Around 6 miles west of Redding, California, are the remains of the gold mining town of Shasta. For now, at least, you can visit this wonderful state historic park and take a step back into time. Unfortunately, the state of California has decided to close all the state historic parks since they don't generate much revenue. One volunteer at the museum here said it would cost $22 million to keep them open, or $25 million to put everything into storage. Guess which one they opted for? I'm hoping someone in the California legislature finds a way to keep places like these open to the public. Once the parks are closed, they'll fall into disrepair, and all the history will be more or less lost.
Okay, I'll get off my bandwagon, and just settle down to discussing what we had the opportunity to see here. The sign gave us an idea of what Shasta looked like in the early 1850's. At that time, all the buildings were made out of wood (unless you happened to live in a tent). This busy little town was given the name of Shasta in 1850, and within 2 years, more than $2.5 million worth of gold had passed through here.
Much of the town burned down in December, 1852. They rebuilt the wood structures, and 6 months later, a second fire razed all 70 businesses on Main street. The third time they got smart and built with bricks. Some of the old brick walls remain today, propped up by steel beams in places.
Don is walking along the porch of the Litsch Store Museum, one of the few buildings that are still intact. We got here just as a California state park employee was giving an overview of the store to some new volunteers. We listened to her explanation of the history of this unique place.
Frank Litsch purchased the building for $400 in 1873, and expanded it in 1878 to include clothing, boots, shoes, hats, miner's goods. You could buy almost anything you needed here. The amazing part is that almost all the items are NOT replicas. They are the actual canned goods, shoes, ladies apparel, etc. that were in the store in the late 1880's and the early 1900's.
The oats look a bit familiar? Even back then, the Quaker Oat Company was in business! Most of the canned goods sold for $.25. Twenty pound hams, cured and shipped in large barrels, could be purchased for $3.00.
Mr. Litsch carried a variety of cures for stomach problems. No Tums or Rolaids back then!
The red object is an old coffee grinder. As I'm sitting here typing my blog and drinking a cup of Hazelnut coffee, I'm wondering what their "fancy blended" coffee tasted like.
The store did so well, that in 1875 he rented the store next door to use as a warehouse. For decades, the overstock never was sold, and remained stored away.
An old stove heated the store. Note the spittoon nearby.
Here is a close up of the sign on the stove. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be near one of those guys who chewed and then decided to spit! Gross!
Another section shows all the old (and original) fashion in shoes and spats.
I just had to take a photo of the American Express Sealing Wax. If they still made the sealing wax, I bet there would be some kind of legal suit over rights to the name of American Express. Later on, the store added a post office and installed gas pumps in 1922 to reflect the changing of times. The store was passed down through the family and was kept open as a museum until 1960 when Bob Litsch sold the entire collection to the State of California.
The Coyle-Foster Barn is part of the historic park. It was built in the 1850's and stood in the Trinity area for about 100 years. In 1959, the area was going to be flooded with the building of Trinity dam, so the owner donated it to the state. It was carefully taken apart and reassembled on this site at that time.
For right now, this park will stay open through June of next year, with the help of volunteers. I wish I lived closer so I could take all of my grandchildren through the general store museum before it is closed for good. Walking through the store is so much better than reading about it in a text book. Like the old saying goes: "They don't make them like they used to". Enough said.
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