Ball's Ferry: the ferry, the townsite and the fishing resort.

From its beginnings as the site of Shasta County, California's earliest lumber operations in 1844 to its growth as a vital Sacramento River crossing during the late 1860s Ball's Ferry played a significant role in the development of northern California. This episode of Exploring Shasta County History explores how a small ferry landing evolved into a thriving community that served travelers, miners, and ranchers for nearly half a century, leaving a lasting legacy in Shasta County history. Please hit the like button, comment on the video, and smash that subscribe button. Until next time, enjoy…

RESOURCES:

1850 U.S. Census

1852 California State Census

1860 U.S. Census

Board of Supervisors - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 9, 1868

Left Town - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 19, 1868

1870 U.S. Census

1880 U.S. Census

The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, June 21, 1884

The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 20, 1884

A Flying Trip - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 17, 1885

That Free Bridge - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 5, 1885

The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 4, 1886

The Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 13, 1890 

The Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 3, 1894

The Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 17, 1894

The Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 19, 1894

The Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 21, 1894

The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, April 22, 1895

The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, May 7, 1895

The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, July 23, 1895

Balls Ferry Items - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 31, 1895

Balls Ferry Items - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 2, 1895

Tolls Again - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 12, 1895

The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 23, 1895

The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 5, 1897

Supervisor Proceedings - The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 8, 1897

Balls Ferry Bridge - The Daily Free Press of newspaper of Redding, January 19, 1897

The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, July 6, 1897

Papers Filed - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 27, 1897

The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 8, 1897

The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 11, 1897

From Ball's Ferry - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, April 20, 1898

A Ball's Ferry Tragedy - The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 24, 1898

The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, October 3, 1899

Luke Lukes Sells Ball's Ferry Mill - The Free Press newspaper of July 13, 1901

Found His Pig in the Butcher Shop - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 8, 1902

Ball's Ferry Dances Through the Storm - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 14, 1902

Ball's Ferry Bridge Is Made Secure - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, July 19, 1902

Ball’s Ferry Is a Political Center - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 13, 1902

Ball's Ferry News Items - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 22, 1902

Some Doings of Ball's Ferry Folk - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 9, 1903

Ball’s Ferry Now a Boating Resort - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 17, 1903

Post Office and Saloon Building - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 18, 1903

Ball's Ferry Post Office and Store Burned - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 18, 1903

Ball's Ferry Fire Unsolved Mystery - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 19, 1903

360 Tons of Fruit from Ball's Ferry - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 12, 1903

Social Event at Ball’s Ferry - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 8, 1904

Power Plant at Horseshoe Bend - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 5, 1904

Ball's Ferry Has Library - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 16, 1904

Telephones and More Telephones - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, May 19, 1904

Has Lived for Nearly One Century - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 28, 1904 (telephone line.)

Ball’s Ferry is Saying “Hello” - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, June 3, 1904

Found A Coin Over Two Hundred Years Old - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 21, 1904

The Ball's Ferry Hotel is Sold - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 27, 1904

Big Prices for Dried Fruit - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 11, 1905

Found Dead in Bed in Hotel at Ball's Ferry - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 16, 1906

November 24, 1906

The Courier-Free Press newspaper, March 15, 1907 (power company hello line.)

Ball's Ferry - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 21, 1915

One More Ferry Landmark Gone - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 23, 1920

Balls Ferry Items - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 9, 1927

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

Ball’s Ferry Was Bustling Town of Many Varied Personalities Written by Rosena A. Giles - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 29, 1946

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

Echoes from the Past written by Rosena A. Giles - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 19, 1951

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

Balls Ferry Resort Sold - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, December 29, 1978

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

THE NICHOL'S BOARDING HOUSE AT BALL'S FERRY, CIRCA 1880.

Above: a partially faded photograph of the Nichol's boarding house a two-story clapboard style farmhouse structure at Ball's Ferry, circa 1880, with the family and boarders of Stacy Mahlon Nichols standing in front of the building. From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle. 

Stacy Mahlon Nichols was a native of Loudoun County, Virginia who was born to Isaac Gibson Nichols and Louisa (White) Nichols on July 25, 1856. By 1860, his family settled at Mount Gilead, Virginia, where his father was a farmer and he attended school in that area. Later, they relocated to Springfield, New Hampshire County, West Virginia, where Stacy is documented at the age of thirteen-years-old but is recorded on the 1870 U.S. Census as "Tacy" which is incorrect. He became a well-educated person. 

