THE LYONS CONSOLIDATED MINE: DAMMING A NEARBY GULLY IN A DRAW UPON THE MINING PROPERTY.

This mine's lucrative vein was struck by Major John F. Lyons in 1890, the year that he and his family settled at Shasta County, California. Last worked in the 1950's, it went through various ownership during its production years. Upon the property is this late 19th century dam. Which was used to retain water for mining purposes upon the property. Filmed on location, January 14, 2025.

AN OLD MINING PROPERTY, AN ORE CAR SYSTEM - SHAFT - PROSPECT.

AN OLD MINING PROPERTY, AN ORE CAR SYSTEM - SHAFT - PROSPECT.

Filmed on location, November 16, 2024. Near: Quartz Hill in Shasta County, California, an abandoned mining property.

The Historic Flume Trail at Castle Crags State Park

Video filmed on location.

In this episode of Exploring Shasta County History, we will tour the remains of a historic water ditch and flume in the boundaries of the Castle Crags State Park, just 40 miles north of Redding, California. This water ditch and flume system dates to the 1890s and was constructed to channel water into the town site of Castella from Castle Creek and Indian Creek. Later on, miners utilized its water in the area for the extraction of gold at their mining claims. Some of these former sites along the present-day trail system have miner camp castoffs at their location to explore as well. This trail is an easy to moderate hike. 

Castella was a railroad station which was first called Castle Rock due to the highest dome of the nearby crags. Yet that name was short-lived, and in 1890 the United States Post Office headquarters in Washington D.C., designated the site which we know as Castella today, as Leland. The town of Leland was named in honor of Leland Standford, an American attorney, industrialist, philanthropist, and a member of the Republican Party. Standford served as the sixth governor of the state of California from 1862 to 1863. Standford owned a beautiful summer home at Lower Soda Springs in Shasta County, California. 

In 1890 the name of the town of Leland was changed again to Castella about the time this historic flume was erected to serve the community. The town site included a railroad depot, grocery store, hotel, school and a United States Post Office for local residents to send and receive mail. The area was mined for gold and logged for lumber as Castella boasted a population of 600 people at one-time. The town site still remains today along Interstate-5 in the Sacramento River Canyon and its United States Post Office is still in service to the public. 

Resources:

The Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 3, 1892

Castella Items - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 2, 1893

Castella Items - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 7, 1893

Castella News - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 3, 1894

Summer Resorts Up the Canyon - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 4, 1904

Castella Is Angry At S.P. - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 19, 1907

J.A. Rich, Miner Rescued Thursday Afternoon Several Miles West of Castella - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 30, 1907

Cannot Locate New Shasta Post Office - The Chico Record, newspaper of Chico, January 21, 1908

$39,000 Blaze Wipes Out Big Part of Castella - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 16, 1919

Castella Is Now a Thriving Town - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 9, 1923

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

UPDATE: FINDING A SECONDARY MINE SHAFT AT THE MOUNT SHASTA MINE.

Filmed on location.

My last visit to this mine was in 2020 and on October 21, 2023, I returned to the Mount Shasta Mine in the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and is part of the Shasta Mining District. This site dates to 1897. Upon my return to the site, I found some familiar things like the old tailing/waste rock piles, a prospect, an adit, foundations of its stamp mill and the known incline shaft that's fenced off by the park service. However, I was least expecting to find something new...

What surprised me was locating a secondary vertical shaft on top of the main haulage tunnel of the adit. Possibly, it could be a raise as well from inside the main haulage tunnel which are practically the same thing, however it was a shock to me to find this plugged shaft. The known incline shaft has a fence around it and is right next to the trail with water in the incline shaft. While the new shaft is plugged at this historic mining site. I'm hoping to explore more of the area soon.

RESOURCES:

Mining and Scientific Press, 75 no. 18 (October 1897)

The Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 14, 1899

The Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 22, 1900

Mount Shasta Mine Sold and Paid For - The Courier Free-Press newspaper of Redding, February 16, 1912

Mount Shasta Mine Sold to H.O. Cummins - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 22, 1913

Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, Siskiyou County, and Trinity County, by G. Chester Brown, ©1915 published by California State Printing Office.

Historic Resource Study Whiskeytown National Recreation Area by Anna Coxe Toogood, May 1978, Denver Service Center, Historic Preservation Team, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior

The Mount Shasta Mine: A Gold Mine on the Mt. Shasta Mine Loop Trail written by Jeremy M. Tuggle, September 16, 2020

THE MOUNT SHASTA MINE OF THE SHASTA MINING DISTRICT

Abandoned Gold Mines of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

Yesterday, was quite the mining adventure with Ryan Hammon, Riah Stevens and me. We found two abandoned gold mines in the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area that we explored. The first one we went to in the same area as the second one was welded shut, but the second mine proved exciting as we were able to get inside its gated entrance. We checked out some additional mines in the area as well which I have footage of that I'll work on releasing later this week. As for now I hope you enjoy this newest installment of Exploring Shasta County History:

HISTORY'S MYSTERY: A STONE STRUCTURE ON THE CLOVERDALE LOOP TRAIL

On September 5, 2023, while hiking along the Cloverdale Loop Trail near the former pioneer settlement of Piety Hill, in western Shasta County, California. I stumbled upon this stone structure. What is it? Maybe you can answer that. Is it a chimney? Is it historic, modern or mining related? Check out this mysterious stone structure in my newest YouTube video:

Clear Creek Area Abandoned Gold Mine

 An abandoned gold mine I found on September 4, 2023, on a local trail system in the Clear Creek area of western Shasta County, California. It's a small mine but come check it out with me. Watch the video here:

Filmed on location 9-4-2023.

The Niagra Mine at French Gulch

Above: inside the adit of the Niagra mine at French Gulch. This mine is on private property and this photograph taken with permission. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on January 14, 2023.

This quartz mine (or hard rock mine) is currently part of the Washington mine holdings at French Gulch in the French Gulch Mining District of Shasta County, just off of present-day French Gulch Road. It is located on private property. Although, this mine is not as old as the Washington mine, which was located by John Souter and John Syme in 1852, the Niagra mine was located nearby that historic mining property in 1857 while prospectors were chasing a vein of quartz which immediately excited the prospectors into digging out this adit and creating a main haulage tunnel for the mine at that time. Twenty-seven years later, in 1884, the mine was owned and operated by William T. Coleman, of San Francisco, who kept his men busy at blasting out new drifts of this mine, and his miners extracting the ore it produced. Then in 1891, this mine contained five drifts inside it which had been established over the years.

