Columnist/Blogger Marc Beauchamp posted this interesting image of his maternal grandmother Mabel Frisbie and her bike in Redding circa 1910 in anticipation of a presentation about local bicycling.
I wondered if I could clean it up. I’m not sure I added any clarity to the subject, but here’s what I ended up with. It was fun work, and I learned a few things.
The “Women on Wheels” presentation is happening Saturday February 15, at the Shasta County Downtown College Building across the promenade from the Historical Society. It starts at 1:30 pm, and will feature Anne Thomas of Shasta Living Streets. I hope to be there if I’m not working. Thanks much to Marc Beauchamp for sharing the image.
Camden House offers a glimpse of Shasta history
Merry Christmas to you and yours on this holiday eve in 2013.
Here’s the historic Camden House just west of Whiskeytown Lake with some holiday decor.
There are historic tours listed at the Whiskeytown Ranger led tours page. This from their web site
“Walk In Time (2 hours)
Wednesday and Saturday at 3:00 pm
Discover how pioneers/prospectors Charles Camden and Levi Tower reshaped the landscape to create a home for their families and an “oasis” for many travelers during and after the California Gold Rush. After a tour of the Camden house, built in 1852, enjoy a leisurely stroll through the area, then try your hand at finding gold the old-fashioned way-with a gold pan in the creek! Please bring a bottle of water and extra clothing if you choose to get wet. Meet the ranger at the Tower House Historic District parking lot in front of the bulletin board kiosk.”
Blacksmiths in Old Shasta today
The Afterthought Mine in Ingot, east of Redding
If you drive out past Bella Vista on Highway 299 going east, it starts to follow Cow Creek in a canyon. Right about there, is Ingot, former home of the Afterthought Mine. It used to be easy to spot when the big smelter ruins were mostly intact, but they have been dismantled over the years. We have a painting of how it looked in 1973, done by a family friend Mrs. Esterdahl.
Old timers will probably recognize it. At some point I acquired a $500 bond issued for the mine from 1909. It pays an annual dividend of 6%. Payable in gold coins, of course, maturing in 1913. Kind of fun to think about that. Knowing something of local mining realities, I wonder if the bearer was ever paid at all. Just an afterthought now.
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We have an old Shasta County mine listed for sale, if you’ve a mind to try your hand. It’s the Jealous Quartz Mine, southwest of Shasta Dam. Let us know if you’d like to buy it!
1872 Redding map overlayed to present day Google Map
Dottie Smith is a local historian I admire very much. A few days ago, she posted a map of Redding from 1872 at her blog:
http://blogs.redding.com/dsmith/archives/2011/05/when-and-why-re.html
I find old maps fascinating. I wondered what it would look like overlaying a present day photographic image of Redding from Google Maps. Turns out, it lined up very well. You can click these images to enlarge slightly.
With imaging software you can scroll smoothly through, back and forth from 1872 to 2011. 139 years. Interesting to note the transportation hub of the day remains exactly in place in the form of the railroad station and the RABA/Greyhound terminal. Much has changed however. Particularly our sense of scale. There were hundreds more parcels on the densely populated 1872 map.
Thanks Dottie! And thanks Google! You both provide daily insights to our sense of place.
May Day images in Redding 2011
This season has proven to be an extraordinary Spring, with an abundance of wildflowers, water in creeks, and birds in the trees. It was a wet end to Winter, but a magic May Day ensues.
Popped my head over the bridge, and spotted these two enjoying the sun by the river.
That reminded me of this image from Redding long ago.
Boot Hill graveyard…
…became the Buckeye Pioneer Cemetery. A rainy day seems appropriate for a few images.
There’s only this one marker. The names date from the late 1800s. The entire site is just a parcel amongst homes on Irish Road just north of Redding.
Hardscrabble lives came to rest here on Boot Hill. Ghosts in the live oaks…
Ride the Shasta Daylight – a gorgeous rail trip
Some time back in a more graceful age, you could ride the Shasta Daylight from Redding. Riders watched Mt Shasta go by in daylight hours from a comfortable railcar with an observation dome, and enjoyed meals in the articulated Pullman diner-tavern-lounge car, which offered 3 railcar length unimpeded interior space.
This from Wikipedia:
The Shasta Daylight was a train operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was inaugurated on July 10, 1949 between Oakland Pier in Oakland, California and Portland, Oregon and was SP’s third set of “Daylight” lightweight streamlined trains. The new Shasta Daylight operated on a fast 15 hour 30 minute schedule in either direction for the 713 mile trip through some of the most beautiful and spectacular mountain scenery of any train in North America… The scenic route of the Shasta Daylight passed by its namesake mountain in daylight hours; in fact, the Shasta Daylights ran on the very flanks of Mount Shasta.