On May 27, 1879, Stacy registered to vote at the age of twenty-two-years-old recording his place of residence as Shingletown where he was farming. Then on, June 4, 1879, Stacy Mahlon Nichols married Amanda Ellen Hammans, my paternal great-great grand aunt, and a daughter of Shasta County pioneers, Henry Hammans Sr., and Hannah (Moss) Hammans. They were joined together in holy matrimony at Darrah's Mill, by Justice of the Peace, J.S. Darrah, in eastern Shasta County, near Shingletown. To this union, Amanda bore Stacy five children consisting of:

1.) Mary Letetia Nichols (May 1, 1880 - August 19, 1881) [She is buried at Shingletown in the historic Ogburn-Inwood Cemetery. Her first name is mistakenly etched on her headstone as May]

2.) Grace Estelle Nichols (April 29, 1882 - July 29, 1972) married first: George Henry Bacon and married second: Isaac Benjamin Ury

3.) Bertha Irilla Nichols (November 15, 1884 - February 27, 1918) married William H. Martel

4.) Mabel Inez Nichols (July 3, 1886 - December 28, 1982) married first: James Garfield Jessie Durst and married second: Oscar Louis Zeis 

5.) Lola Gertrude Nichols (January 23, 1888 - May 7, 1937) married Elbert Cox Harrell

According to the 1880 U.S. Census, Stacy Mahlon Nichols is living in the 92nd Enumeration District, more notably situated at Ball's Ferry. His occupation was noted as a farmer. His household consisted of his wife, Amanda Ellen (Hammans) Nichols, their daughter Mary L. Nichols, and his sister-in-law, Nancy Jane Hammans. Around this time period Stacy pursued additional career opportunities and began running a boarding house out of the above building. In 1886, he registered to vote while living in the Ball's Ferry area, and after that he relocated his family to Ludwig's Bridge on Cottonwood Creek where they remained while Stacy and Amanda operated the boarding house together at Ball's Ferry.

Nichols also purchased the Ball's Ferry flouring mill (a mill which was erected by Alexander Love and formerly owned by Jonathon Carver.) Stacy Mahlon Nichols relocated this flour mill from Ball's Ferry to another milling site which was formerly owned by his father and situated on Ludwig’s Bridge at Cottonwood Creek and Nichols combined the two mills together. Nichols sold out to Andrew Leslie about 1889, and this mill site became known as Leslie’s Flour Mill. Later, it was owned by Luke Lukes and his brother Jason Lukes. The mill was sold about 1912 to Ed Carter, M.T. Howell and Otto Trautz and they relocated the flour mill to Cottonwood as the Cottonwood Milling Company.

Stacy Mahlon Nichols relocated his family south to Oakland, Alameda County, California, where his wife Amanda Ellen (Nichols) Hammans died on October 3, 1897. She is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery at Oakland. Stacy survived his wife and is recorded as living at Alameda, in Oakland, California, in 1898 and according to the 1900 U.S. Census. His occupation at that time is listed as a railroad inspector. A search for Nichols in the 1910 U.S. Census oddly failed to accumulate any results, but a 1911 City of Oakland Directory book lists him as living in Oakland and working as a watchman. 

The Shasta County pioneer Stacy Mahlon Nichols died on September 20, 1916, in San Francisco, California, at the age of sixty-years-old. He was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery at Oakland next to his beloved wife, Amanda. 

Above: back row, L-R: my paternal great-great grand aunt Amanda Ellen (Hammans) Nichols and her husband Stacy Mahlon Nichols. Front row L-R: Mabel, Grace and Bertha. Circa 1886.  From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle.

Resources:

1860 U.S. Census

1870 U.S. Census

1879 California Voters Registration 

Married - The Reading Independent newspaper of Redding, June 12, 1879

1880 U.S. Census

1898 California Voters Registration 

1900 U.S. Census

1907 City of Oakland Directory

1911 City of Oakland Directory

1912 City of Oakland Directory

1913 City of Oakland Directory

1914 City of Oakland Directory

1915 City of Oakland Directory

Stacy M. Nichols in the California, Death Index, 1905-1939

Stacy M. Nichols in the San Francisco Area, California, Funeral Home Records, 1850-1931

Stacy M. Nichols in the California, Wills and Probate Records 1850-1953