Red Dog, California

Red Dog (also known as Brooklyn or Brooklin) was a California gold rush mining town located in the Gold Country in south-central Nevada County, California, United States, 6 mi (9.7 km) northeast of Chicago Park. Red Dog Hill, a mine and campsite, was founded by three men all under the age of 22, and was named by their youngest, a 15-year-old prospector. As mining operations grew, the campsite became a settlement, and then a town with a population of 2,000 residents,[2] before it was eventually abandoned. Still considered important today, Red Dog Townsite is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Red Dog has been noted for its unusual place name.[3]

Red Dog
Former settlement
Red Dog Location of Red Dog in California
Coordinates: 39°13′00″N 120°53′58″W
Country	United States
State	California
County	Nevada
Elevation [1]	2,615 ft (797 m)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
Red Dog Townsite
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Show map of California Show map of the United States
Location	Address Restricted, Nevada City, California
NRHP reference No.	01000968
Added to NRHP	September 14, 2001

History

While prospecting in 1850, three young men, all aged 21 or younger, discovered gold on a hill on the east side of Greenhorn ridge. The two from Arkansas, Henry Jacob Stehr and the Irishman Joseph Chew (or Chow),[2] named the ravine after their home state of Arkansas. Charles ("Charlie") Wilson of Illinois, the youngest of the three at age 15, named the hill "Red Dog" after a zinc mine.[4]

Mining campsites began to form in Red Dog as well as other places nearby such as Chalk Bluff (1.5 mi (2.4 km) away), Hunt's Hill, Little York and You Bet (1 mi (1.6 km) away).[5] Their existence was tied to ongoing mining operations. Red Dog Mining Company's Mine was situated at an elevation of 2,910 ft (890 m) above sea level and expanded over 200 acres (0.81 km²). It used water powered through Old Chalk Bluff ditch from the head of Deer Creek.[6]

Red Dog evolved from a campsite into a settlement by 1851. During the next four years, it became an active and progressive mining town,[7] replete with a department store, hotel, restaurant, professional buildings, lodges, and homes.[8] Eventually, the miners of Chalk Bluff moved to Red Dog, and the town decided to rename itself "Brooklyn" (sometimes spelled "Brooklin"). When a post office was established in 1855, it was the post office's decision to stick with the name Red Dog, as Brooklyn, California already existed in Alameda County.[9][10]

Several times, the town was devastated by fire; each time, it was rebuilt. The fire of January 1859 resulted in an $8,600 loss. The fire of August 1862 destroyed most of the town's business district, resulting in a $50,000 loss.[11]

An Odd Fellows Lodge preceded the building of a Masonic Lodge, which opened on the east side of Main Street in 1862.[12] In 1863, Main Street and Plumb Street had two general variety stores, a hardware and tin shop, a shoemaker's shop, butcher's shop, blacksmith's shop, dressmaker's shop, two hotels, three saloons, and stands for fruit and liquor.[13] Macy & Martin of Red Dog are credited with inventing a rifled nozzle for hydraulic mining in 1863, an improvement subsequently used by all hydraulic nozzles.[14]

Red Dog was on Mark Twain's 1866 lecture tour that started and ended in San Francisco, October 1 to December 10. Twain lectured in Red Dog on October 24, which marked the first time he was introduced as Mark Twain rather than Samuel Clemens. An old miner who introduced Twain in Red Dog said he only knew two things about him—that he'd never been in a penitentiary and that, "I can't imagine why." The lecture focused on Twain's travels to the Sandwich Islands.[15]

By 1867, the town had four cement Stamp mills,[16] including Wright & Company, and Cozzens, Garber & Company.[17] But the continuous rains of 1867–68 washed away the mine's hydraulic ditches and flumes destroying much of the town. Many of the approximately 300 residents left, and many of the buildings, including the Odd Fellows Lodge, were moved to You Bet.[7][10] The post office remained until 1869. While three cement mills were operating in Red Dog in 1873, including Wier & Garber, Williams & Riggs, and Wright & Company,[18] the Mason's Lodge closed.

