McCloud, CA: The Hidden Historic Mill-Town

If you find yourself heading east or west on highway 89 in Northern California, blink and you might miss this town with a lot of history and a lot of potential…

*The Historic McCloud Hotel. Photography by Gregory Farrar.*

If we spend enough time in a place, sometimes we can forget how special it might be. To some, a small and sleepy mountain town with a historic past, doesn’t have enough excitement or noise that most city dwellers are used to. McCloud, CA has been near and dear to myself and I know many others in my family. Although most of us live in many different places sometimes thousands of miles away (myself included), McCloud represents many memories. There are times where I think about getting a break from it all and the hustle and bustle that can be overwhelming at times. It’s not necessarily the business, because there is always something to keep you busy if you try hard enough regardless of whether you’re in the city, out in the country, or up in the mountains.

There are times where I’ve found myself wanting to get away from living in major metropolitan areas, tired of the endless commuting of stop and go traffic. I find myself missing the mountain air, the natural beauty of the Shasta National Forest, the many lakes and rivers of Siskiyou County, and the gorgeous mountain views of the surrounding ranges and volcanic peaks. My family has been coming to this area since the 1960’s. One of my great grandfathers built a house, that still stands today. Two of my Uncles climbed and reached the Summit of Mount Shasta, and my grandparents have built and lived on an off-grid paradise. I can think back about the many trips throughout the years, in the summers and in the winters, for holidays and many birthdays.

To me, this area has always represented a home away from home, a refuge, and a place of rest. As I’ve gotten older , I’ve recognized by own need for balance. Just as you go out into the world to try to make your mark, I know that I at least need to return to a familiar place where I can find solitude, peace, and a chance to disconnect. McCloud and the surrounding area has been that for me on a number of occasions, and it’s a place I see myself returning to for many years to come and maybe more frequently.

*The Stoney Brook Inn.* *Photography by Gregory Farrar.*

Throughout the past two decades, I’ve passed though this town many times, and as an adult, I find myself trying to capture it through photography and videography. Even Historic towns change and shift as the years go on, and from what I can gather, McCloud has historically gone through periods of booms and slowdowns. The historic town dates back to it’s incorporation in 1895, although explorers and trappers from the Hudson Bay Company first arrived in the 1820s, and the various local tribes including the Winto/Wintu people have lived on the surrounding land for even longer.

What has constantly fed the booms and slowdowns throughout the past has been the surrounding timber which fueled McCloud’s Historic lumber mill. (I plan to hopefully capture the Historic Building in a post down the line, so stay tune for that.) Over the decades ownership of the Mill, the railroad, and sometimes even the town itself, changed a number of times. The McCloud River Lumber Company was sold to the U.S. Plywood Company in 1963, which followed by transferring much of the town’s properties to private owners, including the townsfolk, in 1965. The U.S. Plywood company merged with Champion International Corporation and in 1979 closed the Timber mill down.

*The Axle Rose Pub House & Grill. Photography by Gregory Farrar.*

The following year in 1980, P&M Cedar Products, Inc. bought the mill and reopened the lumber facility and began producing pencil stock as well as other wood products until 2002, when the mill closed for good. In the 2000s, the town and its residents where approached by Nestle with a proposal to create one of the countries largest water productions facilities by tapping into the aquifer fed by the mountain that runs beneath the town. The residents voted overwhelmingly “no” over concerns of the impact of what that level of production could cause over the natural resources of the region. For now, the mill that once ran for over 100 years, has been quiet. Used for various purposes, events, storage, and is now managed by companies acting as stewards over the forests, the land, and the legacy of this Historic Mill-town.

*The McCloud Hotel. Photography by Gregory Farrar.*

It is my hope and belief that McCloud, has an immense amount of potential, but that potential comes with whether or not the proper balance can be maintained between preservation of it’s Nationally Registered Historic Downtown District, including 17 recognized buildings, it’s present and future residents, and the many small and independently owned businesses working to establish tourism, that was ravaged by Covid and the closing of the excursion and Dinner train service that started operating in the mid-1990s. With the right shared vision, a pool of local support, and investors that can walk the line and support the people that inhabit the town, McCloud can capture that sleepy historic, mountain town that is steeped in its legacy under the slopes of Mt. Shasta.

Below you’ll find just a snapshot of the town’s beauty as told through only some of the surviving historic buildings and structures that line Main St, including the town’s focal point of the Mercantile Building. The next time you find yourself on highway 89 in northern California heading east or west, I hope you stop by this hidden gem, and support the businesses working to keep its legacy alive.

To find out more about McCloud’s history and what’s happening these days, check out the McCloud’s Chamber of Commerce website, https://www.mccloudchamber.com/ourhistory.