Inside, the walls of this mine contained granitic porphyry and slate in which they found an abundance of minerals which included gold, pyrite, and silver among others. These five drifts of the Niagra mine varied in length and were recorded between 300-feet to 1,380-feet. At that time, the price of blasting out these drifts cost Coleman between $3.50 to $13.50 per foot. Coleman planned future extensions of these drifts as well. The Niagra miners put in raises and winzes (winzes were also known as vertical shafts) inside this mine. The deepest shaft at the Niagra mine was recorded at 480-feet deep. An ore chute which was measured at 400-feet long existed for an easier process of loading the ore into the ore cars situated on an ore car track below it so the ore can be dumped into these ore cars and taken to the surface of the earth to be milled and processed.

The Niagra mine had an impressive stamp mill on this mining property which included 18-stamps to crush the ore of the mine to obtain the gold they sought after. While the loose gold was salvaged at the stamp mill its gold were amalgamated and alloyed into bricks while using mercury in the battery on the plates at the stamp mill. This process is more commonly known as a pan-amalgamation. Ten of these impressive stamps weighed 850 pounds each while the additional stamps weighed 600 pounds each.

Work was steady at the Niagra mine from 1891 to about 1920, and the Niagra mine continued its production of gold after that, however, work came to screeching halt once the Great Depression occurred which made a major impact in the region. Various people came in and purchased this mine after that, but production notes were not kept for this mine as a single producer due to most of the production notes merging into one account for the entire Washington mine holdings. So, it's not known exactly how much this single mine produced but it was lucrative.

The Niagra mine is located five miles north-west from the townsite of French Gulch. Niagra Road in the townsite of French Gulch was named after this mine. In 2004, the French Gulch Nevada Gold Mining Corporation purchased this celebrated mining property as part of the Washington mine holdings; a subsidiary company owned by the Bullion River Gold Corporation of Reno, Nevada. Since that time, this mining property has been bought once more and its now an active clean-up site.

RESOURCES:

The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, June 7, 1884

Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly ... of the Legislature ... - Google Books

The Mines Handbook An Enlargement of the Copper Handbook - founded by Horace J. Stevens, 1900 - A Manual of the Mining Industry of the World by Walter Harvey Weed, New York City ©1920

Albers, John P., 1961, Economic geology of the French Gulch, Shasta and Trinity counties: California Division of Mines and Geology Special Report

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

A Celebrated Producer of Gold: the Washington Mine by Jeremy Tuggle - The  Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 11, 2016

Touring The Historic Washington Mine 

An Abandoned Plugged Mine Shaft in the Old Diggings Mining District of Shasta County, California

An abandoned mine shaft which Robert Frazier, host of California Unearthed, and I found near the ghost town of Old Diggings also known as Hart, in the Old Diggings Mining District of Shasta County. It's possible that this mine shaft was part of the Texas Consolidated Mine holdings at one time. It's about 960 feet North North West of the parking lot at Walker Mine Trailhead. Filmed on location on 2-11-2023.

A Snapshot of Piety Hill

Above: the town of Piety Hill, date unknown. From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle.

Piety Hill is a fine example of a present-day ghost town, which was located in western Shasta County, California. This town was located about a quarter mile east of the present-day town of Igo, on what is now Cloverdale Road, and northward for 0.7 miles, however, the majority of these historic relics from this community is situated on private property which most of them are viewable by-passing motorists from the roadside. Piety Hill was established in 1849 as a gold mining camp and it eventually boasted of 1,500 residents including 600 Chinese settlers nearby due to the local mining claims in the area producing gold. The Chinese mined and worked their vegetable gardens here, there was no China town at Piety Hill.

In 1853, the lucrative Hardscrabble mine began its production of lucrative minerals by the Dry Creek Tunnel and Fluming Company, which began the construction of a water ditch by Chinese labor that is seen in this YouTube video here. It became a 22-mile-long water ditch which diverted water from the North Fork of Cottonwood Creek, Eagle Creek, Andrews Creek and the South Fork of Clear Creek. Then in 1857, gold pans yielded miners working their mining claims at Piety Hill from $60 to $190 per pan. At that time, the community was home to a few families in the area with children when they organized a school at that place and erected a schoolhouse. It was a booming up-and-coming place to live. In 1858, a man named Eugene Crowell kept a general merchandise store at Piety Hill which was a very successful business venture for him due to the production of gold from the local mining claims.

There are two stories of how Piety Hill received its name. Both are quite interesting and easy to believe. One account is that a family named McKinney moved into the area, having come from Piety Hill, Michigan, and the family members named their new home after their former hometown. Another explanation suggested by some historians is that this mining camp was occupied by religious groups which chose to name the community Piety Hill. Piety Hill does appear on the first official map of Shasta County which was surveyed by Colonel William Magee in February of 1862.

The present-day town of Igo began as the relocated community of Piety Hill. Residents moved in 1866, probably to segregate themselves from Chinese miners who were settling in Piety Hill, but also because people learned there was an ancient river channel under the community, making it reliable for well digging. George McPherson was the superintendent of the lucrative Hardscrabble mine as well. It was their hydraulic mining methods which also played a part in declining Piety Hill's growth while the nearby town of Igo burgeoned with success. 

In 1867, my paternal great-great-great grandfather the Reverend William Samuel Kidder, a pioneer Baptist minister, school teacher, farmer and miner, among other things, was recorded as living at Piety Hill, that year, after relocating his wife and children from French Gulch. His registration is found in the California, U.S., Voter Registers, 1866-1898. His occupation at that time was a post master but Piety Hill lacked a United States Post Office to send and receive mail which this notation meant that Kidder was employed as post master for the French Gulch United States Post Office. My ancestors eventually relocated from Piety Hill to Eagle Creek (now Ono) at a later date.

