The Baldwin Block ~ Part II

This is an article that originally appeared in the February/March 1984 edition of the Yreka Echoes Newsletter.  The article was originally written by Hazel Fiock Ohlund.  Copyright by Yreka (Historic) Preservation.  Reprinted by permission. Please note some of the businesses are no longer at the locations mentioned.  [Part 1 can be found in the previous blog article.]

Below is Part 2 of the article:

            In 1904 the Walker-Avery Drug moved across the street from the Baldwin Block, and in 1905 was replaced by W. H. Smith’s General Merchandise Store which featured heavy clothing and hardware items.  (Mr. Smith had purchased Shone’s secondhand store on Main Street when he closed out in 1904.)  Mr. Smith carried, also, furniture, carpets, crockery, upholstery goods, picture frames, bicycles, groceries and meat.  During the year the store building was sold by the Julien family to Miles Buckner.

                In 1908 a barber shop was in operation here, followed by Mrs. McCormick who operated a needle-craft shop.  In 1913 the business was purchased by Mrs. Nettie (Davidson) McGill and Miss Hattie Davidson (aunts of Mrs. Gladys Zolskey of Yreka).  They expanded the business to include ladies clothing.  In 1937 Hattie Davidson became the sole owner of the business and building, operating it until 1950.  She lived in a three-room apartment upstairs in back of the store.  A fire damaged a part of the apartment and the back of the store, but she renovated and continued in business.

            When Miss Davidson bought the building in 1937, she had a partition built on the west side of the store, making a small ten-foot room that she rented to the Western Union, which was managed by Arthur Zolskey for thirty-two years.

            Wes and Ellen McMillan bought the building from Miss Davidson’s brother, William, on March 16, 1950 and opened a Westinghouse appliance sales and service store.  They too, lived in the apartment in the back and rented the smaller room to the west.  Homer Atchley, a realtor, had an office here until his death in 1973.   After the McMillan's retired they rented the store to Mrs. Ray Taylor who operated a health food store until 1965, when Ohlund’s Office Supply moved in after the Warren’s Building fire, where they were previously  renting.

            Ohlund’s established the office machine service department in the former apartment.  In 1973 Bob and Hazel Ohlund bought the building, lowered the ceiling, redecorated and removed the partition that separated Homer Atchley’s office, to allow for expansion and accommodate more office furniture, machines, and inventory.

The following is an “updated addendum” from 1984:

            Ohlund’s at 204-206 W. Miner Street is the largest and most complete office equipment and supply store in Northern California.  Prompt attention is given to the repair of office machines by their pleasant repairmen, Glen Goodwin, and his son, Glen, Jr.

            Ohlund’s has been in business for 24 years, having purchased a small office supply store from Albert Parrott at 112 South Broadway in 1960.  They moved across the street to the Warrens Building in 1962, and after the fire of 1966, settled in at 204 W. Miner Street.  Hazel and Bob’s son, Barry, became a partner in 1977.

            They have six permanent employees, and two more part-time.  Products are full lines of bond copiers, electronic typewriters, calculators, cash registers, office furniture, general office supplies, and a service   department trained in all modern phases of electronic technology.

Since the update in 1984 many changes have come and gone with the Baldwin Block.  Today, in 2015 one will find the Miner Street Meat Market, Ohlund's Office Supply, and Dinner's Ready.  

Deadwood and Yreka

Yreka vs. Deadwood

   The Fight for the County Seat

 By Claudia East

              It had been a little over a year from the discovery of gold in 1851 on the flats that that Yreka had grown to over 2,000 inhabitants.  Siskiyou County was formed in March of 1852 from parts of Shasta and Klamath Counties and was named after the Siskiyou Mountain Range.  It wasn't long before a county seat needed to be determined for this new county of California.  At the time there were two towns vying for the title; that of Yreka and neighboring Deadwood which was second only to Yreka in population and was located over Greenhorn down towards the Ft. Jones area near McAdams Creek.   

            Deadwood was one of the most important business centers in the county; it was a mining town as well and had three stores, two hotels, a drug store, a butcher shop, three saloons, a bakery, two stables and a dairy.  The first bank to ever open in Siskiyou County was opened in Deadwood according to historical writings.  Many well known local pioneers had businesses in Deadwood and among them were A. B. Carlock, Daniel Ream and M. Rosenberg. 

            Early Yreka was also vibrant with stores, a stage office, brewery, hotels, meat market, hardware store, blacksmith, barbershop, saloons, a church and other places of business.  Unlike Deadwood, Yreka also had permanent residences while most of the miners in the Deadwood area lived in tents and shacks or at the boarding houses. 

