THE FORMER SITE OF THE REDDING GOLF CLUB, NOW LAWNCREST CEMETERY.

The 9-hole golf course of the Redding Golf is shown here with golfers enjoying this golf course. Now, it’s home of the Lawncrest Cemetery. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

Originally, the golf course pictured in the above photograph was designed and developed by W.B. Tucker and L. Hawkins, of Redding, in 1923. It was a 9-hole golf course which was owned and operated by the Redding Golf Club. It was located on the east side of the Sacramento River and laid out on Lawncrest Road in Enterprise. The golf course stayed in business for many years. Then in 1950, a man named George Stetler, founded a new funeral parlor in downtown Redding, which he named Linn and Fulkerth Funeral Home, and the land which this former golf course was situated on transitioned into a cemetery under his ownership, and it became the Lawncrest Cemetery. Its namesake was the road it was located on. Eventually, this road was widened and later renamed Cypress Avenue. This cemetery is still in use today, and generations of my family on both my maternal and paternal side are buried here including my eldest son, Jason Meyer Tuggle (born & died on: July 16, 2009.) 

RESOURCES:

Golf Fans Are Thick On New Course Sunday - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 26, 1923

Golf Enthusiasts Organize At Meet Wednesday Night - The Courier-Free Press, March 8, 1923

Invite Redding Golfers To Red Bluff Sunday - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 28, 1923

Redding Golf Fans To Play At Red Bluff - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 11, 1923

Redding Golf Club Goes To Corning Sunday - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 31, 1923

Redding Golfers Divide Matches - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, June 5, 1923

Golfers Will Put On Drive For Members; Seek Grounds - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 21, 1923

Golf Schedule Is Announced - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 12, 1923

Golfers Like Fine Weather - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 27, 1923

Local Golfers Victorious At Chico Sunday - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 29, 1923

Local Golfers Beat Arbuckle Players Here - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 12, 1923

Golf Tournament Is Postponed - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 5, 1924

Local Golfers Plan Ladder Tournament - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 11, 1924

Cummins Tops Golf Ladder - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 17, 1924

Golfers Change Position On Ladder - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 19, 1924

Golfers Draw Big Gallery - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 21, 1924

Cummins Gives Few Rules To Be Observed On Golf Course - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 23, 1924

33 Match Games Of Golf Over Weekend - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 25, 1924

Klukkert New Top Player On Ladder - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 18, 1924

Redding Plays Biggest Golf Match Sunday - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 22, 1924

Cummins Now Tops Golfers - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 23, 1924

Redding Golfers Defeated - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 25, 1924

This Golf Match Ought To Create Healthy Interest - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 26, 1924

Golfers Will Work On New Course Sunday - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 15, 1924

Cummins New Golf Leader - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 24, 1924

Golfers Play For Big Store Trophy Sunday Afternoon - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 12, 1924

Ritchie Wins Big Store Golf Trophy Sunday - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 1924

New Course To Be Built Soon By Golf Club - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 15, 1924

Red Bluff Golf Players Here On Sunday - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 10, 1924

New Directors For Golf And Country Club - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, December 19, 1925

Red Bluff Golf Players Coming Here Tomorrow - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 28, 1925

https://riverviewgolf.clubepay.com/history

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/funeral-homes/redding-ca/lawncrest-chapel/2483

The Bates Family Pioneer Cemetery

This granite marker which is visible from the roadside is in the historic Bates Family Pioneer Cemetery. This historic cemetery was rededicated in 2012 by the Millville Historical Society. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 23, 2018.

This small and oft-forgotten cemetery is located in the Enterprise area of the Redding city limits. The Bates Family Pioneer Cemetery is located on Rancho Road, and since it’s establishment in 1878, it become the target of vandalism and blight. Today, only a few of the original burial markers remain in this historic cemetery.

The Bates Family Pioneer Cemetery is within the boundaries of the Millville Cemetery District. A granite marker with a 2010 date etched into it was donated to the Millville Historical Society by the Allen and Dahl Funeral Chapel of Redding. Then in October of 2012, the pioneer cemetery was cleaned up and rededicated by revealing the new granite marker which lists the names, birth and death dates of the individuals buried in this cemetery. The Millville Historical Society celebrated in grand style with a potluck and special appearances from the Shasta County Board of Supervisors. The descendants of Salem Bates and his wife Rebecca (Horton) Bates were also in attendance that day.