By 1868, it was generally thought that the local mines in the area of Piety Hill were worked-out but that wasn't the case. McPherson and his men at the Hardscrabble mine cleaned up from its tailings or dump pile several thousand dollars from gold which was the largest assessment of gold ever produced at that location. That year also witnessed the erection of a brand-new sawmill in the area by Petty & Company, yet this lumber mill was a short-lived business venture.

A year later, Shasta County resident Charles McDonald, a well-known stage proprietor operated an express called McDonald's Express which took passengers from Shasta amongst the following western Shasta County communities: Middletown, Centerville, Piety Hill, Horsetown, Janesville (now Gas Point), and Roaring River. Roaring River was the farthest southwest which this stage line traveled to at that time. Later on, in 1870, Alamarin W. Baker, a resident of Eagle Creek (now Ono) operated a stage line called Baker's Shasta & Red Bluff Express which took passengers from Shasta to Red Bluff (in Tehama County), while making stops in between at Piety Hill and Horsetown.

Even though Piety Hill appeared to be in a declining state the local schoolhouse in May of 1871, had forty-one students enrolled into their one-room schoolhouse. The teacher at that time was Joanna T. Casey. While locals were still prospecting the area for new prospects other mining claims were still being patented in the region into the 1880s and 1890s, and by the turn of the twentieth century, Piety Hill suffered quite a loss from local mines failing at their production of ore while very few residents remained at Piety Hill.

In 1915, the Hardscrabble mine at Piety Hill was worked by miners mining away in drifts and toiling away in shafts on the property while utilizing hydraulic mining methods as a source to extract the gold from this mine, which was located in Section 27, 34 and 35, Township 31 North, Range 6 West, 1/2 mile south of Igo, and consisting of 1,700-acres, of patented mineral land. The owners were the Happy Valley Land and Water Company of Olinda. A. E. Bowles was the president of this company. This company owned the old Dry Creek Tunnel and Fluming Company's water ditch, which was then known as the Happy Valley water ditch as seen in the above YouTube video.

Remaining points of interest from Piety Hill include a reservoir, the Dry Creek Tunnel and Fluming Company's water ditch, also known as the Happy Valley water ditch, pieces of structures and depressions in the ground which were from the cellars below the Chinese buildings. Look for these historical relics along Cloverdale Road the next time you drive by in your vehicle. You might be amazed at their existence. The death knell of this community which never established a United States Post Office to send and receive mail came in 1920 when the last two residents of Piety Hill died.

Resources:

Condition of Our Public Schools - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 30, 1858

To Miners - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 3, 1858

S. Of T. - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 23, 1858

Mining Improvement - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, May 21, 1861

California, U.S., Voter Registers, 1866-1898

Enterprising - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 25, 1868

Letter From Piety Hill - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 6, 1868

School Report - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 20, 1871

Notice of Application for Patent To Mining Claim - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 4, 1873

Big Interest in Shasta Are Sold - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, July 21, 1911

Happy Valley to Be Transferred - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, July 30, 1911

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

REPORT XIV OF THE STATE MINERALOGIST - MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA - CHAPTERS OF STATE MINERALOGIST’S REPORT BIENNIAL PERIOD, 1913-1914. CALIFORNIA STATE MINING BUREAU, CALIFORNIA STATE PRINTING OFFICE, SACRAMENTO.

Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, Siskiyou County, and Trinity County, by G. Chester Brown, ©1915 published by California State Printing Office.

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.

Way Back When - Myrtle McNamar, published by C.A.T. Publishing of Redding, California, 1952. 282 pages.

The Story of Western Shasta written by R.S. Ballou, The Covered Wagon, 1964, published annually by the Shasta Historical Society

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

An 1850s Historic Water Ditch at Piety Hill

Video: ©2022.

Explore an 1850s historic water ditch in this video, which is located at Piety Hill, a former ghost town with a lucrative history in western Shasta County, California. This video was filmed in the summer of 2022. 

THE AERIAL TRAMWAY OF THE REID MINE

The historic remains of an aerial tramway or tram line of the Reid mine is the main topic of this YouTube video. They were sometimes referred to as an “aerial ropeway” as well. At one point Shasta County had at least twelve different aerial tramways or tram lines in operation at the same time hauling 100 pounds or more of mining ore daily from lucrative mines producing gold, silver, and copper in one ore carload also known as a bucket load. Parts of the aerial tramway still exists and is marked with a marker along the present-day Freitas Loop Trail commemorating its history.

Nearby, the Reid mine was a lucrative producer of gold from the late 19th century to about the 1920s in the Old Diggings Mining District. This mine was named by its original locator Edward A. Reid. During the above interim years in 1913, the owners of this property, James Martin Sallee, a native of Florida, along with his son Harvey James Sallee, installed the above tramway or tram line. Today, only the cables and some concrete foundations of this aerial tramway remains visible to the public eye. This is what you’re about to view in the following YouTube video. Enjoy,

The Adventure:

Filmed on located November 20, 2022. Historical image of the aerial tramway of the Reid mine is provided by Shasta Historical Society.

Resources:


Mining Notes From Old Diggings - The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 14, 1885

Reid & Co.'s - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 29, 1885

Last Payment On Mine - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, April 12, 1906


Improvements Made In Sallee's Reid Mine - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 30, 1911


Building Aerial Tram For Reid Mine - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 18, 1912


Installing Tram Line - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, December 20, 1912

Two Killed In A Shasta County Mine - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, July 18, 1914

Rich Strike In The Reid Mine - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, November 15, 1915

Prominent Shasta Miner Is Dead - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, August 29, 1916

The Conant Cemetery.

Filmed on location October 21, 2022.

Learn about this unique cemetery which dates back to 1898, and includes a biography of the founder of this cemetery and the contributions he made to our society in the area which, William R. Conant, resided in. Come explore the historic Conant Cemetery. The location just might surprise you.

The burial markers of one interment: Ione Silvanna Conant. Photo taken by Jeremy Tuggle on October 21, 2022.

Resources:

1888 California Voters Register for William R. Conant

1892 California Voters Register for William R. Conant

1896 California Voters Register for William R. Conant

Mr. Conant - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, The Free Press, May 16, 1898

Judge Conant Heart Failure Victim Today - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 23, 1918

1900 U.S. Census

1910 U.S. Census

A History of Delta & Vollmers In, Shasta County. (Also Known as Bayles, California)

Filmed on location May 14, 2022.

