Transcripts For CSPAN3 Shasta State Historic Park 20170507

Ones that were oftentimes abandoned between the 1870s and the 1880s when the county seat moved from the courthouse in this building into downtown redding. At shasta state historic park, we share the history of the areas gold rush with our visitors, as well as telling stories of how the area was first settled by the early american pioneers. One of whom was Pearson Martin barton redding who came to the area in the 1840s. At the time, he worked for another prominent california resident, john sutter in the sacramento area, and was with a small group of men early during californias gold discovery on the American River. He realized that the terrain, the geology, and the geography along the American River was very similar to the area that he had passed through earlier, and had established mexicos most Northern Land grant. He came to the area early in and 1848, discovered gold south of here on clear creek. Word soon spread throughout the United States and the world rushed in. Shasta quickly grew. Within the first couple of years of the gold strike here in california millions of dollars , worth of gold passed through shasta. It soon developed from a miner tent city in 1849 to becoming the queen city of the northern mines in a cosmopolitan town not just for miners. Often, that is how area residents truly struck it rich with developing businesses to supply the miners throughout different mining districts. This is shastas main street. Shasta had the Largest Selection of brick buildings north of San Francisco. So, people came from all over the world to strike it rich in shasta. They came out. They were working the gold mines. Many of them have professions back home bakers, blacksmiths. They soon saw that there was a need for bakers and blacksmiths. And they would make a lot more money doing the jobs they did at home than working the mines looking for gold. It was called mining the miners. The ones that really were successful in the town of shasta opened up bakeries, and opened up blacksmith shops, and became very important in the community. Now weve moved down to the general store located on the south end of main street. The general store started as a Family Grocery in 1873. You provided everything that a firstclass Family Grocery would have provided at that time. You can get all of your mining supplies, your shovels, your picks. You have your tobacco whiskey, beer. Anything you would have needed at the time. So, this photo was taken in the 1880s of the store. And when we received the store from the family in the 1960s, we wanted to restore it back to its 1880s condition. So, we really used this photo to help us in our restoration process. And if you look around, we tried o match it down to the last tack. Lori it was the development of technology and transportation that really in the 1870s , spelled the end of shasta when ed the townd develops of redding about five miles east of here. The town really became a ghost town around the turn of the last century when, in the early 1900s, there were maybe only two or three businesses left in shasta. We continue our look at the history of Redding California were people here about earl behrens who served for 30 years as a Political Editor for the San Francisco chronicle. Starting up with growing up in a small, middle sized townre like dding, it was a good learning ground for someone who would have been a journalist. As he got older, he