The toughest mountain to cross for the California-Oregon Stage Company was Scott Mountain.
When the road across Scott Mountain was completed in the early 1860s, the principal freight and hotel center was at Callahans Ranch, now known as Callahan, Calif., just above where the south and east forks of the Scott River join. In those days, men such as W.P. and Peter Bennett packed supplies to miners and settlers throughout the rugged region.
The California-Oregon Stage Company kept an ox team on top of the mountain in the winter, hitching them to a log sled and pulling it back and forth on the road to pack down heavy snows.
The Denny brothers, early farmers and entrepreneurs, transported hay for the oxen from their farm in Noyes Valley six miles away. Albert Denny would load up a wagon hitched to a four-horse team and head out early in the morning, traveling to the Masterson Place and then up the steep incline to the Scott Mountain Summit. He made the rugged roundtrip in one long day.
Source: Denny, Karl V. Siskiyou Pioneer and Yearbook. Vol. 2. Yreka: Siskiyou County Historical Society, 1957. 21, 43. 10 vol.