Resources:

Pacific Coast Postal Changes - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of June 8, 1880

Coast Notes - The Daily Alta California newspaper of San Francisco, September 10, 1884

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 28, 1885

Mining Notes - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, March 23, 1885

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 13, 1885

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 27, 1885

Railroad Extension - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 5, 1885

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 19, 1885

New Mining Company - The Daily Alta California newspaper of San Francisco, December 31, 1885

The California and Oregon Railroad - The Weekly Butte Record newspaper of Chico, May 1, 1886

Forest Fire Near Delta - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, April 12, 1908

Blockade On Shasta Route Is Lifted - The San Francisco Call newspaper of San Francisco, May 15, 1910

Alden Anderson Again Victorious - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, December 19, 1911

Bandits Flee On “Speeder” - The Healdsburg Tribune newspaper of Healdsburg, February 1, 1924

Shasta Town Nearly Wiped Out By Fire - The Press Democrat newspaper of Santa Rosa, March 12, 1924

Pacific Highway Now In Excellent Shape - The Healdsburg Tribune newspaper of Healdsburg, July 31, 1926

Old Toll Road Being Repaired - The Blue Lake Advocate, September 29, 1928

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

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

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.

The Covered Wagon, 1976, published annually by the Shasta Historical Society

The Covered Wagon, 1989, published annually by the Shasta Historical Society

The Covered Wagon, 1995, published annually by the Shasta Historical Society

The Covered Wagon, 1997, published annually by the Shasta Historical Society

Rails In the Shadow of Mt. Shasta by John R. Signor. Published by Howell-North Books ©1981

An aerial view of the town of Delta. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on May 14, 2022.

SHASTA LAKE DROUGHT: TOWN CREEK DAM AT BULLY HILL AND AN ARIAL ORE CAR TRAMWAY

Filmed on location on April 30, 2022.

The town of Delamar was established in the area in June of 1900, as for the Town Creek Dam I'm not positively sure on dates of construction but my estimate would be about 1907 to 1910 era due to the construction of the Sacramento Valley and Eastern Railroad which is associated with this small concrete dam. Construction on this railroad began December 11, 1906, and the Sacramento Valley And Eastern Railroad was incorporated on January 8, 1907, the purpose of the S.V. & E.R., was to conduct a 15 mile standard gauge, ore, delivery, and passenger train from Bonita 3 miles north of Kennett to the Bully Hill smelter at Delamar. It was completed in 1908 and operated until 1939, due to the flooding of Shasta Lake for Shasta Dam.

This railroad is the same railroad as seen in my previous YouTube video available here: 

Above: This video was filmed on 7-9-2021!

This video was filmed on location on April 30, 2022, the water level for Shasta Lake on that day was 945.62-feet elevation wise below full pool or 121.38-feet below the crest of Shasta Dam. My resources for this video are located here:

Resources:

Goes With The Bully Hill – The Daily Free Press, July 14, 1899

The Bully Hill Deal – The Daily Free Press, July 14, 1899

Deed To Bully Hill Mines Files For Record Today - The Daily Free Press, July 18, 1899

The Daily Free Press, Tuesday, July 18, 1899

Where The Smelter Will Be Located  – The Daily Free Press, July 19, 1899

Copper City Gets De Lamar Smelter  – The Daily Free Press, March 12, 1900

A Combination Smelter  – The Daily Free Press, July 20, 1899

Mines And Mining News – The Daily Free Press, July 20, 1899

Mines About Bully Hill – The Daily Free Press, July 21, 1899

The De Lamar Smelters A Sure Go  – The Daily Free Press, March 19, 1900

The New Smelter Town – The Daily Free Press, March 20, 1900

The Daily Free Press, March 21, 1900

In Pioneer Days – THE SHASTA COURIER, March 24, 1900

The Shasta Courier – March 24, 1900

Delamar And Sallee Show Rapid Growth - The Daily Free Press, March 26, 1901

Kennet-Delamar Road Files Papers - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 8, 1907

Incorporates To Build Railroad To Delamar - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 9, 1907

A New Station Called Pitt - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, February 5, 1907

Contract Let For Building The Railroad - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, February 9, 1907

Railroad Work Near Delamar - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, November 6, 1907

Railway To Electric Smelter - The San Francisco Call newspaper of San Francisco, December 15, 1907

First Load Of Freight - The San Francisco Call newspaper of San Francisco, December 16, 1907

Bully Hill Smelter Has Been Remodeled - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, December 24, 1907

Railroad Completed As Far As Horse Creek - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, February 4, 1908

Tracks Laid Into Delamar - The Chico Record newspaper of Chico, February 20, 1908

Round Trip Between Delamar and Redding - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, February 26, 1908

The Smelter Town Has Three Names - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 10, 1908

Sacramento Valley And Eastern Railroad Shows Profit - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, June 29, 1922

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

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

Above: Town Creek Dam at Town Creek at Bully Hill on the Squaw Creek arm of Shasta Lake. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on April 30, 2022.

SILVER CITY: A PRELUDE TO FURNACEVILLE & INGOT

In 1862, a silver rush caused the creation of a mining community called Silver City, also known as Silverton, about 2 1/2 miles above the present-day town of Ingot. It’s name derived from the silver ore which the miners of this burg sought after along the channels of Silver Creek and Cedar Creek. It was located in the boundaries of the Cow Creek mining district. In the beginning the community was bustling with miners who pitched their tents up at a rapid rate. This tent community eventually transitioned into a settlement with about fifty wooden structures. Silver City included two stores, three boarding houses, a saloon, a livery stable, a meat market, and many bungalows.

That year, Silver City residents George W. Brown, W. Albertson, and another man by the name of Daniel Bacon, a resident of Little Cow Creek, located the silver vein of the Jacksonian lead mine, which yielded them lucrative results and it was the first silver load mine in the area. Together they began driving an incline winze on the property which measured at sixty feet when it was completed. The above miners named this mine after their Civil War hero General Stonewall Jackson.

