This is the second installment of oft forgotten places in Shasta County, in this edition we will continue to examine the lesser-known localities that formerly existed in our region.
An agricultural community called Alfa which was named after the settlement's primary crop was situated eight miles north and west of the town of Swazey, (now Glenburn), in Fall River Valley. According to records it was the United States Postal Service headquarters in Washington D.C., that appointed Alexander C. Hill, a local farmer, and native of North Carolina, to be its first postmaster on March 14, 1888. Hill served as its only postmaster until July 11, 1896, when its post office was discontinued, and the mail was rerouted to the Dana United States Post Office that same day, in the town of Dana.
Alfa had a large population in town and in nearby settlements to have a newspaper established there called the Alpha Advance, which was established in April of 1888. This local media outlet first started heralding local news blurbs from Alpha in the Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding that month. It was a regular feature, until the January 5, 1889, edition of the Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding printed the following column:
"The Alfa Advance will be an "all at home" printed paper with Claude McDermit, as editor, vice H.J. Richmond, resigned."
Alexander C. Hill, and his wife Isabelle, had four children and they remained in the area after the closure of the Alfa United States Post Office. Alexander C. Hill died two years after the post office closed on June 2, 1898. His wife Isabelle succeeded him in death, and she died on December 9, 1904, she is buried in the Dana Cemetery.
Brewster was another small community which came to fruition eight miles south of Dunsmuir, and located in Shasta County, California. A United States Post Office was established there in 1893 with Alexander Levy, as the first postmaster. It was said that Levy named the community Brewster after a geological surveyor named William H. Brewster who previously visited the locality. This town site lasted until 1895 when it was discontinued.
Chromite was another small settlement which was located in the Sacramento River Canyon by local miners who located this black mineral ore nearby. In 1907 this mineral was being mined at the base of Castle Crags. Chromite's lustre is comprised of greasy, metallic, sub-met, and is part of the isometric crystal system. Chromite is utilized as a refractory in the production of steel, copper, glass and cement.
The settlement was located south of Sims and gave its name to the Chromite Spur near Hazel Creek when the miners started loading the cars on the track with this mineral. The settlement was active about 1889 through 1907.
Located five miles southwest of Redding was the community of Dolde which was settled in 1890. It was named after their first postmaster Arnold C. Dolde, a local merchant in the area. In April of 1893, this United States Post Office was discontinued due to its last postmaster C.H. Manning resigning and being appointed as postmaster at Fall River Mills, in eastern Shasta County, California. Today, nothing remains of this former townsite.
Above: the townsite of Jillsonville, in Shasta County, California. Circa 1912.
Courtesy of Steven Walker.
It was Franklin W. Wheeler who located the vein of the Gladstone mine in Cline Gulch, near the town of French Gulch in 1886. The main producer of ore from this mine was the Ohio mine. It became the second largest producer of gold in French Gulch which rivaled the towns lucrative Washington mine. In 1912, the town of Jillsonville came to fruition on this mineral land even though it lacked a United States Post Office it began utilizing the French Gulch United States Post Office to send and receive mail. At the time it was owned by the Hazel Gold Mining Company, which was owned and operated by Issac O. Jillson, an energetic miner and prospector, who the townsite was named for.
By order of the above mining company the townsite was meant for married couples and families as ordered by the Hazel Gold Mining Company. Single men had to live in the bunkhouse on the mining property. The company erected a 23-room bunkhouse on the property for single men, a schoolhouse, a hospital, a dance hall and an electric railroad on the property. Jillsonville was active into the 1920's. What remains of this ghost town today are a few remaining foundations, tracks, rock walls with lots of artifacts from broken bottles to pottery and broken pipes with additional items lodged in the ground that we were able to preserve. When I was employed with the Shasta Historical Society in 2015, we took part in an archaeological dig and study on the property, with the present property owner, and the above items were found by us.
Above, the townsite of Little Italy, in Shasta County, California in 1916. Little Italy can be described as a hillside locality. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.
Established in 1900, and situated near the booming town of Kennett and upon the main road to the Mammoth mine and smelter was the town site of Little Italy. It was named for its large Italian population; it was also known Dago Town. "Dago Town" was a derogatory term to describe the Italian population within the community which wasn’t favored by local residents. Little Italy never had its own post office it used the Kennett United States Post Office to send and receive mail. This was quite common for smaller towns in California to use the nearest post office close to them. Kennett was established as a town in 1884 by the Central Pacific Railroad.
Little Italy was located near the Mammoth mine and smelter site which was owned by the Mammoth Copper Mining Company at Kennett. Little Italy boasted a number of saloons, a bank, and a hotel. One of its most enterprising people in town was Antonio Carattini who spearheaded the bank and owned a large interest of property there. He was also the energetic owner of the Mt. Shasta Hotel and a local restaurant. Due to this community an Italian newspaper was established at Kennett by Marco E. Arrighini that was called the Italian-American newspaper which local residents of Little Italy subscribed to. The children of the Little Italy townsite attended school at the Kennett School in Kennett as they walked there each day
In December of 1904 another townsite which spung up, in Shasta County, was located three-quarters of a mile south of Kennett and was called Bernhard. The town of Bernhard was established by Bernhard Golinsky, a native of Germany (he named the town for himself) and was located near Squaw Creek on the road past the Mammoth Hospital in Kennett. His family owned the Golinsky Hotel and Bernhard Golinsky served as postmaster of Kennett for a short time. Bernhard was laid out into the following streets: Bernhard Street, Flosa Street, Frieda Street, Lloyd Street, Reta Street, and Rubie Street. The first recorded birth in the town of Bernhard was a boy who was born to Mr. and Mrs. W.L. Woodward on August 31, 1905.
Like Little Italy, Bernhard also used the Kennett United States Post Office to send and receive mail. At a later date both townsites Little Italy and Bernhard were “unofficially” annexed into Kennett. On June 3, 1915, Little Italy suffered a $30,000, fire in the heart of the townsite. The major losers were Marco E. Arrighini and Antonio Carrattini. The fires origin was never determined but it ignited in the Bella Vista hotel, a three-story hotel which was erected in 1905 at a cost of $10,000, by Benghi, Franchetti, and Perez. It was later abandoned and sold at a Sheriffs sale for $500 to Giacoso and Belloni, who turned the empty building into a local warehouse and utilized its basement as a stable where two horses were burned to death in this fire.
Additional buildings were also burned to the ground. Total losses were: Carrattini, $15,000, amount of insurance, $9,000 Arrighini, $5,000, insurance $2,500, Giacoso and Belloni, $3,000, and additional owners, $2,000, for the additional owners their insurance wasn't noted for them, the townsite never rebuilt the buildings they lost after this fire. Little Italy and Bernhard's demise was the fall of the town of Kennett which was later incorporated as a city in 1911 and then the city became unincorporated in 1930 and lost its post office in 1942. The Kennett United States Post Office closed due to the construction of Shasta Dam, between 1938-1945. The impact that the dam had on the city was catastrophic. Bernhard, Little Italy and Kennett now lie under water in the deepest part of Shasta Lake.
Above: the official map of the townsite of Bernhard is shown which was surveyed by Alf Baltzell, on December 16, 1904.
Above: Homer Whiting Loomis (1817-1882).
Loomis was a settlement which was first settled in 1859 by a Canadian settler named Homer Whiting Loomis, a pioneer who arrived in Shasta County, California, during the 1850s. He originally bought land on the east side of Stillwater Creek near present-day Loomis Corners, and erected a house there for him to reside in. This is where Loomis farmed planting wheat, barley and hay. He also raised cows and hogs on his property.
During 1861, he purchased land on the opposite side of Stillwater Creek to enlarge his property. This is where Homer established an inn which included a stagecoach stopping place which did a remarkable business in the area with the California-Oregon Trail crossing there. On April 11, 1878, the United States Postal Service headquarters in Washington D.C., established a post office called Loomis in honor of Homer W. Loomis and they appointed Loomis as its first postmaster. However, Loomis suggested the name Pine Grove, but the name was denied by the United States Postal Service.
The suggestion of the name Pine Grove to be used for the post office came from the local school in the area which was established in 1875 as the Pine Grove Schoolhouse. The United States Postal Service discontinued the post office at Loomis on May 14, 1879. The post office was located inside his stopping place on what is now present-day, Old Alturas Road.
In 1882, Leon Leighton was teaching school at Loomis and purchased Homer Whiting Loomis’s property from him before Loomis died on May 26, 1882. Years later, another United States Post Office was established in the former townsite by the United States Postal Service headquarters in Washington D.C., called Leighton after Leon Leighton. The United States Postal Service appointed Samuel W. Stallings to serve as the first postmaster here on June 3, 1889, according to official records, he was later succeeded by Laura Bermerly, on September 22, 1890, and she was succeeded as postmaster by Ida M. Leighton, on January 22, 1891, Leighton was succeeded as postmaster by John L. Hensel, on June 16, 1893.
According to official records Hensel was the last and final postmaster of this United States Post Office, which was discontinued February 5, 1894, with the mail being rerouted to Redding. The former town of Loomis also known as Leighton is still referred to by many people as Loomis Corner’s.
Above: Homer Whiting Loomis erected this residence on the situated on the east side of Stillwater Creek. This building no longer exists. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.
Lisbon was a small settlement which was located south of Castella, in the Sacramento River Canyon, which had a United States Post Office established there on January 26, 1886. This townsite boasted a population of 15 people. Their first and only postmaster was Henry W. Walbridge who held the position until November 3, 1886, when the mail was rerouted to Bayles (now Delta).
Records indicate that Scobieville was practically a townsite on wheels. It was located on the line of the railroad from Redding to Dunsmuir which relocated along the rail line between the years 1882 and 1887. It was named for Colonel James Ross Scobie, a native of Scotland, who was Superintendent of the masonry construction for the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Above: James Ross Scobie (1835-1902), the namesake of Scobieville. Later he followed the trade of a Stonemason, and afterwards became a Contractor for Stone Masonry work, principally for the Southern Pacific Company. Courtesy of California State Archives.
John L. Zinn, a native of Virginia was a shoemaker, prospector and miner by trade who settled in Township Number 5 in 1880 with his wife Cathan and their family. By 1886 the Zinn family was living at Buckeye, and he eventually relocated his family to the Viola area in eastern Shasta County, California. About 1888, the settlement of Zinn came to fruition in that that region with Zinn selling town lots and newcomers buying them to settle there. During the following year, the United States Postal Service headquarters in Washington D.C., established a post office there on August 24, 1889, and appointed John L. Zinn as its first postmaster.
Eventually, Homer M. Maxwell succeeded Zinn as the town's postmaster on February 3, 1890, and Maxwell witnessed the decline of the townsite with the mail route eventually being rerouted to the Shingletown United States Post Office on April 25, 1890, and on that same day, the Zinn United States Post Office was discontinued. Can you imagine yourself living in some of these localities today if they had successfully worked out?
RESOURCES:
Board of Equalization - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 6, 1862
The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 28, 1871
1880 U.S. Census
News From the Railroad Front - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 29, 1883
J.W. Malone’s Letter - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 27, 1883
The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 3, 1883
The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 10, 1883
The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 8, 1883
The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 5, 1884
The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 12, 1884
The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 2, 1884
The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 17, 1884
Sims Items - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 27, 1889
The Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 22, 1893
A Runaway - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 1, 1898
California U.S. Voter Registration 1886
California U.S. Voter Registration 1892
California U.S. Voter Registration 1896
The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 5, 1889
Postmaster Appointed - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, February 4, 1890
Freight Wrecked at Chromite Spur -The Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 24, 1900
Chrome Mine Case Raises Novel Point - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 6, 1901
A Derailed Box Car Causes Long Delay - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, September 13, 1902
Platinum in Shasta County - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, February 14, 1903
Smelter Town of Kennett is Growing - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, December 2, 1904
Bernhard Will Be Towns Name - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 6, 1904
Balaklala Smelter to Be Located on the Bernhard Townsite - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 7, 1905
Lots for Sale - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 10, 1905
The Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 16, 1905
Cottages at Bernhard - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, February 2, 1905
Bernhard Houses Being Rushed Along - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, March 11, 1905
The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 5, 1905
Chromite Mined at the Base of Castle Crags - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, February 8, 1907
Three Cornered Fight in Kennett - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, June 20, 1910
Held On Serious Charge - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento - July 17, 1910
Kennett Merchant Makes Assignment - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, June 19, 1912
Bought Keswick Property - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 26, 1915
Kennett Had A $30,000 Fire in Little Italy - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, June 4, 1915
A. Carattini Is Called Beyond by Pneumonia - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, October 19, 1918
Three More Pneumonia Victims in Kennett - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, October 20, 1918
Carattini Goes to Final Resting Place Monday - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 22, 1918
Arrighini Sells to His Partner - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, October 7, 1921
Marco E. Arrighini Pioneer Resident of Shasta County, Dies at Age 73 - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, April 23, 1930
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
French Gulch: miners went away - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 10, 1983
Park Sought for Old Mine - Written by Kibkabe Araya. The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 9, 2011
Gold & Lore: Kennett was once a thriving city, competing with Redding for prominence - Written by Jeremy Tuggle. The Redding Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, June 22, 2016
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