            When it came time to choose a County Seat the competition between the two towns was fierce.  It was not readily predictable who would win as it was a large county and folks would have to travel many miles from one part of the county to the other to actually visit the County Seat and take care of government matters, many of them relating to property ownership, court matters and the like.  A story from a local newspaper following the county convention to elect a county seat reported the following:

            The people have spoken, and Yreka has been voted to hold the title of County Seat for the newly formed County of Siskiyou recently named by the California Legislature.  The campaigns were strong and neighboring Deadwood came very close behind Yreka, there are still rumbling accusations of underhanded dealings during the elections.  Apparently Etna had a lower voter turnout and some say it is because of the whisky party that was carried on the night before the election.  Plans will soon be underway for officers of the county and a place to hold official meetings.

            According to some historical information (whether speculated or accurate it is not entirely known…) that Etna being closer to Deadwood would vote in that direction along with others and the whiskey delivered to the voters in Etna was from Yreka.  Some reports tell of the deciding vote to be only one, and other reports simply say it was a very close election.

            In 1861 the majority of the town of Deadwood was burned to the ground in a fire.  Following that fire there were a few buildings remaining and a few residents, but it wasn't long before the town faded from existence.  Deadwood was vibrant for only 10 years, but adds a significant story to the history of our county.  Today the only thing that remains to mark the town site are a few very old fruit trees and one of the first historical monuments placed by the Siskiyou County Historical Society in 1948.  One can visit the site by traveling one of two ways.  Travel Highway 3 towards Ft. Jones and turn on McAdams Creek Road before entering the town limits of Ft. Jones.  Simply following this road will eventually take one to Forest Service Road 45N49 turn and travel a few car lengths to the monument.  The second route would be to simply travel up Greenhorn Road from Yreka and continue over the mountain and back down and look for Forest Service Road 45N49.  The monument is visible from the road if you know where to look, but the most identifiable marks will be the open flat area the town site was located and a few ancient fruit trees on the side of a hill.

            Note:  This author  is sad to report that this historic monument has been the recent target of vandals, the monument was restored a few years ago with the help of E Clampus Vitus, Humbug Chapter, along with the Siskiyou County Historical Society to repair earlier damage, but again it has been targeted by vandals shooting bullets at the bronze plaque.

DeWitt and Peters Building 1897-98

Currently standing on the corner of Miner and North Oregon Streets, The DeWitt and Peters Building broke ground in the fall of 1897 and the building was completed in 1898 at a cost less than $7,000. Prior to this building being constructed a portion of the lot was vacant and the east half of the lot was occupied by the old Yreka Brewery owned by G. H. Peters. In the 1850s the original Yreka Bakery stood on the west half of this lot on Miner and Oregon Streets according to research conducted by Robert Noonan in 1976 in his publication Yreka's West Miner Street Buildings, Blocks 200 - 300, 1851 - 1900.

The Yreka Journal on September 24, 1897 ran an article on this "new" building designed by Architect, G. W. Cooper. They described the layout of the building to have two new stores on the bottom floor, and a large assembly hall (rented by the Knights of Pythias and other orders...) and offices on the second story. "Mr. DeWitt of the Bee Hive store will occupy the corner and Peters will rent the other portion of the building downstairs." The building was also described as having a large cement cellar to be built in connection with the original cellar once used by the Yreka Brewery on the back portion of the lot. It was also stressed that there would be sidewalk elevators for "lowering and raising goods when wanted." In addition, the paper pointed out that the upper story would likely not be finished until spring as the cold weather might damage the plastering.

The exterior of the building is from red sand stone taken from a quarry at Little Shasta, according to a news article from the Yreka Journal ~ it was the first time this stone was utilized for building purposes in the area. According to further Noonan research (see above) a Mr. Ed Armstrong was in charge of the masonry, and the roof was constructed by the Iunker Brothers.

Today this fine building still stands and is proudly owned by the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks as a lodge. The photo above shows the building as it was in about 1905. Today the lower portion of the building is covered with board and batten siding to conceal the large windows.

You might wish to look at the SketchupbyDawn Blog for the August 14, 2008 post, he has a nice 3-D drawing of the original building. You can link here or check out the Blogs I am watching on the side panel: http://sketchupbydawn.blogspot.com/

For those of you with our book, Yreka, Images of America by Arcadia Publishing you can find other images with this building in the photos on pages 35, 52,and 115.

Copyright: Claudia A. East, 2008.

Yreka ~ a "birds eye view" Circa 1900

Yreka, California Post Card

In the early 1900's postcards were the fast and speedy way to send messages ~ a vintage version of emails with attached photos today! It was quite the rage and folks could "see" images from places far away they had never seen before, like the next county, or part of their own state and beyond.

In 1900 Yreka was described as a "typical mining town" and largely supported economically from the mining interests. In a news article focused on Yreka mining in 1895 from the Woodland Daily Democrat, it mentions a deposit of $10,000 just in one day from the mines in the area. By this time Yreka was connected with the outside world via the Yreka Railroad which met up with the California Pacific Railroad at Montague about 10 miles away. However, even with the railroad in place the "old fashioned" stage coach was still a major choice of travel, especially to outlying areas.

