Dunsmuir's History

Care to take a walk with me on a pretty spring day in 1927?

Dunsmuir is a great town for walking and I'll show you how far the town has come since it was founded back in 1886. You know the hills and curves in our streets still reflect the footpaths of the native people who were here for countless years. The Siskiyou Trail that ran from California to Oregon followed those paths. Alexander McLeod, a Hudson's Bay trapper from Vancouver explored here as early as 1828 and other trappers, prospectors, surveyors, gold seekers and freight wagons followed him. It's hard to imagine that Ewing Young drove a herd of cattle right through this rugged canyon on the way to settlements in Oregon in 1837 - even before the government sent scientists and map-makers to the area in 1841.

Let's walk on up Front Street (which will someday be called Sacramento Avenue). That's the Southern Pacific railroad yard we're walking past now and beyond it is the Sacramento River. The Central Pacific Railroad called this spot "Pusher" because this is where they added extra pusher locomotives to trains going north over the Siskiyou range. They built the roundhouse, turntable, depot, machine shops and rail yard in the late 1880s. That fountain there in the grassy area by the depot was a gift from a British Columbia coal baron back in 1887. He asked that the town be named for his family and promised the fountain. You should see the size of the rainbow trout in the pool under it! Someday it will be moved to the city park and continue bubbling water for well over 100 years.

These business buildings we're walking past on Front Street were built after a big fire swept through here in 1903. It's amazing how the town rose from the ashes and rebuilt all the services needed by the railroad so quickly. You know Dunsmuir was designated as the headquarters for the railroad's Shasta Division back in 1916. The Shasta Division is famous for being the smallest but most rugged of any on the Southern Pacific system. We were incorporated as a California city in 1909 and the town was already thriving. Our newspaper started publishing in 1890; our first bank opened up in 1904, our elementary school opened its doors in 1887, our Masonic lodge was founded in 1889, our volunteer fire company was organized in 1897, and our first electrical plant started operating in 1891 - powered by the waters of the Sacramento River.

Here's Cedar Street. It's a steep one but let's go on up and I'll tell you about Florence Avenue at the top of the hill. You know it used to be called Back Street - the other side of Front Street - and was lined with homes of the railroad workers and business people. Then about 1912, when automobiles started to come through, it became Highway 99 and started being called Florence Avenue. Another fire in 1924 took most of the homes and it was a devastating blow to the town. But it rose out of the ashes again. And when it did - because of the highway - the new structures were business buildings instead of homes. That's why buildings on this street reflect the 1920s style of architecture that's so different from the ones on Front Street. Folks say that someday this street will be called Dunsmuir Avenue and Highway 99 won't pass through here anymore. They say those noisy autos will run past Dunsmuir on a super highway and then we can keep our leisurely pace and quiet lifestyle. Well, we'll still have the railroad sounds though.

It's great how the railroad has promoted tourism to our area. They started publicizing railroad excursions to the famous resorts in our area back in the 1880s and now in the 1920s they still run special trains to bring visitors from far and wide. They come for our wonderful climate, superb fishing, scenic beauty, and the healing waters at well known resorts such as Shasta Springs and Shasta Retreat. Folks say it won't go on forever, since more and more tourists are coming by automobile. But for now we're even getting some famous visitors; presidents and actors and sports heroes - Clark Gable was here, and Claudette Colbert, and even Babe Ruth was here just three years ago and played an exhibition game at our ball park.

Anyway, our town is in full blossom now in the 1920s. Population is now 3100 and it's growing. The railroad employs almost 1000 and I've heard predictions that by the 1950s there will be over 70 steam locomotives in daily operation here. There are rumors that someday the railroad will be the Union Pacific.

Well here we are at Pine Street and if you go down the hill toward the river you'll find yourself back at the railroad depot where we started. Hope you've enjoyed our walk and my little history lecture. Dunsmuir is a lively town and you'll see it go through many changes in the remaining years of the twentieth century. I'll bet that in the twenty-first century it will still be here and still be just as fascinating.

Have a great day!

"Ron McCloud owns Dunsmuir's oldest continuous business, Dunsmuir Hardware, which dates to 1894. He and co-author Deb Harton are presently writing a history of Dunsmuir which is scheduled for publication in 2010."