Shasta, California

From WesternStarWiki

Shast was first settled in and around the area of High Street in 1848^[1] or 1849 by Oregon goldminers^[2] and known as Reading's Springs. Officially named Shasta on June 8, 1850 at a town meeting held outside of R.J. Walsh's store (the same lot where Excelsior Hall once stood) ^[3].

The Shasta Herald of October 20, 1855 describers Shasta prior to the 1853 fire as follows:

"The street was only about forty feet wide, and used to present a curious spectacle to a looker-on; especially on Sunday, which was then the most busy day in the week, being filled from morn 'till night with the most miscellaneously ingredients. Pack trains, greasers, freight wagons, Diggers, Chinamen and Kanackas, were jammed up together, and men of every tint and shade wended their way in a living stream through the narrow thoroughfare, while auctioneers, preachers, musicians, thimble players, &c., vied with all the power of their voices in calling attention from the passers by to their several branches of trade."

Shasta served as the county seat from February 10, 1851^[3] until 1886.

Following the arrival of the railroad and the removal of the county seat to Redding, Shasta went into a long decline. Many buildings were dismantled and their bricks were used in Redding.

Thanks to the efforts of the Shasta Historical Society, the Native Sons of the Golden West, and Mae Helene Bacon Boggs, the remaining structures and ruins were saved and eventually became the Shasta State Historic Park.

References

1. ↑ Smith, Dottie (1999). The Dictionary of Early Shasta County History (2nd ed.). self-published.
2. ↑ Frisbee, Mabel Moores and Jean Moores Beauchamp (1973). "Shasta: The Queen City of the North." Los Angeles: California Historical Society.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Frank, B.F. & H.W. Chappell (1881). The History And Business Directory of Shasta County. Redding: Redding Independent Book and Job Printing House.

External Links

• Official site of Shasta State Historic Park