The Jacksonian’s ore body also included galena and sphalerite. Galena is the principal ore of lead and is a heavy mineral which is generally situated in cubed  masses. Sphalerite is a zinc sulphide which is the   principal ore of zinc, cadmium; blackjack. It is generally situated in yellow, black or brown crystals. 

Years later, the Jacksonian lead mine was merged into the Asher mine holdings which also included the Calcopirate mine. Copper was also discovered, that year, at the nearby Copper Hill mine, but it lacked mining activity until it was owned and operated by Marcus H. Peck in 1873. During 1863, a water ditch was dug from North Cow Creek to the above area which imported water to a blast furnace. There was an arastra in the area as well. An arastra is similar to a stamp mill, except it crushes rock in a circular position rather then a vertical position.

This is where the rock of the Jacksonian load mine was crushed to collect it’s ore, and then the ore was delivered to be assayed at the assayers office to determine the content and the quality of the ore. The Jacksonian load mine continued yielding lucrative results of silver. By May 30, 1863, the residents of Silver City desired to have a good road constructed to their active business district. 

New buildings were still being erected by local carpenters in the area as well. Growth was definitely on the rise in this burgeoning settlement and it was an up-and-coming place to live in Shasta County. While the silver discoveries attracted additional people to the area, the mining companies and the local stores began hiring new employees. Later that year, another mining claim called the Silver Creek Lode was located on Silver Creek, it was owned and operated by Wood & Company. Wood & Company cleared out forty tons of rock on the Silver Creek Lode, and after the rock was crushed at the arrastra, it was assayed as high as $100 per ton in silver during July of 1863. Other mining companies at Silver City were clearing the same amount of rocks which was assayed at the same rate. 

According to an excerpt of an article from the August 15, 1863, edition of the Shasta Courier newspaper, it reported that the Board of Supervisors created the following election precinct that month:

“Silver City election precinct established polls opened at H. Hartman's District Recorder's office, H.H. Oliver appointed Inspector of election and D. Bacon, S. San... Judges.” (SIC)

The judges in the above column would have been the local Justice’s of the Peace for that election precinct. Then in 1864, Silver City reached a thriving population between 200 and 300 residents. During August of 1865, a company of men gathered with the intentions of a joint stock company to be organized on Little Cow Creek at the home of C. Ultz for the purpose of grading a turnpike road through the area. This graded turnpike road was planned to commence from the house of L.C. Woodman on Little Cow Creek; thence north-easterly up the said creek, by way of Silver City to the mouth of Cedar Creek; thence up Cedar Creek to a point where the said creek intercepts the Fort Crook and Yreka road. The members of the above company were: W.E. Wood, J.P. McCutcheon, C.D. Farquharson, C. Ultz, W.H. Angell, B.D. Anderson, D.C. Johnson and J.A. Wood. The money for the proposed graded turnpike road was to be raised by subscription.

According to the 1881 Business and History of Shasta County, written and compiled by B.F. Frank and H.W. Chappell on page 24, it relates the following: "When the furnaces were in complete running order, a considerable quantity of rich (according to assays) argentiferous galena ore was introduced and worked, and upon cleaning up, after a run, nothing but a black, villainous looking mass was brought to view, and upon being taken to San Francisco, was pronounced to be nothing but pot metal, the report cast a gloom over Silverton, in fact it was the death knell to the camp." (SIC)

The above account was the death knell to the community of Silver City. Yet, there are a few resources which claim this community became deserted in 1865. This also caused the proposed graded turnpike road to never come to fruition. However, my research proves the above date to be inaccurate. My source for the above statement comes from the Shasta Courier newspaper of November 24, 1866, which relates the following information: “DESERTED - Silver City, a mining village on North Cow Creek, is entirely deserted at the present, the smelting works erected there having proved a complete failure." (SIC)

Those people who resided at Silver City during it’s prime were George W. Brown who owned a house at Silver City, Brown also owned an additional 160 acres of land on Cow Creek. George Cline was another person who owned 160 acres of land at Silver City alongside Little Cow Creek. It was called Cline’s ranch. Another 160 acre ranch at Silver City was owned by Suppe Eilers as well. 

After Silver City became deserted there was still a family living in that burg on March 1, 1871, and on that day a son was born to the wife of William H. Hilton, according to the Shasta Courier newspaper. Then on, March 4, 1871, the Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, printed the following account of a delinquent tax listing: "Against the Silver City Smelting Co. and one smelting furnace situated on Little Cow Creek known as the Silver City Smelting Furnace and works for... $12,47.50" (SIC)

Silver City was left as an abandoned ghost town with it's structures still intact. Over the years, it's buildings fell to pieces due to neglect, relocated to other places, or demolished. Eventually, a forest fire ravaged the area and destroyed the remaining structures. As Silver City, also known as Silverton became oft-forgotten, it was sort of a prelude to Furnaceville and the present-day town of Ingot.

Among the notable residents who tried their hand at mining in Silver City was William Burgett. He made a small fortune there and then Burgett relocated his family after the community folded. They eventually settled at Fall River Valley where he became a blacksmith and he established the town of Burgettville in eastern Shasta County.

Richard Johnson was another notable miner of the area who failed at striking it rich in Silver City and then he relocated to Trinity County when the community of Silver City was deserted. At Trinity County, Johnson struck his fortune there. Eventually, the Silver City election precinct was abolished shortly after the community was deserted. Silver City never had a post office to send and receive mail. As for the Jacksonian load mine, it was last owned and operated by James G. Asher and George S. Burns of Redding in 1974. Since then, the mine has been idled.

 

RESOURCES:

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 16, 1863

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 23, 1863

Pittsburg Mines - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 18, 1863.

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 15, 1863

Road Notice - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 26, 1865

Cow Creek Mines - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, January 1, 1866

Deserted - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 24, 1866

Delinquent Taxes For the Year 1865- 1866 - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 13, 1866

Delinquent Tax List - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 7, 1868

Delinquent Taxes For The Year 1869-70 - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 22, 1870

Copper Ore - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 5, 1873

Mr. Peck - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 30, 1873

M.H. Peck - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 18, 1874

Letter From Cow Creek - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 25, 1874

New Mines - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 9, 1874

Quartz Mine - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 29, 1874

The Red Bluff Sentinel newspaper of Red Bluff, September 5, 1874

History and Business Directory - Shasta County - 1881 by B.F. Frank and H.W. Chappell. Redding Independent Book and Job Printing House, Redding, California, ©1881.

