by Judy E. Bushy
What a joy to receive the brand new, hot off the press publication! Siskiyou County and its MONUMENTS is the name of the latest publication of the Siskiyou County Historical Society.
The unique cover announces that this covers memorials, pillars, plaques, columns, obelisks, cairns, signs and monoliths, and besides that two buildings in Happy Camp are celebrated!
Delighted Despite Delay
You may be wondering why the 2021 book is just coming out, but it should be no surprise to anyone that the Covid and other unforeseen problems impacted the publication, No worried, it was worth waiting for! (Incidentally if you haven’t renewed your membership for 2022 to get the new book for this year, be sure and do so as soon as you can!!
Log High School
The information on the Happy Camp Area starts with the Log High School on E Street and 4th Avenue in Happy Camp. As most old timers in Happy Camp know, the Log High School was “built in 1933 with donated labor and material by the people of Happy Camp on land given by L.H..Newton. Supervised by the High School Building Committee: W.B. Mason, G,R. Humphreys and P.M Toleman.
Karuk People’s Museum
Another site is the Karuk 54256 Second Avenue in Happy Camp. People’s Center Museum (and Gift Shop) in Happy Camp.
Another Building is the J. Camp, Titus and Heil Camp Mercantile and Drug Store. The most notable thing about this building, which is one of the first buildings built in Happy Camp was that it is made of local bricks. That’s why it is usually called “the Brick Building,” by locals. In recent years it has been used by the Evans Mercantile next door. which is closed at present.
Some persons persist in the rumor that John Titus reported that James Camp had the nickname, “Happy” and when he came to Happy Camp he named it after himself. However, anyone careful about history accuracy would know that prospectors coming to “Murderer’s Bar” area in 1951 camped on the Klamath River beside Indian Creek and changed the name to “Happy Camp.”
Until at least 1854, James Camp and his brother were still back in Virginia where the family had moved from New Brunswick. It was in 1857 that Richard Humphries and Lewis Barnes sold their ferry and buildings at Ferry Point to James Camp and John Titus.
J. Camp & Company Came to Happy Camp
Later, the Waldo or Gasquet Trail became more prominent than the Kelsey Trail at Ferry Point they moved to Happy Camp. Henry Doolittle, first postmaster of Happy Camp sold the hotel on Main Street and Bridge Street to Martin Cuddihy. Cuddihy sold a lot across from the hotel to James Camp and Co where they built the Brick Building in 1860.
There are very many interesting Monuments of different sorts in this new Siskiyou Pioneer. There are others that have disappeared, and some yet to be put up. There are many to explore, and you may discover others. Let us know!!