CELEBRATING THE GRAND REOPENING OF MARKET STREET IN DOWNTOWN REDDING TODAY!

Celebrate the grand reopening of Market Street in downtown Redding today. The Fences are removed, the streets are set and history will be made at 11:00 a.m. as Market, Butte and Yuba Street reopen to the public.

Tune in to Viva Downtown on Facebook for a live reopening ceremony for the Downtown Redding Streets Circulation Project. 

After 12 p.m. cars will officially have access to drive down the streets and see their beautiful Downtown Redding. 

Visit www.city of redding.org/downtown 

The City of Redding

California & Oregon Railroad Historic Water Tower Foundation of 1872

On June 15, 1872, the town of Redding was established by the California & Oregon Railroad, a division of the Central Pacific Railroad, which stopped the construction of its tracks later that year at Poverty Flats. Poverty Flats lacked settlement by the early European-American’s because it was mainly swampland and farmers couldn’t raise their crops there which is the main reason it was ignored by them. Due to the railroad it forced Redding's settlement upon Poverty Flats. Redding gained prominence and grew rapidly as the town burgeoned with success.

A water tower was built by the California and Oregon Railroad in 1872. It was a very significant structure in Redding. Then on, September 1, 1872, the first passenger train arrived in Redding via Red Bluff, Cottonwood, and Anderson., and later other trains followed suit often refilling their engines with water from this tower. It is located at the Southwest corner of the tracks at the South Street crossing. It's unknown to me when the railroad dismantled it. Everyone has probably driven past it, stopped at it, or walked by it without realizing the historical importance of this foundation. 

Above: The California & Oregon Railroad Historic Water Tower Foundation of 1872. This photograph was taken on June 12, 2020, by Jeremy Tuggle.

WILLIAM B. SMITH (1859-1917)

Above: William B. Smith pans for gold along a rocky creek in the Sunny Hill mining district. From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle.

William B. Smith was born to Gottlieb George Kaylor Smith and Elizabeth Jane (Lamberson) Smith, at Eagle Creek (now Ono) on May 10, 1859, and during the following year the Smith’s settled their family at Horsetown. He was the fourth of ten children born to his parents. William was educated at the Eagle Creek schoolhouse in Eagle Creek.

William grew up to be a life-long miner. He also married Elizabeth Rester at Igo on March 12, 1890, the bride was the daughter of John Rester, and his wife Annie. Their wedding was performed by the Reverend William S. Kidder. To this union there were eight children born to them:

1.  Anna Smith

2. Esther May Smith

3. Louisa Bella Smith

4. Gladys Smith

5. Willie B. Smith

6. Earl Douglas Smith 

7. Ruth Elizabeth Smith

8. Howard Smith

William and his wife Elizabeth purchased a residence at Sunny Hill, a few miles from the town of Ono. This is where most of his mining was done in the boundaries of the Sunny Hill mining district of Shasta County. He was a family man and he was a mining partner of Valentine Doll, who was also his brother-in-law, and married to William’s sister, Harriett.

By December of 1897, William B. Smith and Valentine Doll issued advertising Proof Of Labor notices in the local media for the Manzanita and Honeycomb Quartz Mines in the Sunny Hill mining district. There is a real estate transfer in April of 1898, stating the following:

"W.B. Smith and Elizabeth Smith to V. Doll and Hattie E. Doll, F. Barlow. H.A. Root and D.E. Alexander - Bond for deed $3,800 Honcycomb Mine, extension of Honeycomb Mine with mill right, ditch, and water right at Jerusalem Creek, Sec. T.30 N., R., 8., W., also two placer claims included."

William died on November 27, 1917, at Sunny Hill due to an illness of the stomach. There was no doctor present at the time of his death so the coroner was called in from Redding to perform a coroners investigation on his body. William B. Smith is buried at the Redding Cemetery (now Redding Memorial Park) next to his son Willie B. Smith.

William’s wife Elizabeth (Rester) Smith survived her husband by six years. She died on October 14, 1923, she is buried in the same cemetery as her husband. 

Note: Gottlieb George Kaylor Smith and Elizabeth Jane (Lamberson) Smith are the author’s great-great-great-great maternal grandparents, and William B. Smith is my great-great-great maternal uncle. I descend through his sister Harriett Emma (Smith) Doll.

Above: the headstone of William B. Smith at the Redding Memorial Park, in Redding. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on January 10, 2021.

Resources:

1860 U.S. Census

1870 U.S. Census

1880 U.S. Census

Married - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 22, 1890

Proof Of Labor - The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, December 1, 1897

Bond For A Deed - The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, April 16, 1898

Proof Of Labor - Honeycomb and Manzanita Quartz mines dated December 27, 1899

1900 U.S. Census

Proof Of Labor - Honeycomb and Manzanita Quartz mines dated January 8, 1901

The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 30, 1908

1910 U.S. Census

William B. Smith Dies At Sunny Hill - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 28, 1917

Resident Of Ono, Shasta County, Dies - The Sacramento Union newspaper of Sacramento, November 29, 1917

1920 U.S. Census

Calvin Jefferson Smith, Mining Man written by Thelma Phillips Smith, The 1986 Covered Wagon, published annually by Shasta Historical Society, pages 42-45.