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

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

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

THE CLARA MINE AT KESWICK, CALIFORNIA.

On this episode of Exploring Shasta County History, Jeremy takes you on another exciting mining adventure with his friend, Ralph Bentrim. This former mining property embraces Ralph's property at Keswick. This mining property is a former Au (gold) mine called the Clara which has been developed in parts to allow the Sacramento River Trail to traverse over it. Mining activities has been idled here for many years. The mine is noted as a small producer of gold which was last owned by private parties in 1974. According to county reports it had three parallel veins hosted in granite porphyry, a payshoot of 20 in. wide, 160-feet long, which carried free gold. It also featured a 700-foot adit. Today, the former mining property includes open pits covered in vegetation, a plugged adit and plugged shafts. Check it out, and please subscribe to Exploring Shasta County History, and my YouTube channel.

Above: a plugged shaft of the Clara mine. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on May 27, 2021.

THE ADVENTURE: 

Filmed on location May 27, 2021.

RESOURCES:

Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, Siskiyou County, and Trinity County, by G. Chester Brown, ©1915 published by California State Printing Office.

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

THE GANIM MINE OF NEW YORK GULCH

Joseph Solomon Ganim was born on December 25, 1877, to Solomon Ganim and his wife, Annie (Jabul) Ganim. He was a Lebanese immigrant, well-educated, and he arrived and settled at Whiskeytown in 1906. Ganim was a traveling merchandise seller by trade and later he became interested in mining. In 1912, Ganim located the quartz vein of the Hard Luck Gold mining claim which was situated at New York Gulch two miles northwest of Whiskeytown, and inside the boundaries of the Whiskeytown mining district. New York Gulch received it's name from the early settlers who settled upon the flat of this gulch who were natives of New York, since that time, the area has retained it's name.

At this location, Ganim struck a lucrative chunk of high grade ore and then he employed a small crew of miners to assist him in probing and developing this mining claim. By December of that year, labor improvements to this mining property consisted of the following: “sinking a shaft upon said claim at 50 feet, at an average cost of $6.00 per foot, and running a drift on said ledge for a distance of 34 feet, and an average of $7.00 per foot.” After it transitioned from it's placer mining form into a hard rock mine, it was then called the Hard Luck Gold quartz mine, and it became the first mining claim of the Jerusalem Consolidated mine which is better known as the Ganim mine.

Joseph S. Ganim and his miners extended the drift of the shaft, while following the vein to tap into the ore body. Then, on the surface of the mining property Ganim and his men drove an adit into a hillside which became the main haulage tunnel of this mine and they extended it to 900 feet where it faced-out at that point. After that, they laid down a narrow gauge ore car system on the mining property to help them transfer their ore to a ten-stamp mill which was installed by them to crush their rock to obtain their gold they sought after. By 1921, several additional crosscut adits were opened which contained drifts between 50 to 400 feet in length on the mining property. Most of the probing and exploratory work up-to-this point dealt with gold, however, that soon changed when a large body of Talc was located inside the main 900 foot haulage tunnel.

Above: this is one of three adits that I located at the Ganim mine. Present-day topography maps show that their are three remaining adits on this former mining property, and I only found one of them due to roads that no longer exist on the property. It is gated off by the park service and the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. A sign is posted on the gate which states, "DANGER! Abandoned mine hazards - unsafe mine openings and highwalls, deadly gas and lack of oxygen, cave-ins and decayed timbers, unsafe ladders and rotten structures, unstable explosives. STAY OUT - STAY ALIVE!" This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on February 27, 2021.

Two years later, in August of 1923, Joseph S. Ganim established the Ganim Gold Mines Company in San Francisco, and transferred this mining property to his newly established mining company. Ganim also brought on additional stockholders who controlled sixty percent of the mining company’s stock. The following people were the additional stockholders: Joseph Merciari, F.F. Freitas, J.P. Brennan, Charles Walters, and Doctor Charles A. Mueller, all prominent residents of Redding.

Then on, September 4, 1924, a media outlet from Big Pine, California, heralded the following news about the Ganim mine in Shasta County: 

“Stockholders of the Ganim Gold Mines Company have voted to bond the Ganim group of mines near Whiskeytown, Shasta County, for $1,250,000 to Carl Oding. One hundred thousand dollars must be paid within ninety days. The rest of the purchase price is to be paid in royalties at the rate of $115,000 a year. The Ganim mines was first located as gold mines, while running through a ledge of a good ore drift  they cut through an immense body of high grade talc. The mines are really valued at present more for the talc than gold.” 

Apparently, Oding failed to pay off the remainder of the above lease because the mining property reverted back to the full ownership of the Ganim Gold Mines Company. In January of 1925, the Ganim Gold Mines Company reorganized and they relocated from San Francisco to Redding. They also voted to downsize their stockholders. The stockholders became the new directors of the company, that month, consisting of: Joseph S. Ganim, president and owner, F.F. Freitas, J.P. Brennan, Joseph Merciari, and Charles Walters.

A year later, in 1926, the Ganim Gold Mines Company erected an electric light plant, and a sack house to store their ore, and a concentrator to treat their ore, on the Jerusalem Consolidated mining property for $15,000. During June of that year, work progressed upon the Pheonix mine and the Pheonix No. 2 mine at Whiskeytown which was a separate mining site also owned by Joseph S. Ganim. $100 of improvements were made on these mining claims by Joseph S. Ganim and a man by the name of John Haggblum, at that time. Haggblum also contributed money to Ganim for labor and improvements at the Jerusalem Consolidated mining property as well.

The Jerusalem Consolidated mine consisted of 14 mining claims as of June 30, 1926, which included the following: the Jerusalem No. 1, the Jerusalem No. 2, the Jerusalem No. 3, the Jerusalem No. 4, the Jerusalem No. 5, the Jersualem No. 6, the Jerusalem No. 7, the Admiral Oak mine, the Gold Nugget No. 1, the Gold Nugget No. 2, the Blackstone mine, the Hard Luck Gold quartz mine, the Phillips No. 1, and the Phillips No. 2 mining locations. Up-to-this date, the Jerusalem Consolidated mine were yielding the Ganim Gold Mines Company $15 per ton in gold through the extraction and crushing of quartz.

