Middletown: Shasta County’s forgotten Gold Rush town

Middletown — Shasta County’s forgotten Gold Rush town

Posted on September 14, 2026 by Jeremy Tuggle

Originally Appeared on A News Cafe

About six miles west of present-day Redding, in the rolling country between the historic town of Shasta and the old mining settlements along Clear Creek, once stood Middletown. Today almost nothing remains to suggest that hundreds of people once lived, worked, traded, celebrated, and searched for gold there. Yet during the 1850s, Middletown was one of the important mining communities of western Shasta County, surrounded by exceptionally rich placer ground and connected by roads and stage routes with Shasta, Horsetown, Muletown, Texas Springs, and other settlements scattered throughout the Clear Creek mining country. Middletown's story did not end when the first great placer-mining era faded. Although the community began declining during the late 1850s and eventually disappeared as a recognizable town, mining continued around the old settlement for generations. Farms, orchards, vineyards, homes, and a winery later occupied portions of the surrounding countryside, while miners continued searching the Middletown mining district for gold into the twentieth century. Middletown disappeared as a Gold Rush town, but it did not disappear as a place.

Middletown developed amid extraordinarily rich placer deposits during the opening years of the California Gold Rush. By March 1853, reports from the district were already attracting attention. A miner identified as Mr. Dilicolli discovered a piece of pure gold valued at $200 in his claim on Tadpole Creek near Middletown. The following month, A. E. Calloway recovered eleven ounces of gold and another six dollars from his claim near Middletown, while neighboring miners were reportedly earning between eighteen and twenty-five dollars per day. Later recollections reinforced just how rich the district had been. One newspaper remembered that there was no richer placer camp in the county than Middletown. Its surface gravel, heavily mixed with quartz, reportedly paid miners from ten to twenty dollars per day, with gold occurring from the grass roots down to bedrock. Large quartz boulders containing free gold were also encountered, suggesting that the rich placer deposits might have originated from undiscovered quartz ledges in the surrounding hills.

The remarkable discoveries continued. In March 1854, a lump of gold mixed with quartz weighing more than one hundred ounces was reported from the Middletown diggings and valued at no less than $1,000. Later that month, Hendricks & Stroud recovered another impressive piece weighing twenty-eight ounces and five and one-half dollars in additional weight, with an estimated value approaching $500. The gold drew a substantial population into the surrounding country. A later pioneer account remembered that when the Clear Creek Ditch was completed, more than three thousand miners were waiting for water throughout Muletown, Middletown, Jackass Flat, Texas Springs, Horsetown, and neighboring camps. Cabins were reportedly so numerous between Middletown and Briggsville that the four-mile road connecting them was remembered as almost a continuous street. Decades later, James Gleason, who had grown up in the neighboring Horsetown country, remembered Middletown and Centerville as good business centers and recalled that Middletown itself had spread across a comparatively large area.

As the population increased, Middletown quickly became part of western Shasta County's transportation and commercial network. In 1853, a new road was constructed between Middletown and Horsetown, and Middletown became a stop on Hall & Crandall's United States Mail stage route connecting Shasta with Marysville and Sacramento. Businesses followed the miners. In November 1853, property on the west side of Middletown's Main Street containing a tavern, store, and bakery was offered at auction. The tavern alone could accommodate approximately fifty boarders and included a cellar and large corral. In January 1854, John Heivner purchased the New York Bakery on the east side of Main Street, where customers could purchase bread, pies, cakes, provisions, mining implements, liquors, and cigars. Another pioneer, John Doebelin, was remembered in a 1935 obituary as having owned the first bakery in Middletown. Whether his establishment was connected with the New York Bakery is uncertain, but the accounts demonstrate the extent of Middletown's early commercial development.

The New York Bakery at Middletown, purchased by John Heivner in 1854, offered bread, pies, cakes, provisions, mining implements, liquors, and cigars from its location on the east side of Main Street. From the Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, edition of January 28, 1854.