By 1900 Yreka was for most quite a "modern" city. The city water lines were in place, electricity was available, telephone lines were in place in the Courthouse and other areas in town, it was the County Seat so activity at many levels was notable. It was also the major business area for the county. In the photo above at the far left one can see the two story original public school for elementary students, in the center of the photo stands the newly improved County Courthouse with new wing additions from about 1898, along with many homes and business buildings as well as numerous roads leading to and within town. Not viewed in the image but just beyond the right margin the original County High School would have been standing proudly. (See earlier blog entry for image of High School)

A curious bit of information about Yreka happened every year around early spring. The Fire Department would wash down the main city business street, Miner Street, (getting rid of the mud and gunk ~ the streets were dirt) from the winter. Enterprising Yrekans would go down the hill a few blocks to Yreka Creek, where the slush was headed... and hunt for gold nuggets. The story goes that miners would drop small nuggets as they headed in and out of the numerous saloons along Miner Street...

Yreka was strongly connected to San Francisco at this time, as it was the major stopping point between San Francisco and Portland via the inland route. Much of the "outside worldly goods, news, and information" came from San Francisco and merchants regularly traveled back and forth for the newest techological wonders, fashions, household items and the like. San Francisco based newspapers (as well as Oakland) often included articles on happenings in Yreka and about prominant people from the area. When Yreka suffered major damage in a fire of 1871, the people of San Francisco generously donated to the city to help businesses rebuild and recouperate. When San Francisco suffered the great 1906 earthquake, Yrekans returned the favor. It is a little known fact, that Yreka gave more money per capita than any other city in the country following the "Great Quake".

Copyright: Claudia A. East, 2008.

Murder in the Wild West! 1864

One can only imagine the events described below as happening in the Wild West! Although the description is of events that happened on the streets of San Francisco, it was all about a man who lived in Yreka... The following is edited from a old news article from 1864...

It seems one Bill Davis, a noted gambler, who resides here at Yreka, was interested in and drove a horse race, which came off at Placerville on the 15th of June, and “throwed” the race, making some $4,500 by it. Hank Stevens, Ball, Dutch Abe, and Spanish Bob, four “sports” backed Davis’s horse and got broke; swore vengeance, killing on sight. On the 18th they all arrived in San Francisco (except Davis) and publicly said they were going to shoot Davis on sight. On the 21st, Davis came to town, and at two o’clock, P.M. was sitting having his boots polished, in a black’s adjoining the Fashion when Ball and Dutch Abe came to the door, and looking in exclaimed, “Here’s the dirty thief now,” and drawing their revolvers, commenced shooting. Davis jumped out of the chair, with one boot polished, and drawing his revolver, fired, and Ball fell dead across an iron grating. Davis then jumped out on the sidewalk, laughingly saying, “You’ve made a mistake,” and fired at Dutch Abe, the ball taking effect in his right breast. He fell, when Davis ran and caught the revolver from Ball’s hands, saying, as he walked towards the door of the Fashion, “Where’s the rest of you murderers?” – Blood was running down Davis’s left hand from the arm and also down the right cheek. As he was on the point of entering the door, he was met by Stevens and Spanish Bob, when Davis raised the revolver in his right hand and fired twice. Stevens fell, and Spanish Bob jumped over him on the sidewalk and fired. Davis staggering, but recovering, they (Davis and Spanish Bob) commenced in good earnest, each striving to fire a deadly shot. Davis was laughing all the time.

They then commenced firing at each other, about twenty feet apart. After Davis had fired two shots he threw his revolver at Bob, and changing the revolver he took from Ball into his right hand, he raised it, and it snapped three times; the fourth time it went off, and Bob fell. Davis had fallen before this, and was lying on his breast on the banquette. Davis threw the revolver into the street, saying, “Hell and furies, damn the thing.” He then pulled a Derringer, and both (only having one shot each) began crawling towards each other on their stomachs. When about five feet apart they both raised partly up and fired simultaneously, when Bob’s head fell, and he remained perfectly still. Davis then said, crawling towards Bob, “He’s gone, I cooked him,” and then partly turned on his side and tried to rise.

On examination, Ball and Spanish Bob were dead; Dutch Abe and Stevens mortally sounded, the first having been shot through the right lung, causing internal hemorrhage. The latter was shot through the left breast.

Spanish Bob had four wounds on him—two in the right breast, one in the right arm, and one between the eyes. Ball had a ball in his heart. Davis has six wounds—two in right leg, one in right breast, one in left shoulder, one in left wrist, (through) and one in right cheek, where a bullet had struck the cheek bone and glanced off, cutting out a piece of flesh of the size of a ten cent piece.

Stevens died on the 24th, at forty minutes past ten A.M. Dutch Abe died the morning before. Doctors say Davis will certainly recover.

Source: Weekly Standard, Raleigh, North Carolina. September 14, 1864. Page 1.