This video was filmed on location February 21, 2021.

Then, on September 27, 1927, an estimated $10,000 fire was ignited by unknown causes on this mining property which destroyed the bunkers, hoisting works, sack house, the ten-stamp mill, and all of the machinery of the Jerusalem Consolidated mine. No insurance was carried on this mining property. The fire was discovered by their superintendent, J.C. Hess, who was working on their compressor at that time. Two other mine employees were with Hess as well who were mining for talc and filling up an ore car load of it, eventually, the three men put the fire out before it turned into a ravaging forest fire. 

The Ganim Gold Mines Company decided to begin the work of rehabilitation at once. An assessment of five cents a share was levied which produced $9,000. The company re-estimated the damages of that fire and they decided it totaled $7,000 instead. Then they focused their attention on reconstructing the buildings they lost and to purchase brand-new machinery. Their Talc production resumed as well.

During the decade of the 1930s, the mining company’s attention turned to extracting gold from a number of crosscut tunnels on the mining property. The gold yielded the Ganim Gold Mines Company a lucrative amount which assayed from $1.50 to $50.00 per ton. Over the next few years occasional mining occurred at this location until May of 1941, when the Pomona Tile Company, of Pomona, California, secured it’s lease from the Ganim Gold Mines Company, and they began mining it’s talc ore body from a stope six hundred feet away from the adit of it’s main haulage tunnel.

Mining operations continued by the Pomona Tile Company, which produced a successful run of talc, yet after their lease was up on the mining property, the Ganim Gold Mines Company then bonded it to Paul E. Littel, of Redding, in October of 1941. Littel produced a carload of talc which assayed well, and he continued to operate the mining property until 1946. The Jerusalem Consolidated mine also known as the Ganim mine is the only producer of talc in Shasta County. The Ganim mine was last mined of it’s ore deposits in 1959, when the owners bonded the mine again, that year. Since then it has been owned by the Ganim Gold Mines Company.

Joseph Solomon Ganim died in Redding on November 12, 1960, at the age of eighty-two years old, and he was buried at the Saint Joseph Cemetery in Redding. In 1974, the Ganim mine was owned by Joseph S. Ganim’s son Joe Ganim. Later, this mining property became part of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, just opposite of the weigh station on Highway 299 West at New York Gulch.  

This C-Block marker is located off the main road to the Jerusalem Consolidated mine which is better known as the Ganim mine. Highway 299 West is seen in the background of this photograph. This C-Block marker was placed by the California Division Of Highways. This picture was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on May 6, 2021.

RESOURCES:

Proofs Of Labor Book 3 - Hard Luck quartz mine, December 26, 1912

Ganim Mining Company Is To Be Reorganized - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 4, 1926

Ganim Mining Co’s Head Office To Be Moved To Redding - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 5, 1926

Grinding Mill Will Be Built Near Schilling - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 6, 1926

Shasta Mine Makes Third Talc Shipment - Blue Lake Advocate newspaper of Blue Lake, May 1, 1926

Proofs Of Labor Book 5 - The Pheonix Mine, June 30, 1926, page 348

Proofs Of Labor Book 5 - The Pheonix No. 2 Mine, June 30, 1926, page 349

Proofs Of Labor Book 5 - The Jerusalem Consolidated Mines, June 30, 1926, page 350

Proofs Of Labor Book 5 - The Pheonix Mine and the Pheonix No. 2 Mine, July 29, 1927, page

Proofs Of Labor Book 6 - The Pheonix Mine and the Pheonix No. 2 Mine, June 25, 1928, page 381

Proofs Of Labor Book 6 - The Jerusalem Consolidated Mines, June 30, 1928, page 383

Big Pine Citizen newspaper of Big Pine, September 4, 1926

$10,000 Fire At The Ganim Mine; Loss Complete - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 27, 1927

Ganim Mine To Running Again In Two Weeks - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 4, 1927

1940 U.S. Census

1963 The Covered Wagon published annually by Shasta Historical Society

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

Historic Resource Study Whiskeytown National Recreation Area by Anna Coxe Toogood, May 1978, Denver Service Center, Historic Preservation Team, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior

THE FRIDAY-LOWDEN MINE

Above: the Friday-Lowden mine as it appeared in 1900 with an unidentified man standing inside the wooden portico of the adit of the main haulage tunnel. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

In 1894, while prospecting in the boundaries of the Backbone mining district of Shasta County, Walter Friday, a native of Switzerland, and a resident of Flat Creek, located the lucrative quartz vein of the Friday lode mine. After that, Friday drove an adit into the hillside. Then, he began operating this mine as a hard rock mine. Later, an abundance of copper was discovered solidifying its place on the Shasta County copper belt. Between December 31, 1897 to January 1, 1899, records for this mining property indicate that Friday extended the tunnels inside the adit he was working. 

Over $600 of labor and improvements were made to this mining property at that time. Eventually, Friday brought on John R. Lowdon, a native of Pennsylvania, and a Redding resident, who once held public office as a Shasta County Recorder to become a partner and owner of this mine. The name of the mine eventually evolved into the Friday-Lowden mine, and it's name is also recorded as the Friday-Louden mine. However, Lowdon is the correct spelling of John's surname.

Then, Friday & Lowdon brought on Lowdon’s brother-in-law, local lumberman Thomas H. Benton, a resident of Shingletown, as a co-owner of this lucrative mining property. Up to 1906, $25,000 worth of labor and improvements were done by these men, and several lucrative ore bodies were exposed by them on this mining site. Then, on July 1, 1906, the Mammoth Copper Company, of Kennett, bonded the Friday-Lowden mine for eighteen months for the sum of $200,000. The ore from this mine was smelted at the Mammoth Copper Company's smelter in Kennett.

