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Viola is located in eastern Shasta County and was named for Viola Loomis, mother of Benjamin Loomis. Benjamin homesteaded land in the area in 1888. When the Viola Post Office was established in 1898, Benjamin's wife Estella Loomis became its...

Meet Shasta College field archaeology students (from left to right) Jake Ackerly, Rodney Sanders and Virginia Mike-Mercado. They are hard at work in their "unit" in an attempt to find remains of the historic Smith ranch house that once stood...

Everything I know about the "houses of ill-repute" in yesterday's mystery photo was told to me by Maxine Bidwell Summers who was born, raised, and lived almost her entire life in the Fall River Valley. Maxine, however, doesn't call it...

"Tidepool" guessed it correctly as being located on Bridge Street in Fall River Mills. Congratulations Tidepool! Thank you everyone for playing, and thank you River City Java for providing the winner with a $10 gift certificate and a beautiful frameable...

Can you guess the street and town where these mystery buildings are located? Welcome to the weekly History Mystery Photo Contest! Because the business once conducted in these buildings was illegal, I will tell you they were once "houses of...

Friend Marilyn Rountree emailed me this photo. My first reaction to it was how formidable the buildings looked - the iron doors and all the brick. And even though we can't see it, the roof tops were most likely covered...

This photo was taken when Millville's Main Street was still a dirt road in the 1880s. That was when Millville was the 3rd most populated Shasta County town and when its citizens attempted to establish Millville as the county seat...

Received the following request from "Mr. Round Barn man" Robert Ingram for the following: "There will be a Round Barn Workday this Friday, March 12th, beginning at 9:00 AM. If all goes well, we should be very close to finishing...

The original 12-room Shingletown Hotel is on the right. It was built in 1854 and destroyed by fire in 1905 and quickly rebuilt. It was located about 1,660 ft. west of the present Shingletown Store. In 1923, Benjamin Loomis purchased...

It no longer exists but this hospital was once located near Little Backbone Creek near Kennett in approximately 1905. Dr. Chester Teass was the company physician for the Mammoth Mine and also the industrial surgeon for the Bully Hill Mine....

The generating plant was constructed in 1890 to supply power to the nearby grist mill, sash and door factory, and to the town. It was also located very close to the place where Lockhart's Ferry had once operated - at...

This house has a very unusual history to tell. It's located in downtown French Gulch on Main Street within the French Gulch Historic District. It is separated from E. Franck & Co. Saloon (that great little historic saloon that has...

The first person to guess is the lucky winner! "Shiloh" won it by guessing it as being located on Main Street in French Gulch. Shiloh also wins two great prizes this week. One is a $10 Gift certificate and the...

Can you guess the street and town where this very historic building is located? Welcome to the weekly History Mystery Photo Contest! If you are the first person to correctly guess the street and town where this mysterious historic building...

It was located on the west side of the present Shasta Courthouse Museum (in the empty lot) at Shasta. The first hotel was destroyed by fire in 1853. It was rebuilt in 1857 of brick as a means of fireproofing;...

When pioneer Simeon Southern added a 2-story addition to his log cabin/trading post/stage station near Hazel Creek in the Sacramento River Canyon and made it into a hotel in 1882, it began attracting the attention of the rich and famous...

Both Taylor and Keswick were major smelter communities at the same time for the Iron Mountain Mine. Taylor was located on the south side of Keswick. Taylor began to grow in 1895 shortly after the ground was broken for the...

It was the fourth powerhouse built by Northern California Power Company. Over 2000 men were employed on its construction which began in 1910; it was completed in 1911. It was built of native stone and was 116 ft. 6 inches...

They sure did! The following items are from the Shasta Courier newspaper in 1862: March 15, 1862: The steamboat Rainbow is making two trips a week above Red Bluff to Readings Ranch, a distance of 50 miles. This has been...

Maria Louise Madeline Coin was the feisty wife of Douglas Cone and lived on the long-established Cone Ranch in Red Bluff. It was said she rode around the ranch on her donkey. She married Douglas in 1889, and when he...

"1225" is our winner who correctly guessed the mystery photo as the Diestelhorst Auto Camp located near the Diestelhorst Bridge and the Sacramento River. Congratulations "1225"! i5trucker almost had it, but not completely. Sorry i5trucker :-( "1225" wins a...

Can you guess what and where this place is located? Welcome to the weekly History Mystery Photo Contest everyone! If you are the first person to correctly guess what and where this mysterious place is located, you'll win a $10...

The following description of the new Chinese "Hong Kong" village at Shasta is from the Shasta Courier newspaper of December 3, 1853: "HONG KONG. Many of our readers, and even a good portion of our townsmen, are unaware of the...

Mary Ann Brown was the widow of abolitionist John Brown. We all learned about John Brown in our history class in elementary school for the part he took in the raid at Harper's Ferry in 1859 and his hanging later...

