NOB HILL

Above: an 1889 Birds Eye View Map of Redding - Nob Hill showing the L-shape structure of the Del Monte hotel also known as the Del Monte Lodging and Tennant's.

Nob Hill is where Redding's wealthiest residents lived in luxurious homes during the 1880s, located on the westside of Redding surrounded by Court, Yuba, West and Placer Streets. Nob Hill is situated on the hillside, near the Placer Street hill and Court Street alongside the John J. Balma Justice Center, also known as the Shasta County jail.

Some of the earliest known landowners on Nob Hill were James T. Loag, Holton S. Cochran, M. Hayles, John H. Madison, O.J. Willis, and the Yeakey brothers. Some of the known renters of these luxury homes were the John Estes family, who rented the house and property belonging to James T. Loag, as well as Mr. And Mrs. E.G. Parker who rented the house and property belonging to Holton S. Cochran.

In 1887 one of Redding's hotels was erected on the top of Nob Hill and named the Del Monte Hotel. Later it would be known as Del Monte Lodging and Tenants' Its builder/proprietor was George Groves, and his hostelry was a two-story L-shape structure facing Yuba Street. It had an observatory on top and it contained ninety-six rooms. During the hostelry's construction, one local newspaper stated the following about its owner: "There are men in town who have more money than Geo. Groves, but none with more enterprise." It seemed to be their way of accepting Groves' building in the wealthiest part of town. By 1889 several more dwellings had been completed within the area but the Del Monte hotel stood out as one of the tallest buildings in the city. 

The Del Monte hotel grounds consisted of freshly made sidewalks and bridges. On the south-west side of the hotel property fronting West Street was a water well, an outhouse, barn, and shop, erected by Groves for his tenant's use. By May of 1896, the Sanborne Fire Maps of Redding noted the well as private property then owned by the Well & Rider Company of England. Later this water well supplied water for Redding's business district.

The 1899 City of Redding Directory described the Del Monte hotel as an apartment house, not a hostelry. It is interesting to not that the directory  mentions its location as being on the south side of Butte Streets between West and Court Street. It was still owned by George Groves at that time.

The nearest subdivision to Nob Hill was the Breslauer Addition to the west. By March of 1912, ten dwellings had been erected on Nob Hill including an Episcopal church on the south-west corner of Yuba and Court Streets. Construction and new development have changed Nob Hill's look over time from residential to a business area. 

The Del Monte Apartments were condemned by the City of Redding in 1959 and demolished in 1960, never to be rebuilt. There was another Del Monte Apartments, but it had no relation to the pioneer hostelry business. The John J. Balma Justice Center was erected on Nob Hill in 1984.

RESOURCES:

The Reading Independent newspaper of Redding, March 25, 1880

A Tough Crowd - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 16, 1887

Another Improvement - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 21, 1887

The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, June 4, 1887

The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, June 11, 1887

1899 City of Redding Directory

Sanborne Fire Map of Redding

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

The Zogg Fire Destroys Two Landmarks in the Historic Town of Ono

Above: this clapboard style building was erected in 1935 at Ono to house the meetings and events of the Ono Grange No. 445. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on July 4, 2018.

Confirmation from the Redding Record Searchlight newspaper confirms that the Zogg Fire which erupted into flames on the afternoon of September 27, 2020, on Zogg Mine Road in Igo destroyed two landmarks in the historic nearby town of Ono. The Ono Grange No.445 was instituted on March 26, 1930, at Ono which empowered them to act under the bylaws of the National Grange for a permanent charter or warrant confirming a perpetual right of succession, and securing them the privilege's of a regular constituted grange. 

The first meeting of the Ono Grange No. #445 was held in a rented building on Buell Road in Ono on April 2, 1930. The first master was James J. Barr Sr., [the husband of my paternal great-great-great aunt Edna L. (Kidder) Barr], and the first secretary of this grange was Lena Driscoll. The charter members of this new establishment were: James J. Barr Sr., Mrs. Martin Driscoll, Olive Miller, David Miller, Marshall Gill, Richard Edmonds, Bob Jordan, W. Kingsbury, May Kingsbury, C.M. Murphy, Joseph N. Moon, Pauline Stevens, Eugenia Graham, Sydnie Jones, Nelly Murphy, Mrs. Addie B. Graves, Charles Plumb, Mabel Fowler, Frankie Fowler, and Mrs. Julia Edmonds.

In February of 1934 negotiations began with the members of the grange and Ono resident David Boyer to purchase a piece of property that Boyer owned near the channel of Eagle Creek for the future Ono Grange Hall. Yet, Boyer decided to donate the land for the grange to use, and on May 25, 1934, the construction began on the new Ono Grange Hall.

Above: the siding of the Ono Grange Hall. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on July 4, 2018.

Above: the siding of the Ono Grange Hall. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on July 4, 2018.

The Ono Grange Hall was completed in 1935. Many people joined the new association which provided assistance to farmers, denotes a marked change in the economy of the area, away from mining toward farming and ranching. Through the years, the Ono Grange Hall remained an active gathering place for the people in the community, and many events and community fundraisers were held there. The building served the community for eighty-five years, until it was destroyed by the ravaging Zogg Fire on September 27, 2020.

