Weaverville, California

Weaverville ( Chimariko: ) is a census-designated place and the county seat of Trinity County, California, United States. Its population is 3,667 as of the 2020 census, up from 3,600 from the 2010 census.

History

Founded in 1850, Weaverville is a historic California Gold Rush town. Located at the foot of the current Trinity Alps Wilderness Area, Weaverville was once home to approximately 2,000 Chinese gold miners and had its own Chinatown. Many of these miners left once the gold rush ended, and the majority of the Chinatown burned down in a 1911 fire. Historical monuments and architecture throughout the town keep this history alive. The Joss House is California's oldest active Chinese temple, housing Chinese artifacts from the 19th century, and is Weaverville's oldest building, built in 1852.

A self-guided walking tour of historic downtown buildings (some said to be haunted) is the best way to experience the ambiance and quaint shops and businesses.

Logging and tourism were the economic mainstays of Weaverville for many years. Weaverville is now more known for its robust trail system and quaint historic downtown. The Trinity Alps Basin Trails system starts in Weaverville and is a network of professionally maintained hiking and biking trails ranging in difficulty in and around Trinity Alps and its majestic lakes.

Weaverville has notable and unusual original gold rush historical architecture, like its iconic spiral staircases on Main St., an old Bandstand, and red Courthouse. The Jake Jackson Museum on Main Street is an original building from the 1850's and displays gold rush equipment, tools, photos and memorabilia. The Diggins Saloon and New York Saloon are still open and welcoming customers since the gold rush era.

Historically, Trinity Lake (off Highway 3 just 15 minutes from Weaverville) is a man-made lake providing water to nearby Whiskeytown Lake in neighboring Shasta County, and farmers as far as the Central Valley of California. It became a popular secret recreation area for campers, boaters, and motorcyclists in the 1970's and continues its popularity in non-drought years.

Weaverville has relied on the Trinity Journal as its main source of county news, event calendar, and business advertisements since 1856. It is one of California's oldest newspapers still in print. The office of the Trinity Journal is housed in Weaverville's Historic District, right downtown. The Trinity Journal publishes weekly on Wednesdays.

Also unique to Weaverville is its electrical grid. Weaverville created its own power company (Trinity PUD) so it could be independent of PG&E and have the ability to create power from local hydro sources.

Geography and climate

Weaverville is located at (40.736687, -122.936208).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land.

Weaverville has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen ''Csa,'' bordering on ''Csb''), though owing to its inland valley location the town is wetter and observes much larger diurnal temperature variations, creating colder mornings, than considered prototypical for the climate type. The National Weather Service has had a cooperative weather station in Weaverville since 1894. Based on those records, average January temperatures are a maximum of and a minimum of , while July temperatures average a maximum of and a minimum of . There are an average of 77.3 afternoons with highs of or higher, plus an average of 126.8 mornings with lows of or lower, although only two afternoons every three years fail to rise above freezing, and only one morning every three years will fall to or below. The record high temperature was on August 4, 1932, and the record low temperature was on December 9, 1972.

Average annual precipitation is , with an average of 83 days annually with measurable precipitation. The most precipitation in one month was in December 2005, while the wettest "rain year" was from July 1982 to June 1983 with at least (several days missing) and the driest from July 1990 to June 1991 with – although the 1976–77 "rain year" with many days in May missing had a recorded total of only . The most precipitation in 24 hours was on January 4, 1982. Average annual snowfall is . The most snowfall in one month was in January 1950.

Demographics

Population

2010

At the 2010 census Weaverville had a population of 3,600. The population density was . The racial makeup of Weaverville was 3,162 (87.8%) White, 11 (0.3%) African American, 152 (4.2%) Native American, 41 (1.1%) Asian, 1 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 38 (1.1%) from other races, and 195 (5.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 255 people (7.1%).

The census reported that 3,473 people (96.5% of the population) lived in households, 61 (1.7%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 66 (1.8%) were institutionalized.

There were 1,513 households, 440 (29.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 622 (41.1%) were married couples living together, 185 (12.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 112 (7.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 145 (9.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 12 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 473 households (31.3%) were one person and 196 (13.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.30. There were 919 families (60.7% of households); the average family size was 2.80.

The age distribution was 842 people (23.4%) under the age of 18, 247 people (6.9%) aged 18 to 24, 734 people (20.4%) aged 25 to 44, 1,109 people (30.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 668 people (18.6%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 44.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.

There were 1,675 housing units at an average density of 160.7 per square mile, of the occupied units 908 (60.0%) were owner-occupied and 605 (40.0%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 6.8%. 2,089 people (58.0% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 1,384 people (38.4%) lived in rental housing units.

2000

At the 2000 census there were 3,554 people, 1,513 households, and 960 families in the CDP. The population density was . There were 1,653 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 91.5% White, 0.3% African American, 2.9% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.2% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.3%.

Of the 1,513 households 27.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.1% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 31.3% of households were one person and 13.8% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.85.

The age distribution was 24.2% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 28.0% from 45 to 64, and 18.4% 65 or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.7 males.

The median household income was $30,319 and the median family income was $37,813. Males had a median income of $34,091 versus $24,722 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $18,297. About 13.2% of families and 16.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.6% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

Major highways

* State Route 299. State route 299 runs through the middle of Weaverville. The part of SR 299 between Arcata and Redding is the Trinity Scenic Byway, a National Forest Scenic Byway.

Government

In the California State Legislature, Weaverville is in , and in .

In the United States House of Representatives, Weaverville is in .

Sites of interest

In popular culture

*The 1938 Warner Brothers Technicolor film '' Gold Is Where You Find It'' was filmed in and around Weaverville.
*The 1975 Mary McCaslin song "The Ballad of Weaverville" gives a fictional account of the town's namesake being a gambler, Jim Weaver, who had the town named after him as his final bet, after winning all of the town's gold.
*''Road Trip'' Episode 154 with Huell Howser
*Weaserville is the setting for the fifteenth episode of the twenty fifth season of Intervention (TV series).

References

External links

Chamber of Commerce

{{authority control

County seats in California
Census-designated places in Trinity County, California
Mining communities of the California Gold Rush
Populated places established in 1850
1850 establishments in California
Census-designated places in California