The Original Site of Wright's Ferry

Filmed on location in February of 2023.

In this video you can join me on an adventure as I explore an old stage road leading down to and from the original site of Wright's Ferry at the mouth of Spring Creek, where Shasta County pioneers Eugene Wright and Otis Seamans formerly operated a ferry across the Sacramento River just 100 yards south of the mouth of Spring Creek at this location. Their ferry license was granted to them by the Shasta County Court of Sessions on October 14, 1851. I tried locating some of the ferry's iron mooring pins and ramps here which their watercraft would have used but none were found, however, it's possible that they might still exist under the water level of the river. Only the old stage road leading to and from the ferry on both the west and east sides of the Sacramento River at this location remains. Come see what we found in this historic area and learn about the early history of the ferry which was eventually relocated to another location on the Sacramento River. Later on, this ferry became the Waugh's Ferry.

Resources:

Dissolution Copartnership - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 24, 1853

Court of Sessions - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 8, 1854

$50 Reward - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 6, 1854

Notice - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 28, 1854

Notice - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 18, 1854

District Court, November Term, 1854 - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 2, 1854

District Court, November Term, 1854 - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 9, 1854

Notice - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 27, 1855

19th Century Wagon Ruts Along the Sacramento River Trail Near Waugh.

In 1883 the construction of the Shasta to Middle Creek Road was completed which was also known as Middle Creek Road, and alias the River Road, which connected Shasta with the townsite of Waugh. Four years later, in 1887 construction resumed on this route which brought the road into Redding from the mouth of Middle Creek on the west bank of the Sacramento River heading south into Redding. Most of it was situated along present-day Sacramento River Trail with parts still in existence today. Wagon ruts are pretty rare and exciting to find when you locate them unexpectedly. They appear on well-traveled routes in the region like this route here which date to the 19th Century. 

Resources:

Pacific Coast Items - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, May 19, 1883

Our Neighbors - The Humboldt Times newspaper of Eureka, May 20, 1883

Our Neighbors - The Humboldt Times newspaper of Eureka, June 5, 1883

Shasta: The Queen City by Mabel Moores Frisbie and Jean Moores Beauchamp, published by California Historical Society, ©1973.

Hand Carved Sandstone Blocks Along The Present-Day, Sacramento River Trail.

Before 1872, Redding was the end-of-the-line, for the Central Pacific Railroad which became very fortuitous in its role in the development of our county for ten years until the railroad resumed construction of its tracks and laid them north of Redding through the Sacramento River Canyon in 1883. During that year, these hand carved sandstone blocks were mounted and placed by Chinese laborers who were employed by the railroad company to lay tracks over various creek crossings in that region along the Sacramento River. 

Now part of the scenic Sacramento River Trail, there function today serves as bridge foundations for a few pedestrian crossings from Salt Creek to Middle Creek. "Thousands of passengers and millions of tons of ore crossed over these foundations utilized by the railroad until 1939, when the railroad was rerouted over the high trestle east of the trail entrance as part of the construction of Shasta Dam."  

Above: the remaining hand carved sandstone blocks are still intact on the Middle Creek crossing along the Sacramento River Trail. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on October 27, 2022.

Above: a close-up of the remaining hand carved sandstone blocks at the Middle Creek crossing. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on October 27, 2022.

Resources:

Trail plaque at Middle Creek on the Sacramento River Trail

REDISCOVERING THE COMPTON MINE OF THE SHASTA MINING DISTRICT

Above: modern graffiti appears inside the main haulage tunnel of the Compton mine, this photo was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on September 22, 2020.

The Compton mine was a producer of gold which was located in the boundaries of the Shasta mining district about 1 1/2 mile south of the town of Keswick, and south of Keswick Dam on the west side of the Sacramento River, at the mouth of Rock Creek on forty acres of land. In 1915, this mining property was owned and operated by G.F. Bassett, of Redding. Bassett developed the property from a vein of quartz associated in granite-porphyry.

Mining records indicate it contained a small pay-shoot. Bassett brought in two small five-pound stamp mills on the property near the adit of this lode mine which crushed the rock so he could obtain the ore it produced. The stanchions of these stamp mills remain on site along the present-day Sacramento River Trail at that location. 

Active Sacramento River Trail users have seen the trail which leads to the Compton mine many times, but the adit is blocked by a rock in front of it and you can't see the opening until you climb to the top of the trail. It's a very tight squeeze to get into. It contained an adit with a short drift, and two small winzes above the adit which have been plugged. Production notes were not kept for the Compton mine. 

Above: this YouTube video was filmed on location of the Compton mine by Jeremy Tuggle on September 22, 2020.

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 Compton Mine

AN UNNAMED COPLEY GREENSTONE/QUARTZ MINE ALONG THE SACRAMENTO RIVER TRAIL NEAR REDDING.

Above: this photograph of the adit was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on September 19, 2020.

This unnamed Copley Greenstone/Quartz mine is located along the upper Sacramento River Trail on the east side of the Sacramento River. A marker at that location details the geological history of the mine. The marker states the following:

“This trail to a mine in the Old Diggings (Buckeye) Mining District leads past outcroppings of Copley greenstone, a basement rock in this part of of the Klamath Mountains believed to be about 400 million years old. Composed of old lava flows and some river sediments, the rock was altered by heat and pressure over the centuries to its present greenish hue on freshly broken surfaces. Veins like this mine were tapped for their gold and silica content. In the early 1900s, the low-grade quartz ore was mined chiefly for its silica, used as a fluxing agent in nearby Iron Mountain and other copper smelters.”

Above: this video was filmed by Jeremy Tuggle on location on September 19, 2020.