Mary Ann Brown was the widow of abolitionist John Brown. We all learned about John Brown in our history class in elementary school for the part he took in the raid at Harper's Ferry in 1859 and his hanging later...

OMG, how times have changed! The City of Redding officially adopted the following Ordinance on October 20, 1887: "It shall be unlawful and is hereby declared to be a nuisance for any female to enter any saloon or public place...

On January 16, 1920, Prohibition Amendment XVIII, or the more popularly known "Little Volstead Act" went into effect outlawing the sale of alcoholic beverages. Cottonwoodites obviously did not abide by the law because the town was possessed of "bootleggers everywhere"...

It was first named Shingle Camp for the many shingle-making camps in the area. In 1854 the first Shingletown Store was built. Shingletown was stragetically located at the junction of three popular roads from east to west; the primary road...

Jerry is the last person to do restoration work on the Lady of Justice. He has completed making all of the finishing touches, including painting her the very same color she was way back in 1889 when she stood atop...

deuce560 guessed it correctly as being located "...across Clear Creek just downstream of the old mill site off of Trinity Mountain Rd. about a half mile north of Hwy 299." Everyone who has ever driven to French Gulch has passed...

Can you guess where this mysterious thing/place is located? Welcome to the weekly History Mystery Photo Contest! If you are the first person to correctly guess where this mysterious place is located, you'll win a $10 gift certificate from...

City Attorney.....................................................$240.00 City Clerk..........................................................$220.00 Night Watchman...............................................$1105.00 Marshall.......................................................... $1102.57 Fee to Marshall for killing 9

Robert Ingram of the Fort Crook Historical Society sent me the following request. If you haven't seen the Round Barn at the Fort Crook Museum, this would be a great time to see it. It's very easy to find....

I received an email letting me know the historic Kingsbury ranchhouse at Igo was being demolished today for safety reasons. It suffered more storm damages recently and it was just a matter of time before it fell to the ground...

The Chinese who lived here during the Gold Rush years were very generous during Christmas and other holidays and often gave gifts to the whites which included silk handkerchiefs, embroidered scarves, candies, firecrackers, and a bowl containing a Sacred Lily...

Keswick began as a copper mining town. It was named by Mountain Copper Company for its president Lord William Keswick of London in 1896. Mountain Copper Company was the owner of the now probably world famous Iron Mountain Mine. The...

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Back in the 1800s there were no freezers to freeze perishables such as meat. That's why meat store owner Peter Hoff dug the tunnel into the hillside at Shasta - to keep the beef cold (see yesterday's blog). People also...

The first person to guess won the contest! Chris Wordlow guessed it as the meat locker in Shasta State Historic Park at 9:05 a.m. It was quite an ordeal to take that picture through the iron gate, but I...

Can you guess what and where this mysterious thing/place is located? Welcome to the weekly History Mystery Photo Contest! If you are the first person to correctly guess what and where this mysterious place is located, you'll win a $10...

...because they were the first to use electric power in the French Gulch area. In 1894, the entire workings of the mine were lighted by electricity. In addition, electric bells were used in the lower workings. Water was brought from...

The photo was just sent to me by my friend Marilyn Rountree. It shows the old Hwy. 99 Salt Creek bridge and the new 1940s railroad trestle. The old bridge becomes high and dry when the water gets low at...

Mr. Highway Man (aka Doug Pruitt) asked me if I have heard of a place called "Crespos". I haven't. Have any of my blog readers heard of it? Doug tells me the place would have been located along old Hwy....

Mr. Highway 99 (I called him by the wrong name yesterday - sorry, Doug) has sent me another great photo. It is of the long-gone Salt Creek Lodge, Union 76 station/restaurant/ice cream fountain once located alongside Highway 99 in 1940....

The above photo was sent to me by Mr. Highway Man, also known as Doug Pruitt of Cottonwood. He's the one who keeps me honest on historic bridges and roads in Shasta County. A new Interstate 5 bridge is currently...

Believe it or not, there actually was a tennis court on Iron Mountain in the late 1890s! However, it's long gone. It was a standard sized tennis court and it was built for approximately $300 on the Iron Mountain Mine...

No, he wasn't. However, our John Bidwell was a distant cousin of Chico's John Bidwell. Shasta County's John Horace Bidwell was a goldminer, blacksmith, wagonmaker, and storekeeper. He was also an important early pioneer of Shasta County. Our John Bidwell...

The house was built in either 1854 or 1855 making it one of the very oldest buildings still remaining in Shasta County. It was once owned by Henry Blumb who was the proprietor of the Blumb Bakery up on Main...

"sllyon" corrected guessed the mystery house at 9:29 a.m. as being located on Second Street at Shasta. Second Street is the street at the bottom of the hill behind the Courthouse Museum. I'll have the history of this interesting house...