Gold rush miners settled many towns in Siskiyou County, Calif., but not the little town of Tailholt, born in 1888 to serve the lumber industry. It was positioned at the end of the railroad in Shasta Valley, on the east side of today’s Interstate 5. At least a dozen lumber mills existed where present-day Ball Mountain Road is located.
Tailholt responded to a booming lumber business and became the center of life for loggers and mill workers. Tailholt also had a flour mill, one of seven gristmills established in Siskiyou County by 1878 to serve local farmers. It’s said that Siskiyou County produced 21,000 barrels of flour and 2,800 bushels of ground corn.
Tailholt had the usual businesses, including post office, stores, blacksmith harness shop, slaughterhouse and meat market, saloons, and even a racetrack. When baseball was the rage in the 1880s and 90s, Tailholt designed its own ball field.
Tailholt changed with the timber industry, and by the 1920s, very little of the town’s businesses remained. The post office was moved west, to the Soule ranch.
Today Tailholt is gone.
Sources: Dias, Kathy. SiskiyouHistory.org. Siskiyou County Historical Society. Web. 25 July 2014 Management Plan February 1996 . Klamath Bucket Brigade. Web. 25 July 2014.
