[ Its population is 1,043 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,771 from the 2010 census.
Shasta State Historic Park located at Shasta is a ]ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...
and California State Historic Park
List of California State Historic Parks — a division of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, for historic sites in California.
List
* Anderson Marsh State Historic Park
* Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park
* Ba ...
.
History
A bustling town of the 1850s through the 1880s, Shasta was for its time, the largest settlement in Shasta County and the surrounding area. Sometimes referred to today as "Old Shasta", the town was an important commercial center and a major shipping point for mule trains and stagecoaches serving the mining towns and later settlements of northern California. The discovery of gold near Shasta in 1848 brought California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...
-era Forty-Niners up the Siskiyou Trail
The Siskiyou Trail stretched from California's Central Valley to Oregon's Willamette Valley; modern-day Interstate 5 follows this pioneer path. Originally based on existing Native American foot trails winding their way through river valleys, t ...
in search of riches - most passed through Shasta, and continued to use it as base of operations. Those that stayed worked the placer gold
Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed (alluvial) deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit (also called open-cast mining) or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment.
Placer mining is frequently used for p ...
diggings of nearby, short-lived camps like Horsetown, Buckeye, and Whiskeytown, California
Whiskeytown was an unincorporated community in Shasta County, California, United States. Although once a bustling mining town, it was flooded to make way for Whiskeytown Lake in 1962, now part of Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreati ...
.
Situated about six miles (10 km) west of Redding, California
Redding is the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California and the county seat of Shasta County. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, and south of California's northern border ...
along Highway 299, Shasta was once home to some 3,500 residents, the county seat, and a thriving commercial district. However, in 1873, the under construction Oregon-bound branch of the Central Pacific Railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the " First transcontinental railroad" in North America. Incor ...
bypassed Shasta, in favor of Redding and the town began its decline into near "ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...
" status. In 1888, Shasta lost the county seat to Redding. By the twentieth century, and after several fires, a distinctive row of gold rush era buildings remained along its Main Street, which attracted preservationists and their efforts to save all the local stories and landscape, and the remaining first generation of 1850s brick and iron door architecture.
The poet Joaquin Miller
Cincinnatus Heine Miller (; September 8, 1837 – February 17, 1913), better known by his pen name Joaquin Miller (), was an American poet, author, and frontiersman. He is nicknamed the "Poet of the Sierras" after the Sierra Nevada, about which h ...
refers to Shasta in his 1870s novel, '' Life Amongst the Modocs,'' based on the experiences of Miller as a young man living in the area in the 1850s. In this book, Miller describes his brief imprisonment in a Shasta jail for horse-stealing and subsequent escape with the aid of his Native American wife.
Shasta State Historic Park
The site of the town is now a California State Historic Park
List of California State Historic Parks — a division of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, for historic sites in California.
List
* Anderson Marsh State Historic Park
* Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park
* Ba ...
called Shasta State Historic Park, containing many of the original 19th century brick buildings, partially restored. Shasta is now a town with the ruins of the gold mining town, a post office, a church, the oldest Masonic lodge in California, and a store.
The park was damaged by the Carr Fire
The Carr Fire was a large wildfire that burned in Shasta and Trinity Counties in California, United States. The fire burned , before it was 100% contained late on August 30, 2018. The Carr Fire destroyed at least 1,604 structures (at least 1, ...
in 2018, during which the elementary school was destroyed and the brewery and cemetery were damaged.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
, the CDP covers an area of 11.0 square miles (28.4 km), 99.96% of it land and 0.04% of it water.
Demographics
The 2010 United States Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...
reported that Shasta had a population of 1,771. The population density was . The racial makeup of Shasta was 1,612 (91.0%) White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 11 (0.6%) African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 37 (2.1%) Native American, 23 (1.3%) Asian, 1 (0.1%) Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 7 (0.4%) from other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 80 (4.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino of any race were 56 persons (3.2%).
The Census reported that 1,771 people (100% of the population) lived in households, 0 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.
There were 723 households, the average family size was 2.79.
The population was spread out, with 339 people (19.1%) under the age of 18, 96 people (5.4%) aged 18 to 24, 291 people (16.4%) aged 25 to 44, 716 people (40.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 329 people (18.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 50.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.7 males.
There were 782 housing units at an average density of , of which 621 (85.9%) were owner-occupied, and 102 (14.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.5%. 1,507 people (85.1% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 264 people (14.9%) lived in rental housing units.
Politics
In the state legislature
A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system.
Two federations literally use the term "state legislature":
* The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...
Shasta is in , and .
Federally, Shasta is in .
Notable people
* Jim Hanks
James Mefford Hanks (born June 15, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has played numerous minor roles in film and guest appearances on television, and often does voice substitution work for his older brother Tom Hanks (most notably Sheri ...
, actor, brother of Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
, was born in Shasta.
* Bronco Charlie Miller, horse trainer and Pony Express rider
References
External links
Official Shasta State Historic Park websiteMuseum of the Siskiyou Trail website
{{authority control
California State Historic Parks
Census-designated places in Shasta County, California
Mining communities of the California Gold Rush
Museums in Shasta County, California
History of Shasta County, California
Open-air museums in California
History museums in California
Ghost towns in California
Parks in Shasta County, California
Populated places established in 1848
1848 establishments in California
Census-designated places in California