The first recorded burial in this cemetery is that of Dan Bates who died as an infant child on March 3, 1878, his death remains a mystery to me. He was a son of A.S. Bates and Sophia (Keefer) Bates who are buried in Colusa County, and during my research I didn’t find any relation between them and the Salem Bates family. It appears the A.S. Bates family were passing through the area heading south when their baby boy died.

Salem Bates and Rebecca (Horton) Bates were both natives of Vermont. They were married in the town of West Haven in 1832. They became the parents of four children, two boys and two girls, which were born between 1835-1844, respectively.

Salem Bates led an estrange life. A search for him in the 1870 U.S. Census yielded no results, yet his wife Rebecca is noted as living with her son Hiram F. A. Baker in Hartford, Ohio, that year. Hiram was a working as a farmer and his mother was unemployed, but she kept house. Salem Bates last appeared in the 1860 U.S. Census living at Putah in Yolo County. His occupation was noted as a farmer. He boarded with a man named Benjamin White. There were no other family members who were documented as living with him in California at that time.

Once again, another search for Salem Bates in the Shasta County Great Register of 1879 yielded no results. With this register lacking Bates’ name it suggests that the Bates family arrived in Shasta County sometime after the register was taken or in the early weeks of January 1880. The earliest record I located the Bates family on is the U.S. Census Mortality Schedules 1850-1880 for Hiram F.A. Baker and his mother Rebecca (Horton) Bates, available on Ancestry.com

Upon their arrival in Shasta County, tragedy struck the Salem Bates family when his son died of heart disease at the age of forty-four, on January 10, 1880. Hiram was soon interred into this cemetery. Eighteen days later, Salem’s wife Rebecca (Horton) Bates died on January 28, 1880, of the same complication as her son. She was interred here as well. After the deaths of his wife and son, Salem Bates settled in township number six of Shasta County, working as a laborer at the age of 70. According to the 1880 U.S. Census, Bates was boarding with the family of John Thompson.

Thompson was a 52-year-old broom maker. He was married and had at least two children of his own to provide for. Five years later Salem Bates is living on his own in Pacheco and working as a farmer. He died on March 9, 1894, and he was interred into this cemetery, near his wife. Eventually, additional interments were made in the Bates Family Pioneer Cemetery through the years. The last interment to be made into this cemetery was that of Earl Stenerson in 1936.

  

   

A fence surrounds the perimeter of the Bates Family Pioneer Cemetery on Rancho Road, to keep people out. The cemetery is on private property. All photographs taken with permission. Parking is limited. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 23, 2018.

Above: fallen headstones covered by plants, weeds and dry grass. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 23, 2018.

Above: the fallen headstone of Rebecca (Horton) Bates. The wife of Salem Bates. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 23, 2018.

Above: a faded burial marker within the cemetery. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 23, 2018.

Above: an unknown burial that is fenced off inside the cemetery. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 23, 2018.

RESOURCES:

1860 U.S. Census

1870 U.S. Census

U.S. Census Mortality Schedules 1850-1880 for Rebecca (Horton) Bates (Ancestry.com)

1879 Shasta County Great Register. (No mention of Salem Bates.)

1880 U.S. Census

1885 California Voters Registration

Millville Historical Society Gives Bates Cemetery New Life - East Valley Times newspaper, October 17, 2012.

Shasta County Resources

The Redding Free Bridge

The Free Bridge piers from the top looking across where the bridged deck would be. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 7, 2018.

During May of 1883, a group of local Redding citizens met to discuss the possibility of erecting a new non-toll bridge in the town of Redding to connect with the east side across the Sacramento River. They were tired of paying high prices to commute across the toll bridges and toll ferries in Redding. A proposition was made that a subscription of donations could be raised for the bridge's construction. However, the media responded to their proposition that it would cost ten or twelve thousand dollars and it was unlikely that this amount could be raised. 

   

A bridge committee was organized to began promoting and collecting donations on behalf of the local citizens. Five months later, on August 10, 1883 an impressive $12,160 was raised by them for the bridge. Then on, September 8, 1883, the Republican Free Press newspaper announced that there were three construction companies who were interested in bidding on the contract of the new Free Bridge. Those companies were the following: the Pacific Bridge Company, the San Francisco Bridge Company, and the California Bridge Company. The company who submitted the lowest bid to the Board of Supervisors would receive the contract to do the bridge work.