Valentine Doll written by Jeremy M. Tuggle, The 2011 Covered Wagon, published annually by Shasta Historical Society, pages 43-49. 

SP-037.1 Smith, Gottlieb George Kaylor, Pioneer Plaque File available at the Shasta Historical Society.

THE HISTORIC LIME KILNS

Above: the historic lime kiln fully intact, date unknown. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

There are two wood burning lime kilns which were made from natural stone in the Clear Creek area of western Shasta County in between the pioneer towns of Briggsville and Horsetown at Bulgin Gulch (name also found as Buljon Gulch & Bulgin’ Gulch). Since the early 1850s the production of quicklime remained active at this location. The limestone was extracted and fired to quicklime then hydrated into lime to be utilized as the main source for making plaster and mortar for building purposes. Today, both kilns are located on private property.

Among the earliest known owners and operators of this lime kiln operation was Samuel R. Clough, a native of England, who ventured west from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania with his wife Debora (Turner) Clough, and their daughter Mary K. Clough to Shasta County. The family settled at Briggsville about 1855 when Samuel R. Clough partnered with Isaac Parks in the lime kiln industry. Then on, June 20, 1855, a dissolution of partnership was dissolved by mutual consent for their lime kiln business of which Clough took sole possession of.

Above: an advertisement for lime by Samuel Clough, from the September 15, 1855 edition of the Shasta Courier newspaper.

Two years later, Debora (Turner) Clough had the Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta publish a notarized announcement to the public stating the following facts:

“SOLE TRADER

KNOW ALL BY THESE PRESENT, that I, Debora Clough, and wife of Samuel Clough, a resident of Briggsville, in Shasta County, and State of California, do hereby declare my intention to avail myself of an “Act to authorize married women to transact business in their own name as sole traders,” passed April 12, 1852 in conducting the Lime Kiln, and business connected there with about a half mile from Briggsville in said County of Shasta. And I do further declare that the whole sum invested in said business aforesaid does not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars. Witness, my hand in seal at Shasta this 16th day of February, 1858.” (SIC) This announcement was notarized by Homer A. Curtiss, a notary public and resident of Shasta.

It was rather unusual for women to conduct business in the lime kiln industry; and she was a pioneer woman. Eventually, more women exercised their rights as sole traders in Shasta County. Then on, April 12, 1858, a sheriff’s sale took place against Samuel Clough at Briggsville for his personal property. This personal property consisted of “one town lot, thirty feet front and running back one hundred feet, situated in the town of Briggsville, together with a two-story frame dwelling house situated thereon."

By December 4, 1858, Debora (Turner) Clough owed the County of Shasta $8.40 in delinquent taxes which included one house, a lot of lime, and debts in Briggsville. Apparently, she paid them off because the amount didn’t roll over into the following year’s delinquent tax list.

According to the 1860 U.S. Census, the Clough family was living at Shasta, when their district was enumerated on June 5, 1860. It was probably due to the sheriff’s sale of their property two years before at Briggsville which forced them to move to the county seat. Samuel was the head of the family at the age of thirty-four and his occupation was listed as a brick mason. His wife was listed at the age of thirty, with no occupation given which is rather interesting because of her interest in the Sole Traders Act. Their daughter Mary K. Clough was listed at the age of nine years old; it was more than likely that she attended school at Shasta.

Six years later, Debora (Turner) Clough relocated to Idaho, where she married a second time to Stephen J. Pierce. It’s not known what happened to Samuel R. Clough, he seems to have disappeared from historical records. The historic lime kilns on Clear Creek appeared to have been abandoned after the Clough’s operated it.

According to the “Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, California – County Report 6” written by Philip A. Lydon and J.C. O’ Brien, they reported that this lime kiln operation produced small amounts of quicklime prior to 1893. Then in 1926, brief periods of activity occurred at this site, “when a few hundred tons slaked lime were produced and sold for agricultural use. Idled since.”

Retraction: In my book, A Journey Through Time: Ono and the Bald Hills, page 17, published by Preserving Memories in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2008. I documented Debora (Turner) Clough’s name as Dana Clough which is incorrect. The correct name is: Debora (Turner) Clough. Sometimes recorded as Deborah. She was born in 1831 in Pennsylvania and Debora (Turner) Clough Pierce died at Emmett, Gem County, Idaho on June 28, 1908 at the age of seventy-seven.

Above: a zoomed in shot of the lime kiln from Clear Creek Road. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on January 10, 2021.

Resources:

Dissolution - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 23, 1855

Sole Trader - The Shasta Republican newspaper of Shasta, February 20, 1858

1860 U.S. Census

1870 U.S. Census

1880 U.S. Census

1900 U.S. Census

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, pages 1-178.

