciculture - The Pacific Rural Press newspaper of San Francisco, January 13, 1877

1880 U.S. Census

Pisciculture - The Pacific Rural Press newspaper of San Francisco, June 29, 1889

1900 U.S. Census

Anglers Are Enjoying Fair Trout Fishing - The San Francisco Call newspaper of San Francisco, April 27, 1901

Trout Eggs Desired By The Germans - The San Francisco Call newspaper of San Francsico, December 15, 1907

1910 U.S. Census

1920 U.S. Census

Find A Grave Memorial: Jeremiah Blizzard Campbell (1826-1910) (Disclaimer: Jeremiah B. Campbell appears on the 1920 U.S. Census as Jerry B. Campbell. He did not die in 1910.)

Historical Notes on The Rainbow and Dolly Varden Trout written by J.H. Wales, The Covered Wagon, 1946, pages 29-30. 46 pages. Published annually by Shasta Historical Society.

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

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

Baird written by Alice L. Seamans, The Covered Wagon 1976, pages 7-10. 82 pages. Published annually by Shasta Historical Society.

Memories of Baird written by Eleanor (Reading) Templeman, The Covered Wagon, 1976. pages 10-11. 82 pages. Published annually by Shasta Historical Society.

Occasional Paper of the Redding Museum - Paper No. 1 by Margaret Guilford-Kardel. Published by Redding Museum of Art & History Center, Redding, California. Available at the Shasta Historical Society.

May H. Southern’s scrapbook’s. Nine binders. Unpublished personal and researched material compiled by Southern. Available at Shasta Historical Society. 

Livingston Stone, Pioneer Fisheries Scientist written by Frank E. Raymond, The Covered Wagon, 1991. Pages 17-27. 104 pages. Published annually by the Shasta Historical Society.

History Of The McCloud River Rainbow Trout | mtshasta.com - Outfitter & Actor - Jack Trout's Blog