Another landmark which was destroyed by the ravaging Zogg Fire on September 27, 2020, was the Ono Store and Stopping Place, also known as the Ono Store and International Cafe, which formerly marked the center of Ono. The store was built in the 1950s by Lamar and Aletha Green, opposite of what used to be David Miller's merchandise store. Since the Green's owned and operated the establishment it has been through various owners over the years. I'm sure that more fire ravaged landmarks of the Igo and Ono areas will be announced if any once the area reopens to the public. As of 8:30 A.M., on September 28, 2020, this fire has exploded to 15,000 acres. The fire is being driven by the wind. Praying for Igo and Ono. Thank you, to the fire fighters and our first responders!

Above: The Ono Store and International Cafe. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on July 4, 2018.

Above: the early stages of the Zogg Fire in Igo filmed by Jeremy Tuggle on September 27, 2020.

Above: the early stages of the Zogg Fire in Ono filmed by Jeremy Tuggle on September 27, 2020

RESOURCES:

Patrons of Husbandry Charter - Ono Grange No. 445, instituted March 26, 1930

A History of the Grange by Merla F. Clark

A Journey Through Time: Ono and the Bald Hills by Jeremy M. Tuggle, with an introduction by Al M. Rocca; copyright 2008, published by Preserving Memories, in Charlotte, North Carolina. ISBN Number: 978-0-9742576-8-6

http://onogrange.org/

Historic Buildings Lost To Fire - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding.

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.

The Mount Shasta Mine: A Gold Mine on the Mt. Shasta Mine Loop Trail

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

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 NATIONAL MINE OF THE OLD DIGGINGS MINING DISTRICT

Above: the main haulage tunnel of the historic National mine. Photo taken by Jeremy Tuggle on August 13, 2020.

Miners struck the lucrative quartz vein of the National mine in 1869, at Rich Gulch, and the vein became a heavy producer of gold in the Old Diggings mining district. This caused additional probing and exploratory operations which led to miners sinking winze's and driving tunnels, drifts and raises on the property which were also dug out by miners using picks and shovels. They also blasted through the rock using dynamite towards the face of the mine. Among the holdings of the National mine were the Forbes and Veteran mining claims located on the same property. 

At first, a ten-pound stamp mill was erected on the property to crush the rock they extracted from the mine. Then in 1906, the National mine was owned and operated by a group of people consisting of eastern capital who named themselves after the gulch which the National mine was located in. They employed Redding resident H.P. Walker as their general manager of operations.  

In March of that year, the Rich Gulch Mining Company completed the installation of their brand-new 25-ton cyanide plant, which allowed them to treat the tailing's of the National mine and the nearby Lyons Consolidated mine which they also owned and operated. The company also constructed a 1,500 feet tramway from the Lyons Consolidated mine to the National mine with a gravity system of 460 feet to ship the ore from the Lyons Consolidated mine to the National mine's stamp mill.

Above: a portion of a 1901 topography map of Shasta County marking the historic site of the National mine.

The Rich Gulch Mining Company also re-timbered the National mine and brand-new ore cart tracks and rail were laid in the main haulage tunnel and drifts. Eventually, new owners came in to purchase the National mine and it passed into the hands of Joseph Gretz, who in December of 1908, made arrangements for this ten-pound stamp mill to be dismantled and shipped to Schaffer, near Goldfield, in Nye County, Nevada. It would be rebuilt to resume operations for its new mining company in Nye County, Nevada. After this, the ore from the National mine was shipped to the nearest smelter to be crushed and treated.

The National mine operated until 1910, and then it laid idled until it was reopened in 1932, and it stayed an active producer of gold until 1934. It has been idled since that time period. The National mine produced a total output of $200,000 in gold. 

The National mine is located off Shasta Dam Boulevard. I have been informed that there is another caved-in adit on the property which is located at N 40° 41.568 W 122° 25.360 on a very steep and difficult terrain level which is covered in brush, manzanita and tons of poison oak. It would be to difficult for me to get to, which is why I only filmed this portion of the National mine as shown below in the YouTube video:

Above: this video was filmed on location at the historic National mine by Jeremy Tuggle on August 13, 2020.

RESOURCES:

The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, November 13, 1896

The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 3, 1896

New Cyanide Plant In Rich Gulch - Mineral Wealth Magazine - March 15, 1906 edition, page 3.

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 4, 1908

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

Old Diggings mining district - Western Mining History

THE HISTORIC PRINCESS DITCH TRAIL; A MODERN HIKING TRAIL WITH AN ADIT QUARTZ MINE?

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.

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

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 Princess Ditch and the Princess Hydraulic Mining Company; Historic Background Research, Evaluation of Significance, and Recommendations. Bureau of Land Management, Redding Field Office. Barbara Woodrum ©2011 

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

Fun Trails With Great Views And Variety Of Terrains by Laura Christman - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, April 25, 2017

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area Announces The Re-Opening of the Princess Ditch Trail - November 24, 2019

Anavina Group of Mines