Miners named Benton and Roades discovered gold in 1893 along the creek running through Harrison Gulch, 50 miles from Redding, Calif.
The town of Harrison Gulch sprung up as population estimates ranged between 1,500 and 2,000 during the boom years of 1896-1906.
In November 1900, the Redding newspaper Daily Free Press reported that Harrison Gulch “was fast coming to the front as one of the best and liveliest mining camps of Shasta County ... populated with a most respectable element.”
Businesses took root quickly, including stores, a school, meat market, hotels and boarding houses. The town had a school and a post office. Two stages ran 10-hour trips to Redding, a 10-hour ride one-way, with stops at Ono and near the Duncan Creek Ranch. A hospital treated accidents and illnesses resulting from heavy quartz mining in the district. The largest mine was the Midas.
The Daily Free Press reported Harrison Gulch residents were “very sociable people; the worst to be said of them is that they were nearly all Democrats.”
Nothing remains of the town today.
Source: Tiel, Elaine. "Gold at Harrision Gulch." The Covered Wagon, 1984, pp. 5-14.
