Kennett was an important copper mining town in northern California,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
until it was flooded by
Shasta Lake
Shasta Lake, also popularly known as Lake Shasta, is a reservoir in Shasta County, California, United States. It began to store water in 1944 due to the impounding of the Sacramento River by Shasta Dam, the ninth tallest dam in the United State ...
while
Shasta Dam
Shasta Dam (called Kennett Dam before its construction) is a concrete arch-gravity dam across the Sacramento River in Northern California in the United States. At high, it is the eighth-tallest dam in the United States. Located at the north e ...
was being constructed. Kennett is submerged under approximately 400 ft. of water (depending on the lake level). It was the largest, most important mining town in the area outside of
Redding and
Shasta.
Early history
Prior to settlement by Euro-Americans, the land around Kennett was home to nine major groups of
Wintu
The Wintu (also Northern Wintun) are Native Americans who live in what is now Northern California. They are part of a loose association of peoples known collectively as the Wintun (or Wintuan). Others are the Nomlaki and the Patwin. The Wintu ...
, living in approximately 250 villages. The Wintu name for the Kennett site was Munuktsiraw. They first came into contact with Europeans some time in the early 19th century, in the form of fur-trappers and traders. By 1835 it is estimated that 75% of their population had been decimated by diseases from contact with whites and Mexicans.
The first Anglo-American settler in the area was
Pearson Reading Pearson may refer to:
Organizations Education
*Lester B. Pearson College, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
*Pearson College (UK), London, owned by Pearson PLC
*Lester B. Pearson High School (disambiguation)
Companies
*Pearson PLC, a UK-based int ...
, who was given a land grant by the Mexican government in 1843. Rather than drive the Native Americans out, as was commonly done at the time, Reading befriended them and taught them agricultural skills.
Shasta County
Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a county in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from the 2010 census. The county seat is Redding.
Shasta ...
was created in 1850, and by 1852 large numbers of settlers had begun to arrive
in search of gold and other precious ore. After the
Wintoon War of 1858-59, almost all Wintu were either dead or forced onto
reservations. The first recorded mention of the Kennett site was in an article from the Daily Alta California dated June 7, 1852, announcing that gold had been discovered in Backbone Creek, which became the location of Kennett. One of the first Anglo-American men to settle in this location was John Sisk, who arrived in June 1857 via the Lassen Trail.
Besides mining, Kennett also grew as a result of railroad construction. Colonel James Scobie established a railroad camp near Kennett, which resulted in a number of businessmen opening shops nearby to cater to the needs of the railroad workers. When the railroad was complete, it became the most important factor in Kennett's growth.
Founding
Sometime during the construction of the railroad, the settlement on Backbone Creek was named Kennet in honor of a railroad-man "Squire" Kennet. Little else is known about him, and there are no official records related to him. At some point, the town of Kennet began to be spelled Kennett, possibly through the mistake of a mapmaker.
In 1884, 24-year-old Charley Golinsky arrived in Kennett with the intention of opening a store to serve the miners in the area. Golinsky's store quickly became the most important in town, and was even used as a polling place in 1886. His store also became the Kennett post office, and Golinsky was elected postmaster. After expanding his store to include a hotel, he brought his extended family to Kennett, and they became the town's most prominent family.
The two largest mines in the area were the Mammoth and Golinsky mines. They contained extremely pure copper ore, and brought great wealth to the small town. Parts of these mines are still above water, but can only be accessed by hiking through dense foliage or up a steep embankment from the lake. Also, measures have been taken to seal off the mines due to safety concerns.
World War I and the Depression
Kennett continued to prosper, and saw an economic boom during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
brought on by the increase in metal prices. The end of the war contributed to an economic depression for the town, as the expanded mines, smelters, and railroad lines were too large to be supported by a peacetime economy. The largest mine in Kennett, the Mammoth mine, closed permanently in 1923, devastating the local economy. In 1931, Kennett was disincorporated, as the population had dropped below the level required to be an incorporated city.
Shasta Dam and the end of Kennett
The federal government had considered building a dam in the area since the 1870s, and the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
gave them the perfect opportunity to do so. In 1935, construction on Shasta Dam began. There is no record of any public hearings to ask Kennett residents their opinion. The diminished population of the town was likely considered too insignificant to matter. Most people sold their land to the government willingly, while some waited until the waters began to rise before abandoning their homes. Kennett was completely submerged by 1944, one year before the completion of the dam.
[Schuldberg, pp. 169-183]
References
External links
* http://www.terrastories.com/bearings/inundated-underwater-cities
{{authority control
Former populated places in California
1931 disestablishments in California
Former settlements in Shasta County, California
1852 establishments in California