   

It was the California Bridge Company who submitted the lowest bid at $13, 440, but the exact total of money donated by the public is not known, at that date. The actual cost of the bridge was not reported, even though the money was raised and it was paid for.

    

A man by the name of Robert Lee Reading was hired to design the bridge. Reading was the son of Major Pierson B. Reading, an early pioneer and the first European-American settler in Shasta County. The design of the bridge was called Pennsylvania Through Truss. The lead engineer on the project was a man by the name of O.H. Burrell who was employed by the California Bridge Company.

   

On September 29, 1883, the Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding reported the following:

“The contract for the free bridge across the Sacramento River at Redding has been signed by the Supervisors and the California Bridge Company, and work will be commenced next week. The bridge timbers will arrive in Redding tomorrow night or tomorrow. One hundred barrels of cement have arrived. D. Breslauer, who has the contract for hauling the material from the cars, has his wagons and teams readiness. Supervisor Robinson will act as Superintendent of construction. The bridge must be finished by the first of January, until completed our readers will be kept posted regarding its progress.” (SIC)

As construction began it took the rest of the year for it to be be completed. The Republican Free Press updated the public on the construction of the bridge on December 29, 1883: 

“The bridge is completed, all that is now necessary is to make the fill at the end, which will take about four days, and will be started as soon as the weather will permit. This great enterprise, that created so much opposition and discussion, now be proved. People who have paid ferriage for years will have free access to the railroad, to Redding, and the County seat. This great boon is hardly appreciated at the present time, as compared with what will be after a few months of experience, and all, who voted for a free bridge, will be in short time the most popular men in Shasta county, and those even damned them, will be loud in their praise in the sweet by and by.” (SIC)

The Free Bridge was thrown open to the public in January of 1884. This would be the most direct route into the town of Enterprise and other locations point east. The bridge lasted twenty-two years with out any problems occurring and then during the winter of 1906 the Free Bridge was destroyed by the flooding of the Sacramento River.

The reconstruction of the bridge began in early August of 1907. Once again, it was the California Bridge Company who did the repair work with O.H. Burrell as the lead engineer. Burrell employed a crew of thirty men who were on a deadline to get the bridge completed by January 1, 1908 to restore the bridge to its former glory. A new decorative lightning system was installed on the bridge by the construction crew making it passable during night travel. Construction was steady and the necessary repairs were made but they still failed to meet the deadline due to the late arrival of bridge material. The steel material for the bridge cost them $18,000.

   

Thirty-four years later the bridge made headlines again as flooding damaged the bridge but the damage was quickly repaired. Then in 1948, a new bridge was constructed just north of the Free Bridge. This bridge was called the Cypress Avenue Bridge. 

   

Traffic used both bridges until 1951 when the Free Bridge was closed to motor vehicles. During 1955 another flood made further damage to the bridge and it was ruled to be unsafe for pedestrians to cross. In 1956 the Free Bridge met its fate when it was authorized to be dismantled. Today, the only remains of the Free Bridge are the piers located on the east and west side of Sacramento River at the end of Smile Place.

The structural foundation of the Free Brodge on the west side of the river. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 7, 2018.

The structural foundation of the Free Bridge on the west side of the river. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 7, 2018.

The Free Bridge piers looking east across the Sacramento River. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 7, 2018.

The foundation of the Free Bridge pier on the west side of the river. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 7, 2018.

A solo picture of the Free Bridge on the west side of the river looking south-east. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 7, 2018.

Looking south from the west side pier of the Free Bridge. The Sacramento River in Redding. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on June 7, 2018.

RESOURCES: 

Up And Down The River - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper, May 25, 1883

The Redding Bridge - Tocsin Journal newspaper, August 18, 1883

Free Bridge - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 8, 1883

The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding,  September 22, 1883

The Free Bridge - The Marin Journal newspaper, January 17,  1884

The Redding Bridge - The Sacramento Union newspaper, August 4, 1907

Granted An Extension - The Sacramento Union newspaper, December 25, 1907

Free Bridge To Soon Be Ready - The Sacramento Union newspaper, January 7, 1908

Transportation Bridges File 386.0 on file at the Shasta Historical Society. Contains information on the Redding Free Bridge.

https://bridgehunter.com/ca/shasta/free/