Among the town's most important merchants were William Weil and L. Weil, who established their original store at Middletown in 1854. Their enterprise subsequently expanded to Texas Springs and Horsetown. The Union Hotel became another important Middletown institution. William S. Hughes assumed management in January 1855, offering food, lodging, a well-stocked bar, and stabling for travelers' animals. Middletown also supported an active social life. Balls and dances were held at its hotels, and a dancing school operated there in 1855. People were beginning to establish families as well. On June 4, 1855, M. L. Richmond and Mary McGuire were married at Middletown. The following month, John Doebelin was born there, beginning a life that would eventually span Middletown's transformation from thriving Gold Rush settlement to ghost town.

Middletown's growing importance was further reflected in the establishment of its own post office. A federal postal register for Shasta County lists Charles W. McKinney as Middletown's postmaster beginning June 18, 1856. The Middletown post office remained in operation until April 19, 1858, when the register records it as discontinued. Its existence provides another indication that Middletown had developed beyond a temporary collection of miners' cabins into an established community. The timing of its closure is also noteworthy. The post office was discontinued during the same year that Judge Chauncey C. Bush Sr. later remembered as the beginning of Middletown's decline, although the surviving postal record does not establish a direct connection between the two events.

For all its mineral wealth, Middletown suffered from one fundamental problem: water. During the winter of 1854, drought brought mining throughout the surrounding dry diggings nearly to a standstill. Without water, miners could not wash their gravel. Without gold, money disappeared from circulation, hotels lost boarders, and merchants lost customers. The solution appeared obvious—bring water from Clear Creek. A public meeting was called at the Excelsior House in Middletown in February 1854 to consider constructing a ditch and flume system. A proposal envisioned a roughly sixteen-mile canal built cooperatively by approximately one hundred miners. The movement continued in March when miners assembled again at Middletown, with James S. Ralston serving as chairman and Brice Grimes as secretary. The resulting plan called for one hundred shares valued at $500 each, with shareholders providing part of the necessary labor. Later accounts celebrated the eventual completion of a Clear Creek ditch system supplying the surrounding mining country, although a direct organizational connection between that completed ditch and the cooperative enterprise proposed at Middletown in 1854 has not been established.

Life in Middletown could also display the rougher character of the California mining frontier. In April 1855, the store of William Weil & Co. was burglarized, and approximately $1,500 in gold dust disappeared along with a black mare mule believed to have been used by the thieves. The merchants offered a $200 reward for recovery of the stolen property and apprehension of those responsible. At the same time, Middletown developed the civic institutions of a settled community. It sent delegates to county political conventions, produced candidates for public office, and maintained its own election precinct. These details reveal a place considerably more developed than the term “mining camp” might suggest. Middletown possessed businesses, hotels, homes, roads, stage service, political institutions, social gatherings, and a permanent population.

According to Judge Chauncey C. Bush Sr., who recalled Middletown's history during an 1893 land dispute, the community reached its height between 1853 and 1857, when approximately 500 people lived there. He remembered saloons, hotels, merchants, and substantial buildings, including a fireproof brick store occupied by Weil. Because Judge Bush was describing events several decades afterward, his testimony is best regarded as a pioneer recollection rather than a contemporary population count, but his description agrees closely with the substantial community documented in newspapers of the 1850s. Judge Bush placed the beginning of Middletown's decline in 1858, when the Frazier River excitement drew miners and residents away. The distinction is important: 1858 marked the beginning of Middletown's decline, not its end.

Middletown remained an established election precinct in 1858, with William Weil serving as inspector, and commercial life continued. In late 1859 and early 1860, William Weil & Bros. advertised the Middletown location as one of the firm's established “old stands,” alongside stores at Horsetown and Texas Springs. A butcher shop operated by Bennet & Waggoner also opened at Middletown, sending wagons throughout Buckeye, Churntown, Whisky Creek, Shasta, Texas Springs, and neighboring settlements. The Weil enterprise changed hands in 1861, when William Weil and L. Weil sold their interests to David Weil and Joseph Weil before returning to Germany. The two brothers later returned to California in 1867, after which the family established itself in Shasta.

William Weil & Bros. advertised Middletown as one of the firm's established “old stands” in 1859–1860, evidence that commercial activity continued after Middletown had begun to decline. From the Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, edition of January 7, 1860.

An 1862 sheriff's sale involving merchant Augustus Kessel provides one of the best surviving descriptions of Middletown's physical layout. In April of that year, Emanuel Lewin and Ferdinand Baehr obtained a judgment against Kessel for $2,867.90, plus interest and costs. Among the property subsequently offered for sale was a parcel on the west side of Middletown's principal street containing the fireproof brick store erected by William Weil & Co. Another parcel stood opposite Kessel's dwelling and included the site of his former storehouse. The measurements recorded in the legal notice reveal a developed commercial street containing defined lots, fences, residences, stores, and substantial buildings rather than merely the temporary cabins commonly associated with early mining camps. Even in 1863, Middletown remained socially and civically active. Michael B. Hickey hosted a grand St. Patrick's Day Ball at the Union Hotel, and the community continued functioning as an election precinct. Middletown was smaller, but it was still alive.

As the great placer-mining era faded, attention increasingly turned toward quartz. In January 1864, the Shasta Courier identified James Loag as the owner of a quartz mill near Middletown. A cleanup following the crushing of fifty tons of quartz from Jolly & Co.'s Muletown claim produced seventeen pounds of amalgam, with experienced observers estimating the ore at approximately forty dollars per ton. Two months later, an eight-stamp quartz mill at Middletown was offered for sale. The mill had recently been thoroughly repaired, contained two sets of Norton's Patent Amalgamators, and was described as being in good running order. Importantly, the advertisement stated that it was being sold to close a partnership rather than because the operation had failed.

Mining continued around Middletown long after the original town began declining. William Peterson developed a gold-bearing quartz ledge near Middletown, sank a shaft, constructed a roasting furnace, and built an arrastra. Other prospectors searched the surrounding hills for the quartz ledges believed to have produced the district's extraordinary placer deposits. In 1876, Michael Hickey applied for a federal patent covering the twenty-acre Hickey Placer Mine in the Middletown mining district. The property description is particularly valuable because it placed the claim near John Heivner's dwelling and garden and property associated with William Peterson. Heivner had purchased the New York Bakery more than twenty years earlier, while Peterson was associated with the district's later quartz development. Their appearance in the same property description shows that Middletown's later landscape contained not simply abandoned diggings, but residences, gardens, established property boundaries, and active mining claims.

The concentrated settlement nevertheless continued to disappear. By 1893, Judge Bush recalled that not a single vestige of the old town remained. Yet only two years later, a newspaper column headed “Middletown Notes” described a very different kind of community occupying the surrounding countryside. Peter McCann was pruning his orchard and sowing grain. Wolfgang Nachreiner was planting eighty acres of wheat and oats. Martin Nachreiner was clearing land, Anton Schwagel planned to sow forty acres of oats, and Jacob Peterson intended to cultivate twenty-five acres on Chris Stabler's ranch. Even the miners were reported to be making spring gardens and planting trees. The Gold Rush town had disappeared, but Middletown had become a dispersed rural community where mining existed alongside orchards, grain fields, gardens, homes, and ranches.

Agriculture eventually produced one of Middletown's most distinctive later industries. By 1899, Charles Brouillard was identified as the “Middletown wine maker,” and by the following year he was described as proprietor of the Middletown Winery. Brouillard's operation produced Claret, Zinfandel, White Wine, Riesling, Sauterne, Port, Sherry, Angelica, and brandy, with a distribution depot maintained at 305 Oregon Street in Redding. When the Middletown Ranch and Winery was advertised for sale in 1911, the property encompassed approximately 270 acres, including forty acres planted in grapes and fruit, 220 acres of pasture, and ten acres of mineral land. Even on a ranch devoted to agriculture and wine production, the mineral potential of the old Middletown country had not been forgotten.

Charles Brouillard's Middletown Winery produced a variety of locally made wines and brandy and maintained a distribution depot at 305 Oregon Street in Redding. From the November 22, 1911, edition of the Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding. 

Nor had mining disappeared. New quartz claims continued to be recorded in the Middletown mining district during the twentieth century. In 1915, the Jim Loag Mine at Middletown was equipped with a two-stamp mill, ore discharge, rock breaker, and hoist, while other prospectors continued locating quartz claims throughout the surrounding country. By 1930, miners were still staking new ground in the Middletown district. The following years demonstrated that the old mining country could still produce the ambition and uncertainty that had characterized it since the Gold Rush.

In 1932, the White Mine was being developed near Olney Creek behind the old Middletown Cemetery, approximately five miles west of Redding. Dawson, Swinney, and Samson operated the property under lease and bond from Edwin White of Redding and installed a mill capable of processing approximately fifty tons of ore per day. Just as operations were preparing to begin, someone deliberately dynamited the cement diversion dam constructed across Olney Creek to provide water for the mill. The fifteen-foot-long and eight-foot-high structure was shattered. No known dispute over mining or water rights explained the destruction, and the motive remained a mystery. The operators nevertheless intended to rebuild the dam and continue mining. Nearly eighty years after Middletown's first great placer discoveries, people were still searching the surrounding hills for gold.

One physical remnant of the pioneer community proved especially enduring. The Middletown Cemetery, established near the settlement during the pioneer era, continued serving the surrounding countryside after the town's stores, hotels, saloons, and residences disappeared. Pioneers including John H. Owens, Bernard Scheurer, and George Miller were buried there. When Solomon McDaniel of the neighboring Centerville district was laid to rest in the cemetery, the Weekly Searchlight described his funeral as the largest ever held at Middletown, with mourners traveling from Redding and the surrounding countryside. The cemetery's continued use demonstrates that Middletown remained a meaningful community identity even after its commercial center vanished.

The entrance to the historic Middletown Cemetery, established during the 1850s near the once-thriving Gold Rush community of Middletown in Shasta County, California. The cemetery remains one of the few surviving physical reminders of the former settlement. Photograph taken by Jeremy M. Tuggle on September 1, 2026.

Few lives illustrate Middletown's transformation better than that of John Doebelin. He was born at Middletown in July 1855, when the settlement was near the height of its prosperity, and spent most of his eighty years in the surrounding mining country. When Doebelin died in 1935, his obituary described his birthplace as a ghost town situated between Briggsville and old Shasta. The infant born amid the Gold Rush boom had lived long enough to see his birthplace become a historical memory.

Middletown's history, however, was not simply the story of a mining town that flourished briefly and disappeared. Its first great era belonged to placer mining, when gold drew hundreds of people into the district and created stores, hotels, bakeries, homes, roads, stage connections, political institutions, and a thriving community. The Frazier River excitement began Middletown's decline in 1858, but decline was a process rather than an event. Merchants remained, elections continued, quartz mills operated, and residents maintained homes and gardens. As the concentrated settlement disappeared, farms, orchards, vineyards, and homes spread across the surrounding countryside, while prospectors continued recording mining claims into the twentieth century.

The town disappeared, but Middletown survived as a place. Its name remained attached to the countryside, its mines, farms and vineyards, roads, family memories, and most enduringly, its pioneer cemetery. Today, the Old Middletown Cemetery remains a tangible connection to a settlement whose Main Street and buildings have otherwise vanished—a surviving landmark of one of western Shasta County's richest Gold Rush communities and a reminder that Middletown's history continued long after the boomtown itself disappeared. 

Tall, dry grass surrounds a modern grave within the historic Middletown Cemetery in Shasta County, California. Established during the 1850s, the secluded cemetery remains one of the few surviving landmarks associated with the former Gold Rush community of Middletown. Photograph taken by Jeremy M. Tuggle on September 1, 2026.

