Tehama County California

Tehama County, Organized in 1856. Bounded north by Shasta, east by Piumas, southeast by Butte, south by Colusa, and west by Mendocino and Trinity. Area, 2,800 square miles. Assessed valuation of property for 1874, $3,878,625. Population about 6,000.

County seat, Red Bluff. Principal towns, Belle Mills, Tehama and Vina.

The resources of the county are varied and extensive, the broad valley of the Sacramento being susceptible of a high degree of tillage. The vineyards are celebrated for their fine grapes and wines; cattle raising and wool growing is carried on extensively, and the grand forests of the Sierra supply a large trade in lumber, the latter business being facilitated by V flumes, a novel and very efficient mode of transportation from mountain to valley. The means of intercommunication are excellent, the noble Sacramento, a navigable stream, from crosses the county north to south, and the California and Oregon Railroad in like manner passes through it from the southeast, crossing the river at Tehama, and extending north on the west bank.

The county extends from a high elevation in the Sierra, crossing the Sacramento Valley, and ascends the eastern slope of the Coast Mountains. The eastern portion some parts, is rocky and barren, arid in others is clothed with noble forests of pine. The valley in the southern part is broad and fertile, and in the northern the basaltic table lands approach the river from the east, and the spurs of the Coast Range extend to it from the west, leaving but little arable land. Several small streams flow out of the western hills, and along them are beautiful and fertile valleys, the chosen places of abode of farmers and stock growers.

Gold is found in small quantities in the Sierra Nevada, and salt and medicinal springs of value exist in the Coast Range, to which can probably be added mines of quicksilver and other metals, as such are developed in the range further south. Lassen's Peak stands at the northeast corner of the county, and is a most conspicuous object, being visible from every point in the valley, it is the cone of an extinct volcano, rising to an elevation of 10,577 feet above the sea, and is a noted landmark to travelers passing up or down the Sacramento. The river is navigable to Red Bluff, which offers cheap transportation to produce and merchandise, but since the construction of the railroad, steamers have not ascended above Tehama

Officers: C. P. Braynard, County Judge; William B. Parker, Clerk, Recorder, and Auditor; Jerome Banks, District Attorney Tax; C. A. Sleeth, Sheriff, and Collector; J. C. Tipton, Treasurer; Eby, Jackson Assessor; H. B. Shackelford, Surveyor; S. S. Thomas, Coroner and Public Administrator; C. D. Woodman, Superintendent Public Schools.

California Gazetteer | AHGP California

Source: Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1876-78, Compiled by Henry G. Langley, San Francisco, 1875