The Mammoth Copper Company took control of this mineral land and placed a small mining crew at work that month to do exploratory, development, and surface work. Diamond drilling and taking core samples were a major part of the exploration on this mining site at that time. This mining property consisted of the following mining claims: the Badger, the Canyon, the Cleveland, the Comstock, the Last Chance, the Friday-Lowden, the McKinley Quartz mine, the Primrose, the Quartz Hill, the Scott Lode, the South Front, the Stanto Lode, the Washo, the White Lodge, and the Wild Bear Lode, which were on the north side of Squaw Creek. Through-out it's existence the Friday-Lowden mine has been plagued by critical closures of mining operations due to smelter closures and low grade ore assessments.

This video was filmed on location by Jeremy Tuggle on April 21, 2021.

Overtime the Mammoth Copper Company continued leasing the mine from its owner's. Eventually, the Mammoth Copper Company purchased the mine from it’s owners. On December 15, 1915, the Sacramento Union newspaper, of Sacramento, heralded the following article regarding the Friday-Lowden mine:

"Mammoth Company Will Bore Tunnel

Work Will Cost About $100,000 And Take Eighteen Months To Complete

(Special To The Union.)

Kennett (Shasta Co.) Dec., 17. - The Mammoth Copper Company has started a crew of thirty-five men under the superintendency of John Mackey, to run a 5,000 foot tunnel in the Friday-Lowden copper mine. This tunnel will start 400 feet below the old workings and will run through immense bodies of copper  ore, which will eventually connect with workings of the Mammoth mine by upraises and a few crosscuts. It is estimated that this project will cost $100,000 and take a year and a half to complete." (SIC)

Over the next eighteen months the Mammoth Copper Company hustled to get the above work completed. In July of 1917, a lucrative copper strike was made inside the Friday-Lowden mine while the Mammoth Copper Company's mining activities pressed-on until the following month when an alarming strike occurred at Kennett on the smelter site of the Mammoth Copper Company over a dollar raise of employee wages which the mining company was not willing to increase. Miners began protesting and riots occurred consisting of several fist fights. This made people feel unsafe and some went home to get their guns for their personal protection. Eventually, a Sheriff's posse was called in from Redding to control the crowd at Kennett and they stayed through most of the strike.

This strike caused the Friday-Lowden mine to be closed again as the miners from this mine went to Kennett to protest with their colleagues. Many mines were closed down in the area because of this strike. Then, on August 30th, in the chambers of Judge, Harry Donnelly, Justice of the Peace, at Kennett, the Mammoth Copper Company met with the representatives of their strikers and refused to raise the wages from $4 to $5. 

By September 4, 1917 the strikers increased to twelve hundred miners. On that day, the representatives of these strikers met with the officials of the local mining companies in the chambers of Judge, Donnelly. During this meeting the Mammoth Copper Company offered arbitration for the strikers, but they still held out for $5 a day. As the day progressed it was clear that the strike would continue. However, a deadline of September 13th, was demanded by the Mammoth Copper Company for their miners to resume work, or else, they would be terminated. Nine days later on September 13, 1917, the twelve hundred miners returned to mining the copper belt by a threat of being terminated without a raise of their salary. The Mammoth Copper Company won that battle, and mining continued on most of their mining properties.

Yet, it slowed down the progress of work at the Friday-Lowden mine and after that brief periods of mining occurred here. Of it’s original owners, it was Thomas H. Benton who died first on January 19, 1919, followed by John R. Lowdon on August 22, 1923, and finally, Walter Friday on January 25, 1926. 

Years later in 1974 the Friday-Lowden mine was owned and by the U.S. Smelting, Refining, and Mining Company, of Salt Lake City, Utah. Gold was found in the oxide ore, and additional ore bodies of copper, chalcopyrite and barite gangue were discovered according to reports. 

A selfie. Jeremy in front of the pad-locked adit of the historic Friday-Lowden mine. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on April 21, 2021.

Resources:

1888 California, U.S., Voter Registers for Walter Friday

1900 U.S. Census

Affidavit Of Labor Performed and Improvements Made - Proofs Of Labor Book 1, pages 34-35, recorded January 19, 1899.

The Friday-Lowdon Mines Bonded To The Mammoth Company - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 9, 1905

Group Of Copper Mines Bonded For Over $200,000 - The San Francisco Call newspaper of San Francisco, July 10, 1906

Copper, Silver and Gold - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, July 11, 1906

Mammoth Runs Great Tunnel - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, April 3, 1916

Mammoth Running Tunnel Of 4,000 Feet - The Sacramento Union newspaper of Sacramento, May 1, 1916

An Official Plat of the Map of the Mammoth Copper Mining Company claims known as the Badger, Cleveland, Comstock, Lowden, Primrose, Quartz Hill, South Front, Washo and Wild Bear Lodes, Surveyed November 17, 1916 - June 14, 1917 by Charles T. Dozier, Mineral Survey No.5298

Mammoth Makes Big Copper Strike - The Sacramento Union newspaper of Sacramento, July 23, 1917

Four Mines Tied Up By Strikes Of Miners; Mass Meeting Tonight - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 27, 1917

1,200 Copper Miners Strike; Industry Completely Tied Up - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 28, 1917

Copper Mines In Shasta Are Closed By Strikes - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, August 29, 1917

Strike Situation Is Unchanged No Prspect of Settlement Now - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 29, 1917

Mammoth Denies Men Dollar Raise; Strikers Meeting - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 30, 1917

Strike Is Deadlock; Both Sides Stand Firm - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 31, 1917

Mine Operators Ask Arbitration  - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 2, 1917

Arbitration Turned Down By Strikers - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 4, 1917

Strikers Repudiate Representatives; Refuse To Work - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 13, 1917

Thos. H. Benton’s Busy Life Ended - The Seerchlight newspaper of Redding, January 21, 1919

John Lowden Old Timer Is Called Beyond - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, August 22, 1923

John R. Lowden Dies In Berkeley- The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 23, 1923

Searching Party From Kennett Find Their Man Dead; Hold An Inquest And Bury Him On Spot - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 26, 1926

Experiencing the 1896 Old Railroad Grade In Keswick, California.

On this episode of Exploring Shasta County History, Jeremy takes you on an adventure over different parts of the 1896 Old Railroad Grade in Keswick, California. Filmed on location May 12, 2021.

THE ADVENTURE: