Welcome to Exploring Shasta County history...
With this blog, I am bringing to life the stories of the early day pioneers and some of the oft-forgotten history of a bygone era in Shasta County, California. I'll also focus on important events after the turn of the 20th century. I would like to reflect upon current historical sites of the modern age as well.
This is copyrighted by Jeremy M. Tuggle.
This was the site of Frost & Bloomfield’s Blacksmith shop, which was located in the Tower House District, of Shasta County, California, and was erected between: 1853 and 1864. This is where Frost and Bloomfield conducted their wagon making and blacksmith business at the corner of Trinity Mountain Road to French Gulch and Highway 299 West to Weaverville. It was situated near the Tower House, a former hostelry which formerly operated in the area, next to the existing historic Camden House.
Most of the building stood standing as a prominent feature in the area, which was deteriorating overtime, and eventually it led to its demise about 1930 when it was demolished. However, the rock foundation was preserved from demolition and in later years a storage shed was erected on this historic site connecting to the original rock foundation of the blacksmith building. Then in 1973, the site became protected upon the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service.
Arson destroyed the storage shed in 2014, and again it was threatened by the 2018 Carr fire, just four years later. Today, the rock foundation of this historic structure still remains intact and is over-seen by the National Park Service. Come see what remains of this historic site.
Resources:
1850 U.S. Census
1860 U.S. Census
The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 15, 1864
1866 California U.S. Voters Registration
1870 U.S. Census
The National Park Service
Blacksmith Shop marker photo detailing the history of the Frost & Bloomfield 's Blacksmithing Shop. Courtesy of Noah Everett.
In this episode of Exploring Shasta County History, join Robert Frazier, host of California Unearthed, and I as we hike a historic water ditch that was built in 1855. This water ditch was to give the local mines near Oak Bottom their water to be used in their extraction of ore, and other purposes as well. Come learn some of the history of the area in video as well. Filmed on location: May 3, 2025. Like, comment, and please share subscribe if you haven't yet.
Come explore the following sections of (Old) Highway 299 east and west alignment between Whiskeytown and the Towerhouse Historic District, of Shasta County, California. This highway route was formally a stage road established in 1854, and later a toll road called the Shasta to Weaverville Road or Weaverville to Shasta Road pre-1872 or after the establishment of Redding it was called the Redding to Weaverville Road or Weaverville to Redding Road. In 1934 this historic route became Highway 299 east and west and parts of this route were later decommissioned about 1963.
Resources:
Shasta - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, April 13, 1852
Shasta - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, June 14, 1852
California Legislature - Fifth Session - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, April 15, 1854
Trinity River Correspondence - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 20, 1854
From Weaverville - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 6, 1855
Trinity River Correspondence - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, February 17, 1855
Trip To Weaverville - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 13, 1855
Report of the Wagon Road Committee - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, June 20, 1857
Organization Of The Wagon Road Co. - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, June 27, 1857
Wagon Road Meeting And Report Of Survey - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, July 25, 1857
Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors - Aug. Term - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, August 8, 1857
Wagon Road Meeting - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, August 15, 1857
The Wagon Road - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, August 15, 1857
The Trinity Wagon Road - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, August 22, 1857
Weaverville Wagon Road - The Sacramento Union newspaper of Sacramento, September 1, 1857
Hurrah For The Wagon Road - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, October 3, 1857
Wagon Roads - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, October 16, 1857
The Sacramento Valley And Weaverville Wagon Company - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, October 16, 1857
Shasta And Our Neighbors - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, November 7, 1857
The Wagon Road - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, November 28, 1857
Progress Of the Wagon Road - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, December 26, 1857
Trinity Wagon Road - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, February 6, 1858
Wagon Road To Weaverville - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 27, 1858
Improvements As We Go - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, March 27, 1858
The Trinity Wagon Road - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 2, 1858
The Road - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, January 16, 1858
The Louden Road - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, March 13, 1858
Increased Travel To The North - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, September 11, 1858
Staging To Weaverville - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, April 24, 1858
Trail To Weaverville - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 24, 1858
To Weaverville - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 1, 1858
Teams To Weaverville - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, May 15, 1858
A Bad Road - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, November 20, 1858
Bill Lowden declares... - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, December 18, 1858
The Redding And Weaverville Stage - by May H. Southern, January 22, 1933, sketch by Mabel Lowden Moores, 388 - P. 1086; VF 388.0 Roads/Trails Misc., Roads/Trails 1086, available at Shasta Historical Society in Redding.
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
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, by Al M. Rocca, Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 3, 2010) ISBN10: 1451568533,ISBN-13: 978-1451568530
My buddy and I are uncovering a large body of talc in my newest episode on Exploring Shasta County History as we return to the Ganim mine in the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. Come check this out as we visit the Jerusalem #1 Mine and the Hard Luck Quartz Mine which are all a part of the Ganim mine. Come learn of its history. Filmed on location on October 12, 2024.
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
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
Located in the 1920s the Betty May Mine is now located within the boundaries of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and over looks Whiskeytown Lake. My friend Ryan Hammon and I explored the abandoned mining property on October 1, 2023. It was a lucrative producer of gold during the 1920s and 1930s with miners toiling away in its mine shaft extracting gold from its veins inside. Come explore the site with us in this episode of Exploring Shasta County History. It's a rarity these days in this county to find an open mine shaft most are plugged.
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:
The town of Oak Bottom and the two-story Oak Bottom Hotel. Date unknown. This photograph was taken by local photographer Chester Mullen (1886-1958). Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.
The Fortunate township was established by the Shasta County Court of Sessions in 1851 as a townsite which lacked a United States Post Office. It was a prominent mining locality. This township was situated two miles north-west of Whisky Creek Diggings, (now Whiskeytown), along the Oregon Trail which passed through the area. It was a designated stopping place for pack mules along that route. It's not known how the Fortunate township received its name, but in 1853, the Fortunate township became the Oak Bottom election precinct, which was one of twenty-two election precincts established in Shasta County, that year.
Since then, the townsite has been known as Oak Bottom and named for the numerous Oak trees in the area. A two-story hotel began operations in 1853 which was called the Oak Bottom House a popular hostelry within the community. This hotel was owned and operated by A.J. Van Wie. In 1858, the Oak Bottom Course came to fruition under the ownership of Heavins and McTurck, and horse racing became an extremely popular sporting event within the community.
Above: an advertisement by Heavins & McTurck for their Oak Bottom Course at Oak Bottom. From the Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 4, 1858.
That year, Heavins and McTurck also took over operations of the local hostelry. The Oak Bottom House was destroyed by fire in 1873. The Oak Bottom hostelry was later rebuilt on the opposite side of the road and the name was changed to the Oak Bottom hotel. The above image showcases the Oak Bottom hotel and an additional building at Oak Bottom, in Shasta County, California.
This locality which never had a United States Post Office to send and receive mail flourished with success until the 1950s. Oak Bottom once featured a general merchandise store owned and operated by C. Vergnes & Company, as well sometimes found as the Vergnes Brothers. The townsite began filling with water for a reservoir called Whiskeytown Lake in 1962 which created the Oak Bottom Marina and beach which is now a popular tourist attraction for water sports, swimmers and sun bathers within the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.
Above: a ticket for a dance and supper hosted by the Vergnes Bros. Oak Bottom Ticket No. 889. From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle.
Resources:
Election Precincts - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 3, 1853
Banquet At Oak Bottom - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 24, 1855
Local Correspondent - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 2, 1858
Estray - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 9, 1858
Horse-Racing - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 4, 1858
Oak Bottom House - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 11, 1858
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
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, by Al M. Rocca, Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 3, 2010) ISBN10: 1451568533,ISBN-13: 978-1451568530
This video was filmed on location on June 11, 2022.
It was Shasta County pioneer Charles Camden who named Crystal Creek after its crystal-clear flowing water in its channel. It was also Camden who built this present-day historic water ditch along its channel with his paid laborers between 1854 and 1856. However, what was the reason behind it? Find out more in my newest video about this amazing water ditch system and trail here, and if you have time be sure to visit this place with your friends and family at the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. You will need a park pass to enter. The trail is an easy hike with incredible views of Crystal Creek along the way, and it's a one-way only 0.8-mile hike. Bring water, food and snacks with you to enjoy this trail. Enjoy, the video.
A low Whiskeytown Lake reveals one of its many hidden secrets as Jeremy M. Tuggle poses in front of it for a photograph on March 19, 2022.
Resources:
Shasta - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, April 13, 1852
Shasta - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, June 14, 1852
California Legislature - Fifth Session - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, April 15, 1854
Trinity River Correspondence - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 20, 1854
From Weaverville - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 6, 1855
Trinity River Correspondence - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, February 17, 1855
Trip To Weaverville - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 13, 1855
Report of the Wagon Road Committee - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, June 20, 1857
Organization Of The Wagon Road Co. - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, June 27, 1857
Wagon Road Meeting And Report Of Survey - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, July 25, 1857
Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors - Aug. Term - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, August 8, 1857
Wagon Road Meeting - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, August 15, 1857
The Wagon Road - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, August 15, 1857
The Trinity Wagon Road - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, August 22, 1857
Weaverville Wagon Road - The Sacramento Union newspaper of Sacramento, September 1, 1857
Hurrah For The Wagon Road - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, October 3, 1857
Wagon Roads - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, October 16, 1857
The Sacramento Valley And Weaverville Wagon Company - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, October 16, 1857
Shasta And Our Neighbors - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, November 7, 1857
The Wagon Road - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, November 28, 1857
Progress Of the Wagon Road - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, December 26, 1857
Trinity Wagon Road - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, February 6, 1858
Wagon Road To Weaverville - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 27, 1858
Improvements As We Go - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, March 27, 1858
The Trinity Wagon Road - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 2, 1858
The Road - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, January 16, 1858
The Louden Road - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, March 13, 1858
Increased Travel To The North - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, September 11, 1858
Staging To Weaverville - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, April 24, 1858
Trail To Weaverville - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 24, 1858
To Weaverville - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 1, 1858
Teams To Weaverville - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, May 15, 1858
A Bad Road - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, November 20, 1858
Bill Lowden declares... - The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, December 18, 1858
The Redding And Weaverville Stage - by May H. Southern, January 22, 1933, sketch by Mabel Lowden Moores, 388 - P. 1086; VF 388.0 Roads/Trails Misc., Roads/Trails 1086, available at Shasta Historical Society in Redding.
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
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, by Al M. Rocca, Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 3, 2010) ISBN10: 1451568533,ISBN-13: 978-1451568530
SMOKEY CONDITIONS: WHISKEYTOWN LAKE POOR-UNHEALTHY AIR QUALITY, 8-8-2021. WITH FOUR MAJOR FIRES BURNING NEAR SHASTA COUNTY WHISKEYTOWN LAKE BECOMES BARELY VISBLE IN PARTS THE FOUR FIRES ARE THE: MONUMENT FIRE, THE DIXIE FIRE, THE ANTELOPE FIRE AND THE McFARLAND FIRE. THIS GIVES WHISKEYTOWN LAKE AND THE REDDING AREA AN AIR QUALITY INDEX OF 181.
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
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
On this episode of Exploring Shasta County history, Jeremy takes you on an adventure to the historic burial site of Kate Camden. Learn more about her in the video. Enjoy! This video was filmed on location, April 17, 2021.
Above: a miner pushing an ore cart filled with rock at the Mount Shasta mine. Courtesy of the Shasta Historical Society.
Located about 2 1/2 miles from the town of Shasta is the Mount Shasta mine, a once-lucrative producer of gold and one of the larger gold mining operations in the Shasta mining district, after gold was discovered in the area in 1897. The mine, which is within the boundaries of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area on the Mt. Shasta Mine Loop Trail, can be found after a moderate 1.2 mile hike to the mining property, or you can hike the entire loop distance of 3.1 miles.
The mine was first owned and operated by then-Shasta County Sheriff, Charles Behrens, the maternal grandfather of the late Honorable Shasta County Superior Court Judge, Richard B. Eaton. Behrens operated the mine with his mining partner, Levisay, and they negotiated a contract with the Keswick smelter to have their ore treated. The Mount Shasta mine consisted of the Pittsburgh mining claim and one other mining claim as well.
Above: a man tending to two horses hitched to a wagon at the Mount Shasta mine. In the back ground is the building which enclosed the eight stamp steam powered mill. Courtesy of the Shasta Historical Society.
Behrens and Levisay, began digging a winze on the property which sunk down to about 80 feet below the surface of the earth, and this was the start of the 463 foot shaft on the property. To jump start the production earnings, Behrens and Levisay’s ore first earned them between $80 to $90 per ton at Keswick. Later that year, Behrens and Levisay sold their mining claim to San Francisco capitalists Hirshly, Vair & Farfst for $10,000.
Early on, in 1898, the new owners organized the Mount Shasta Gold Mine LTD., and they employed fifteen men to operate the mine by February of 1898. During the following year, Hirshly, Vair & Farfst had a stamp mill built for them on the property consisting of eight stamps, which operated by steam to crush their rock so their miners could obtain the ore they were seeking. Each stamp weighed 1,050 pounds, and a building was erected which enclosed the perimeter of the stamp mill as well.
Other equipment included a wooden head frame with a steam powered hoist, and a cage so miners could toil away in the shaft to extract the ore of the lower levels or to enter a drift they were working. The Mount Shasta Gold Mine LTD., began lowering the winze on the property as well. Eventually, the mine included seven levels with drifts branching off from the main winze.
By 1900, the Mount Shasta mine and its holdings were sold to O.O. Howard and F.E. Ware of Redding. Ware was a former superintendent at this gold mine. Howard and Ware employed W.G. Scott as their superintendent who supervised the work of their miners as the production of this mine continued. While the work progressed on the property, their miners probed and examined the rock on site which also consisted of digging and blasting out an adit, not far from the main shaft of the property.
The Mount Shasta Gold Mine LTD. expanded their holdings in the area after purchasing additional mining claims and bringing in additional shares of investors or capitalists from the Chicago area. Eventually in 1901 this company entered the copper mining industry of Shasta County, with most of the company’s copper claims were in the Pittsburgh mining district near Bully Hill. They focused on those copper claims between 1901 and 1904 due to the shut-down of the Mount Shasta mine which remained idled after that.
Surprisingly, another transaction occurred in 1912 when the Mount Shasta mine was sold to A.A. Linsdsay & Associates of Portland, Oregon, for an impressive $35,000. They had planned to enter an extensive hiring phase that December to employ one hundred miners, and continue the production of this gold mine.
During May of 1913, after re-timbering the adit and drifts on the property and installing a new ore-shoot, the mine was sold to H.O. Cummins and Associates for about the same price as the previous transaction. 1915 was the final year of production for this gold mine and the total production reached an output of $180,000 in gold, which is the equivalent of $2.5 Million in today’s currency.
Note: the Mount Shasta Gold Mine LTD., can be found as the Mount Shasta Gold Mine Corporation in the written historical records as well.
Above: The Mount Shasta mine as filmed on location by Jeremy Tuggle on August 25, 2020.
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
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
Located 7.4 miles west of Redding on Muletown Road is the historic Princess Ditch. This ditch was formerly owned and operated by the Princess Hydraulic Mining Company of Leadville, Colorado. It was dug out by their employees during 1896 and it was completed in January of 1897. From the source of its water supply at Boulder Creek in the present day, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, its purpose was to convey water to the various quartz mines in the Muletown mining district and to the company's hydraulic mining operations which were situated in Secs. 25 and 26, Township 31, North Range 6 West, and consisted of three hundred acres of patented mineral land.
According to records, there was a drift mine of natural bedrock, and two fifty ft., shafts on the property. This historic water ditch operated in the late 19th Century, and during the early 1900s, by special permit obtained from the California Debris Commision. This permit allowed the Princess Hydrualic Mining Company to operate their hydraulic mining site in Shasta County, even though hydraulic mining had been outlawed in California since 1884. Their last permit was obtained by them in January of 1903, as their hydraulic mining operations continued, the Princess Hydraulic Mining Company was ordered to terminate their hydraulic mining activities due to their retaining wall which was condemned by the California Debris Commission. Their hydraulic mining operations has been idled since 1903.
A century later, in 2014, this historic mining ditch was converted into a modern hiking trail. Those involved in the project were: the Bureau of Land Management, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, the McConnell Foundation, the State Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, among other groups. They connected the Princess Ditch to additional trails in the area. Altogether the trail is a one-way 8.5 mile trail system, moderate to strenuous in parts, which connects with the Mule Ridge trail and the Salt Creek Loop trail.
Above video: "An Abandoned Adit Quartz Mine, On the Historic Princess Ditch Trail." Filmed by Jeremy Tuggle on 7-20-2020.
In 2018, this modern hiking trail was destroyed by the ravaging flames of the deadly Carr Fire. Two years later, the trail system has grown back to its natural state, yet scarring from the fire remains visible. This trail is maintained by the National Park Service.
People can take the trail from its parking lot at the Oak Knoll Trailhead and can walk through some of its original course. However, the trail has its secrets, and one of them is a moderate to strenuous walk on a short over-grown mining road with fallen trees and poison oak. This mining road leads to an unnamed adit quartz mine which is hidden uphill off the trail from public viewing. From the start of the trail system at its parking lot on Muletown Road is a 0.2 hike to the mine's tunnel (if you know where to look for it). This adit quartz mine could have been owned by the Princess Hydraulic Mining Company since they had a drift tunnel on their property.
Yet, it's a possibility that this adit quartz mine is part of the nearby Anavina Group of Mines also known as the Peerless mines, a series of five claims which were lucrative in gold, and located by miners in 1885, to work the mine as a placer mines which later converted into a quartz mine. The original name of the mine is not known to me, and I haven’t found it on any topographic maps of the area but it is an intriguing adit quartz mine which was mined for gold. With cool air flow circulating through this abandoned quartz claim, the tunnel measures an estimated 400 feet that's well worth the time and energy to check out, but as always be safe when entering old mines and take the necessary equipment you need with you.
RESOURCES:
Miners Want Water - The Los Angeles Herald newspaper of Los Angeles, August 11, 1897
The California Debris Commission - The San Francisco Call newspaper of San Francisco, January 18, 1903.
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. Page 797.
Environmental Assessment and Assessment of Effect Princess Ditch Trail Construction March 2014 National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
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