RESOURCES:

1850 U.S. Census

1852 California State Census

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 12, 1853

Big Lump - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 19, 1853

Interesting Letter from One Horse Town - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 2, 1853

Good Wages - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 2, 1853

From Pitt River - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 23, 1853

French Gulch Correspondence - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 30, 1853

Middletown and One Horse Town Road - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 7, 1853

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 7, 1853

Attention Democrats - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 14, 1853

Shasta County Democratic Convention - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 11, 1853

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 2, 1853

Birth - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 16, 1853

Afternoon Session - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 30, 1853

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 3, 1853

Auction!! - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 22, 1853

Ball's - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 24, 1853

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 28, 1853

The Shasta County Dry Diggings - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 4, 1854

To The Public - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 11, 1854

The Shasta County Dry Diggings - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 11, 1854

Miner's Meeting - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 25, 1854

Miner's Convention - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 11, 1854

Miner's Meeting - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 4, 1854

Miner's Convention - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 11, 1854

Married - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 18, 1854

Middletown Dry Diggings - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 25, 1854

Mining In Shasta County - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 1, 1854

Rich Quartz - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 29, 1854

Miner's Meeting - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 20, 1854

Notice to the Democracy of Shasta County - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 24, 1854

Middletown Ball - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 30, 1854

The Travel This Way - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 28, 1854

The Shasta County Mining and Milling Water Company - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 23, 1854

The Storm - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 6, 1855

The Union Hotel - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 20, 1855

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 20, 1855

Another Ball - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 27, 1855

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 10, 1855

Shooting Affair - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 10, 1855

Candidates - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 7, 1855

$200 Reward - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 14, 1855

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 28, 1855

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 5, 1855

Dancing School - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 26, 1855

Temperance Lecture - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 2, 1855

Mule Thief Arrested - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 9, 1855

Married - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 9, 1855

Dissolution- The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 7, 1855

Shasta County Democratic Convention - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 14, 1855

“Sam” In Shasta - His Nominees - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 4, 1855

A Card - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 11, 1855

Administrators Notice - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 11, 1855

Temperance Mass Meeting - The :$hasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 25, 1855

Mining Intelligence - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 2, 1856

Judges and Inpectors of Election - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 14, 1858

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 26, 1859

1860 U.S. Census

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 7, 1860

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 14, 1860

A Seven Hundred Dollar Chunk - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 21, 1860

Sheriff’s Sale - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 26, 1862

Notice - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 30, 1862

St. Patrick's Ball - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 1, 1863

A Contract - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 3, 1863

Sheriff's Sale - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 3, 1863

Quartz Mill in Operation - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 17, 1863

A Good Claim - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 9, 1864

Something About Our County - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 16, 1864

For Sale - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 5, 1864

Fire - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 15, 1864

Judges and Inspectors of Election - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 22, 1864

Robbery - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 5, 1864

Middletown Correspondence - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 3, 1864

Letter from Bed Rock - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 10, 1864

Letter from Bed Rock - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 21, 1865

Middletown - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 18, 1865

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 4, 1866

The Tornado Company - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 25, 1866

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 22, 1866

Middletown - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 29, 1866

Middletown - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 3, 1866

Administrators Sale of Real Estate - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 17, 1866

A Success - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 23, 1867

Not Played Out. - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 31, 1867

School House - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 5, 1867

Robbed - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 16, 1867

Bitten By A Dog - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 25, 1868

Shot at by Indians - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 13, 1868

Lightning - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 27, 1868

Injured - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 21, 1868

Fatal Accident - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 12, 1868

Runaway - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 3, 1869

Union Republican Convention - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 17, 1869

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 6, 1869

Gone East - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 25, 1869

1870 U.S. Census

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 8, 1871

Notice To Whom It May Concern - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 12, 1871

Sold Out - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 20, 1872

Highway Robbery - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 20, 1873

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 20, 1873

A.V. Mount - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 21, 1874

Notice of Application for Patent to Mining Claim - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 8, 1876

