Historic Photo of Tailholt Plaque Courtesy E Clampus Vitus Humbug Chapter No. 73.
By the early eighties Humbug Chapter core membership had changed hands from members living near the Fort Jones area to Yreka. By the time this plaque was erected Yreka members had taken the helm and began placing more plaques in and around towns located where they lived. The Tailholt plaque was erected at the Snowden and Hovey Gulch Road intersection east of Montague. Follow Ball Mountain/Little Shasta Roads to reach the historical monument as Chapter President Bill Wilson did in 1984 when he orchestrated the plaque erection and plaque dedication.
The Pioneer Press out of Fort Jones, California and later the Siskiyou History web site project best described Tailholt history. A summary of their Tailholt article is included in the following history.
Tailholt was not a gold town. Located in the Shasta Valley and established in 1888 at the end of the line, Tailholt was a rail town support and supply center for nearby lumber mills and logging. A string of sawmills, at least eleven, maybe as many as fifteen, were located along what is now Ball Mountain Road. One of those saw mills may well have later become the Deter or Schmitt Brothers Mill. Services and residences for hardworking loggers and millers sustained Tailholt for more than thirty years. It was a little town, but provided all the amenities timber men needed, such as saloons, a racetrack, baseball field, grist mill and post office.
What the Plaque says:
TAILHOLT
LITTLE SHASTA POST OFFICE
A SMALL SETTLEMENT STARTED
HERE IN THE 1880S WITH TWO
STORES. A POST OFFICE
(ESTABLISHED IN 1888), SALOON
BLACKSMITH SHOP, SLAUGHTER-
HOUSE, MEAT MARKET, HARNESS
SHOP, RACE TRACK, BALL PARK
AND A FEW HOUSES. FARTHER
EAST WAS A GRIST MILL.
THE POST OFFICE WAS LATER
MOVED ONE-HALF MILE WEST
TO THE STEPHEN SOULE RANCH
AND OPERATED UNTIL 1920.
DEDICATED SEPT. 15, 1984
BY E CLAMPUS VITUS
HUMBUG CHAPTER #73