Red Dog Cemetery is the only part of the town that remains today.[10] It is located on You Bet Road near Red Dog Road in what is now Nevada City.[19] Stehr (died 1881), Stehr's son, Chew (died 1900) and three of Chew's brothers are buried there.[2]

Landmark

Red Dog was designated by the state as a California Point of Historical Interest (No. N2143) on May 9, 1975.[20]

On September 14, 2001, the Red Dog Townsite was designated a landmark (No. 01000968) by the National Register of Historic Places. Owned by the Federal government, and address restricted, the townsite was honored for its 1850–99 information potential in community planning, development, commerce, settlement and exploration; as well as the social history of those who emigrated to the town, such as the Chinese.[8]

Nevada County also designated Red Dog as a Historical Point of Interest (No. 25).[21]

See also

• California Gold Rush
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Nevada County, California

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Red Dog, California
2. "RED DOG CEMETERY, Nevada County, CA". usgwarchives.net. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
3. Thompson, George E. (1 July 2009). You Live Where?: Interesting and Unusual Facts about where We Live. iUniverse. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4401-3421-0.
4. Brower, Maria E. (2006). Gold Rush Towns of Nevada County. Arcadia Publishing. p. 90. ISBN 0-7385-4692-5.
5. Raymond, Rossiter W. (1869). The Mines of the West. New York: J.B. Ford & Co. pp. 30. red dog nevada county.
6. Crawford, J.J. (1894). 12th Report of the State Mineralologist. Sacramento: California State Mining Bureau. p. 261.
7. Cronise, Titus Fey (1868). The natural wealth of California comprising early history; geography, topography, and scenery; climate; agriculture and commercial products; geology, zoology, and botany; mineralogy, mines, and mining processes; manufactures; steamship lines, railroads, and commerce; immigration, population and society; educational institutions and literature; together with a detailed description of each county. San Francisco: H.H. Bancroft & Co. pp. 236. red dog california mine.
8. "Red Dog Townsite (added 2001 – Site #01000968)". nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
9. Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Quill Driver Books. p. 544. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.
10. Browne, Juanita Kennedy (1990). Nuggets of Nevada County History. Nevada City, California: Nevada County Historical Society. pp. 18–20. ISBN 0-915641-00-3.
11. "History of Nevada City". nevadacityca.gov. Archived from the original on July 23, 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
12. "The Masonic Lodge in Red Dog, Nevada County, Calif., 1862–1872 Mount Carmel Lodge, No. 155, F. & A. M." ancestry.com. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
13. Leete, Harley M. (2006). Sketches of the Gold Country. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 29–30. ISBN 1-4286-5919-6.
14. California journal of mines and geology. California. State Mining Bureau, California. Division of Mines and Geology (Oct 10, 2007 ed.). 1882. p. 70.CS1 maint: others (link)
15. "Mark Twain in His Times -- First Lecture Tour". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
16. Hittell, Theodore Henry (1897). History of California. 3. N.J. Stone & Company. p. 88.
17. "Bean's History & Directory of Nevada County, California, 1867". calarchives4u.com. Archived from the original on 2009-11-17. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
18. Raymond, Rossiter Worthington (1872). Statistics of mines and mining in the states and territories west of the Rocky Mountains: being the [1st–8th] annual report of Rossiter W. Raymond, U.S. commissioner of mining statistics (Digitized Sep 10, 2007 ed.). Govt. Print. Office. pp. 466. hunt's hill california.
19. "Historic Cemeteries". cagenweb.com. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
20. "Red Dog Townsite". parks.ca.gov. Archived from the original on 2010-01-28. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
21. "List of Landmarks and Dedicated Sites". mynevadacounty.com. February 1999. Retrieved 2009-06-28.