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 2, 1878

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 15, 1879 

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 15, 1879

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 10, 1879

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 21, 1879

1880 U.S. Census

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 24, 1880

Rich Quartz - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 13, 1880

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 21, 1880

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 4, 1880

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 9, 1880

Sheriff's Sale - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 19, 1881

Thirty Years Ago - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 5, 1884

Chenoweth - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 28, 1884

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 28, 1885

Michael Hickey - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 17, 1885

They Are Coming - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 26, 1886

Pioneer Notes - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 30, 1887

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 4, 1887

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 6, 1887

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 4, 1888

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 23, 1888

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 4, 1888

Middletown - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 22, 1893

Middletown Notes - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 9, 1895

The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, February 8, 1899

1900 U.S. Census

The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, December 23, 1900

His Request Granted Twenty Years After - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 19, 1902

After Effect of Typhoid Is Fatal - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, February 11, 1908

Pays Tribute to "Old George" Miller - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 6, 1908

1910 U.S. Census

For Sale - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 17, 1911

Buy Local Wine - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 16, 1911

The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 22, 1911

Made A Lucky Strike - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 23, 1919

Horsetown and Briggsville -The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 18, 1915

Two New Mines - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 18, 1915

Robertson to Start Mine - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 31, 1915

Death Summons Laura B. Wagner - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 1, 1916

The Big Row - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 14, 1916

Storey Funeral Today - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 19, 1916

Proof of Labor - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 12, 1916

1920 U.S. Census

Death of Jim Kelly Ended Odd Career - The Courier Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 20, 1922

1930 U.S. Census

Two Locate Claim - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, July 4, 1930

John Doeblin, 80 Years Old Native of Shasta, Passes - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, May 23, 1935

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.

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

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

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

Nathan A. Townsend: The Man Behind the Historic Townsend Flat Ditch

Above: the Townsend Flat Ditch on the left along with its marker on the right. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on April 28, 2020.

Nathan A. Townsend was a native of New York who was born about 1824. Townsend arrived and settled at Middletown in Shasta County in 1853. Soon after, Townsend was elected as a member to the Shasta County Democratic Convention at Shasta in June of that year. He always supported the Democrat party in politics and while voting at the polls during election years. He mined on a flat near Horsetown which was named Townsend Flat in his honor.  

Townsend was the owner of the Union Hotel at Middletown in 1854. He was married to his wife May, a native of Illinois, as well. They operated the hostelry together, and aside from the hostelry business, Townsend was also a miner. 

This advertisement states, "Middeltown Ball. A ball will be given at the "Union Hotel", Middletown, on the evening of Tuesday, the 17th October. Every necessary arrangement will be made to make it go off agreeably. - N.A. Townsend". From the Shasta Courier newspaper edition of September 30, 1854.

Townsend claimed ownership to a number of mining claims a half mile below the town of Briggsville in the Clear Creek area.  In 1855, at this location, he built a dam and then he began the construction of a water ditch. This ditch originated on the north side of present day Saeltzer Dam at Clear Creek which is (unrelated to the Townsend dam). Clear Creek Road is not far from this ditch. The ditch stretched for a total of 6.4 miles long and empties into Olney Creek, it was completed that year. It brought him water to his mining claims which was used for the extraction of the gold he sought after.

That same year, the mining settlement of Nebraska situated along the Clear Creek area was coming to fruition with new settlers who were attracted to the local gold mining claims in the area. Nathan Townsend and his wife were among the first settlers of this community which never had a post office to send and receive mail. 

Apparently, Townsend went into partnership with a man named C.M. McKinney, and in May of 1858, they sued John D. Smith for damages to their ditch, dam and mining claims. Its unknown how extensive the damages to their property were. The case of McKinney & Townsend Vs. John D. Smith began that October and by November 6, 1858, the Shasta Courier newspaper published the following: 

"Interesting and Costly Suit - The case of McKinney & Townsend vs. J.D. Smith et al., that has occupied the District Court for about a month, elicited a greater amount of interest than any civil suit ever heretofore tried in our courts. It was rather an expensive affair. The jury fees alone amounted to upwards of $800, while the Clerk's fees amounted to perhaps a greater sum - to say anything of the fees and the sheriff and the lawyers." (SIC)

In December, the case of McKinney & Townsend vs. J.D. Smith was granted a new trial by the presiding judge the Honorable, William P. Daingerfield on motion of the defendants. It was then thought that the case would be tried by the Supreme Court, but eventually it was settled out of court. Additional disputes involving Nathan A. Townsend would soon emerge in the Shasta County Courts over his properties.