A Journey Through Time: Ono and the Bald Hills by Jeremy M. Tuggle, published by Preserving Memories, Charlotte, North Carolina. 2008 Pages 95. ISBN: 978-0-9742576-8-6

Christmas Day At Shasta In 1854

After a night of celebration at the community Christmas Tree inside the Methodist Church at Shasta on Christmas Evening (Christmas Eve), local Shastan's both young and old retired to their homes that night expecting the arrival of Santa Claus, and remembering Jesus Christ, which is the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. The next day many residents anticipated the glorious tradition of gift exchange. Christmas Day, on December 25, 1854, began unusually quiet in the Queen City of North. Everyone was inside their homes enjoying this festive holiday with family and close friends. Shasta was lacking it’s usual populated streets, and business transactions, as well as the playful shouting of the youth in town, that day. The Shasta Courier newspaper edition of December 30, 1854, contained the following account:

"Christmas Day - This day passed off rather tamely in this place. No excitement - no fun - no frolicking - no snow balling - ('twas a regular Atlantic May day,) no sweet-heart visiting - (cause, the absence of material out of which sweet-hearts are composed,) no ginger-cakes - no taffy pulling's - no nothing! The day previous, however, was all life - half-a-dozen horse races having occurred in the streets. As near as we can recollect, we observed, while standing on the St. Charles porch for an hour, no less than six dogs pass with remarkable speed, and yelling lustily, the tail of each dog having appended thereto an old tin cup. This cruel, but intellectual amusement, seemed to be relished hugely by everybody, ourselves among the number, the passage of each dog have been received with vociferous cheering." (SIC)

Above: this article is taken from the Shasta Courier newspaper edition of December 30, 1854.

Merry Christmas to all...

Christmas Eve At Shasta In 1854

Above: this article is taken from the Shasta Courier newspaper of Saturday, December 30, 1854.

Just how was Christmas Evening (Christmas Eve) spent in Shasta in 1854? Thanks to the Shasta Courier newspaper from Shasta we have have this article which was printed by them on Saturday, December 30, 1854:

“Christmas Tree - The Christmas Tree on Christmas Evening, in the Methodist Church, was a most beautiful sight, and gave the little folks a vast amount of pleasure. Their little eye’s sparkled, and their little mouths made merry noise, as beautiful little Santa Claus distributed the various little presents. There little eyes were not only made to dance with the sight of beautiful toys, but their little mouths were feasted with all manner of cakes, candies, nuts and other “goodies”- after which, with arms filled with the fruit of the Christmas Tree, they repaired to their homes, where in the arms of good Morpheus, they doubtless spent the remainder of the night in beautiful dreams. We also, about the same time, retired to a pair of lonely blankets, with the words upon our lips, “Would I were a boy again!” (SIC)

The next day the town celebrated Christmas in their homes. Merry Christmas to all. To be continued...

Buzzard Roost

Above: Buzzard Roost as it appeared during its prime with its hotel and other buildings near bye. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society. 

Government Trading Post was established as a community along Cedar Creek at the junction of (old) Oak Run and Reid toll roads in 1869. It’s unknown how the community received it’s name, yet it’s name changed at a later date to Buzzard Roost. The name Buzzard Roost derives from a quartet of saloon habitués, heaving over a bridge rail called a "bunch of buzzards". During the 1880s, Buzzard Roost was flourishing as a stage station with stages arriving and departing daily, and this continued well into the 20th century.

Then in 1882, Buzzard Roost became part of the Round Mountain Post Office until 1905. During November of 1885, local Frederick Leith shot and killed a large American Eagle which was perched on a branch of a tree on his property in the area. After it was brought down to the ground this American Eagle was measured at eight feet from tip to tip, and three feet from the point of bill to the tip of the tail. During December of 1892 the following story was heralded in state wide media coverage: 

“A little girl twenty-one months old wandered from her home at Buzzard Roost, twenty-four miles from Redding, Shasta County, Sunday noon, while the temperature was 8 deg., above zero, and was not found until Monday evening. When found she was lying on her back cold and stiff, but she was revived by rubbing her body with whisky. The searchers found where she had slept in a clump of pines Sunday, where, doubtless, she was sheltered partially from the cold.” (SIC)

The community was a wild place with saloon brawls and lone highwaymen waiting for approaching stages usually, the Redding and Bieber Stage, which conveyed passengers to and from the area. Often this stage line hauled valuables connected with Wells Fargo & Company which caught the attention of the highwaymen who preyed upon their stages. Buzzard Roost, which included a hotel with a stage station, a corral, three dwellings, a blacksmith shop, and a saloon, were destroyed by fire on September 25, 1926. Presently, Buzzard Roost Road retains the name of the former community.

RESOURCES:

Notes From Shasta - The San Jose Mercury newspaper of San Jose, November 18, 1885

A Lone Highwayman - The San Jose Herald newspaper of San Jose, October 25, 1889

A Babe In the Woods - The San Francisco Call newspaper of San Francisco, December 24, 1892

The Los Angeles Herald newspaper of Los Angeles, December 24, 1892 

The Placer Argus newspaper of Auburn, January 6, 1893

Stage Runaway And One Man Had Leg Broken - The Chico Record newspaper of Chico, February 26, 1909

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

Our Storied Landmarks – Shasta County, California, written by May H. Southern, published by Balakshin Printing Company, ©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

May H. Southern’s scrapbook’s. Nine binders. Unpublished personal and researched material compiled by Southern. Available at Shasta Historical Society.