There is good short article about this flagship run of the Daylight rail service at the American Rails site:
Starting off in Oakland the train passed through beautiful northern California and then through the Cascades towards its final stop at Portland along the way passing locations like Mount Hood, Odell Lake, Crater Lake, and other spectacular features of the Pacific Northwest. What made the trip even that much more memorable was the extra large windows built into the Pullman-Standard cars for maximum sightseeing and outdoor viewing… The popularity of the Daylight was incredibly high, even through the early 1960s although by the latter half of that decade the SP began greatly reducing services and amenities on the fleet as patronage declined.
Amtrak took over in 1971, and so we at least still have some rail travel from Redding, even if it blows through here in the dead of night. Not quite the same experience. It’s pleasant to imagine the return of the Shasta Daylight, and the tourism it might provide.
Redding has always been a rail town. For the past several decades, we have been a car town too. Of course, things change…
A Redding school becomes a nightclub
Here is Redding’s Pine Street School, not long after it was built many years ago.
And here it is now as Coco Loco, a restaurant and nightclub. The rest of the school was converted to offices and one other restaurant as well. The restaurant Pio Loco is in the northwest section of the old school. Thanks to the Shasta Historical Society for the older image.
Saloons in 1904 Redding
I was looking for some information about the long vanished Golden Eagle Hotel in Redding when I stumbled upon a Business Directory for Redding from 1904 at a Genealogical Site. I absolutely love reading through genealogy resources. You can learn so much about the history of an area and the people that lived there nowadays. To be honest, I have been thinking about doing some work on my own family tree as I would like to learn more about my ancestors. A friend of mine told me that she found some brilliant resources, including a census dating back to the 1900s, on the Genealogy Bank website so I might have to take a look to see what I can find. Do you have any experience researching your family history? Let me know if so as I would love to hear your stories! Anyway, looking through the list of the businesses from 106 years ago, I was struck by how many Saloons there were in town back then. As a proportion to the population size, it would be like Redding today had a hundred or more places to wet one’s whistle. Interesting to consider. Market and California Street must have been quite lively on occasion, shall we say. Below are the listed establishments, along with a few local saloon images courtesy of the Shasta Historical Society (consider joining us). Most of these images are not named, but this first one below is labeled the Royal Saloon.
American Saloon, W. H. Murdock, Proprietor, 417 Market Street.
Black Diamond Saloon, J. P. Brass, 526 California Street.
Borbeck E., Saloon, 405 Market Street.
Buffalo Brewing Co., Barner & Riebe Props., N. End Center Street, W. Side.
Burns’ Saloon, Charles Burns, Proprietor, 418 California Street.
Clinkenbeard Saloon, 505 Market Street.
Columbus Saloon, A. Rassella, Proprietor, 301 California Street.
Favorite Saloon, Reilly & Albrecht Proprietors, 410 Market Street.
Griittner Saloon, A. Merrill Proprietor, Cor. Tehama and Market Streets
Italian Hotel and Saloon Pedrelli & Cleone Proprietors, 219 Cal St.
Jaegel Tony, Saloon, 523 Market Street.
Leavre Saloon, J. Gretz Proprietor, 513 Market Street
Olney Saloon, Mrs. Jane Olney Proprietor, 512 California Street
Our House Saloon, J. F. Tige Proprietor, 414 California Street
Parlor Saloon, L. A. Blodah Proprietor, 500 Market Street
Reception Saloon, W. A. Schroter Proprietor, 409 Yuba Street
Redding Beer Bottling Works, Hoefer & Mevius Props., North End Center Street
Redding Ice Bottling Works, Zeis & Sons Proprietors, 704 Oregon Street
Royal Saloon, Dennis & Lammon Proprietors, 4515 Market Street
Sacramento Saloon, A. Seiger Proprietor, Tehama Street
Star Saloon and Restaurant, Coakley & Monga, 404 California Street.
The California Saloon, J. S. Wheeler Proprietor, 410 California Street.
The Mug Saloon, P. Murphy Proprietor, 406 California Street.
The National Beer Hall. K. M. Quadrus Proprietor, 406 Butte Street.
The Palace Saloon, H. Frickinger Proprietor, 517 Market Street.
The San Francisco Saloon, E. L. McGarity Proprietor, 420 California Street
The Snug Saloon, C. E. Ferrell Proprietor, 701 California Street.
The Turf Saloon, W. C. Litle Proprietor, 412 CalifornIa Street.
White Star Saloon, J. Ritchie Proprietor, 414 Tehama Street
So, what’ll ya have?