Later on, the 1860 U.S. Census records Nathan and Mary living in the county seat of Shasta. Nathan is recorded as "N.A." Townsend. There are no children mentioned on this record living in their residence. Nathan, also recorded $500 in real estate value on this record.  However, a son by the name of Wilbur was born to this union. It's possible there were other children.

The 1860 U.S. Census also records Nathan’s son Wilbur Townsend as “W.A.” Townsend who is living at Horsetown in the household of M. Patterson. Wilbur was working as a cook presumably at the Union Hotel in Middletown. Like his father, he was also a native of New York, and he was married to his wife Martha. Together they had two children, Lewis and Ada. Nathan's son Wilbur Townsend became the owner of the Union Hotel in 1861. 

In 1862, Nathan A. Townsend and his wife, Mary, were residing at Muletown, and in August of that year, he became a Justice of the Peace for that community. Townsend's partner C.M. McKinney was also the target of a lawsuit in the Shasta County District Court by Enos B. Taylor which during the above trial on the 16th of October 1862, on a judgement rendered at the June term of the said court in favor of Taylor for the sum of $5,499.17, with legal interests with the costs taxed in the sum of $143.45, in favor of Taylor. It was Shasta County Sheriff John S. Follansbee who was ordered by the court to sell the following described property at a future date, "The equal undivided one-half of the dam and ditch situate in the county of Shasta aforesaid, known as Townsend's dam and ditch, and which said dam and ditch were constructed for the purpose of taking the waters of Clear Creek from a point below Briggsville, and conveying the same on to mining and agricultural lands below said point. Also, one equal undivided one-half of all the farming claims and mining claims owned and possessed by the said N.A. Townsend, contiguous or in vicinity of said ditch; together with one equal undivided one-half of all the buildings on said premises, and the tools, sluice boxes, and all appurtenances thereunto below." (SIC)

Finally, on November 7, 1862, the above property was sold at auction to the highest bidder in Shasta. Unfortunately, the name of the buyer wasn't released by the local media. After 1863, not much is known about Nathan A. Townsend as he becomes untraceable in the United States Census records and information about him is unknown after this date. Nathan's son Wilbur Townsend relocated from Shasta County to the Nevada Township, in Nevada where his family was living in 1870. 

Years later, the Townsend Flat Water Ditch Company took over Nathan A. Townsend's earlier holdings along Clear Creek and his water ditch after this company was incorporated on December 3, 1890. The Townsend Flat Water Ditch Company dissolved in the early 2000's and most of the property was split up into private ownership under different people and parts of the ditch became the property of the McConnell Foundation. Today, this one hundred sixty-five year old water ditch still remains visible to the passing eye with trail markers marking its path along the Clear Creek Gorge Overlook and Trail, a pet-friendly, 3.5 mile long trail which ranges from easy to moderate along its path. Take plenty of water with you and the appropriate shoes, if you go. 

Above: the Townsend Flat Ditch trail marker. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on April 28, 2020.

RESOURCES:

Shasta County Democratic Convention - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 11, 1853

Townsend & Co's Ditch - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, October 27, 1855

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

District Court - May Term - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 22, 1858

Justice Made Cheap - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 9, 1858

Institutions - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 30, 1858

Interesting and Costly Suit - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 6, 1858

New Trial Granted - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 18, 1858

1860 U.S. Census

District Court Calendar - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 14, 1860

Justices and Inspectors of Election - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 17, 1861

Officers Of Election - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 23, 1862

Sheriff's Sale - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 25, 1862

Sheriff's Sale - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 1, 1862

Place Names of Shasta County by Gertrude Steger, published by La Siesta Press, ©1966.

Gold Discovery at Reading’s Bar and Horsetown

Saeltzer Dam Fish Passage and Flow Protection Project - June 2000

https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/C0019790