Photographs
House at Fort Jones
Stephen Hall Meek
Chinese Miner
Fort Jones Stage
Hooperville School, Indian Creek
Stagecoach, Pokegama to Klamath Falls
SPRR Sacramento Canyon
Shasta Springs Rotary Snowplow
Slab wheel log wagon
Pokegama Log Chute
Chinatown, Yreka
CA-OR Railroad
Siskiyou County Courthouse
Miner Street, Yreka
3rd Street, Yreka
Young ladies of Fort Jones
Dipnet fishing, Ishi-Pishi Falls
Basket Maker
White deer skin dancers
White deer skin dancer
Freight wagons and teams at Sisson
Stage Hold-up at Robbers Rock
Stories
John Muir on Mount Shasta
Lost Cities: Deadwood
Lost Cities: Tailholt
Lost Cities: Klamathon
Cattle Buying
Gazelle
Winter of 1889-90
While gold and mining continued as an economic force in Siskiyou County during the last quarter of the ninteenth century, the expansion of ranching and logging brought more settlers to the area.The Southern Pacific Railroad line was built, following a survey begun in 1855 by U.S.Army Corps of Topographical Engineers which determined the best route for a railway from the Sacramento Valley to the Columbia River, Oregon Territory. When construction ended in 1887, there was a celebration in Ashland, with dignitaries from Portland and San Francisco driving the golden spike.
With the coming of the railroad in the late 1880's. Shasta Springs, just north of Dunsmir, became a popular destination resort and railroad stop. The town of Dunsmuir got it's name in 1886 when Canada's Alexander Dunsmuir fell in love with the town (then named Pusher after the pusher engines that would be attached to push a train uphill on the northbound runs) and promised the town a water fountain if they named the town after his family. In 1897, the town of McCloud was established by George W. Scott and William VanArsdale, founders of the McCloud River Railroad Company.
Other web sites of interest:
- Writings by John Muir at the College of the Siskiyous Mount Shasta Collection web site: including Modoc Memories (1874), Notes from Shasta (1877), Salmon Breeding (1874), Shasta Bees (1874), Snow Storm on Mount Shasta (1877) and others.
- The Legend of Shasta Springs, also from the College of the Siskiyous Mount Shasta Collection web site.
- The Siskiyou Trail: The Archaeology of an Emigrant Wagon Road, from Southern Oregon University.
- Dunsmuir History page and links at the Dunsmuir Chamber of Commerce web site.
- How Dunsmuir got its Name by local historian Larry Cook.
- Historic Dunsmuir Railroad Photos from local photographer Bob Morris.
- McCloud River Railroad historic and present day information put together by rail fan Craig Nolan.
- The Online Archive of California (OAC), part of the California Digital Library initiative.
- Histories of the Oregon Railroading on the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society web site, with some information on lines into California and Siskiyou County.
- The Shasta Route Connecting Oregon and California by Passenger Rail from Hans-Joachim Zierke....an informative web presentation on building a railroad from the Columbia River to the Sacramento over the years 1868 to 1887.
- Historical Photograph Collection: This digitized library of photographs, drawn from the historic photograph collection of CSU Chico's Meriam Library, is keyword searchable. Browsing headings include: county, name of person or place, and photographer.
- Siskiyou County Schools History, photographs, histories and records on county school history.
- Siskiyou County Map c. 1895, interesting place names, many now lost to contemporary cartography....Coles, Schlitz, Igerha, Snowden and more.
- Siskiyou Cemeteries Online, indexing the stones and markers of cemeteries in the county.
- California Heritage Collection at U. C. Berkeley - more than 30,000 images illustrating California's history and culture.
- The Significance of Mount Shasta as a Visual Resource from the College of the Siskiyous, including At Sisson's with Bierstadt, Hill, Keith, and Muir 1860s-1870s, The San Francisco Art Boom 1860s-1880s and others.
- Newspaper and Local History Databases from the Siskiyou County Library - searches The Siskiyou County Obituary Index 1854 to the present, and the Siskiyou Historical Society's annual Siskiyou Pioneer Yearbooks. Does not display the articles, but lets you know where to go in library archives to find specific stories.