Helena is a
ghost town
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
in
unincorporated Trinity County,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, United States. It is located on the
North Fork of the
Trinity River, west-northwest of
Weaverville.
State Route 299 runs right past the former town to the south; East Fork Road connects the highway to Helena.
History
The community was settled in 1851 as a mining camp on the site of an old Chimariko village. It was known as Bagdad, North Fork, and The Cove before its post office opened in 1891; the post office was named Helena after the postmaster Mr. Meckel's wife to avoid confusion with another California community called North Fork.
John and Christian Meckel, who moved to the area and established a home on a group of mining claims that totaled 160 acres. In 1854, the Meckels opened a general merchandise store and later a hotel. The town was first known as North Fork, but it was popularly known as “
Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
,” a name given to the settlement reportedly because it was as rowdy and bizarre as the ancient city with the same name on the
Tigris River
The Tigris ( ; see below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, before merging ...
.
In 1859 the Meckel brothers built and operated a brewery in Helena, then called North Fork.
In 1923, the final stretch of road was built from Helena to South Fork, which connects it to the coast.
When the gold mining dried up, the town soon followed, with slight upticks during the Great Depression. When
State Route 299 was completed in 1931, it ended the necessity of the town as it was now being bypassed. The entire town was then bought by F. I. DiNapoli in 1966 for $50,000.
In 1984, Helena was added to the National Register of Historical Places.
Current status
Today, Helena is abandoned and owned by the trustee of a deceased businessman from San Jose. The Currie Cottage (1859), the Meckel Store (1858), the Shlomer Brick Building (1859), The Shlomer Feed Stable (1860), the Meckel Barn (1860), and a rental building built in the 1930s remain.
See also
*
Helena Fire
*
List of ghost towns in California
Ghost towns in California were caused by factors including the end of the California gold rush, the creation of new lakes, and the abandonment of formerly-used rail and motor routes.
Classification
Barren site
* Sites no longer in exist ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Trinity County, California
References
Unincorporated communities in California
Unincorporated communities in Trinity County, California
1851 establishments in California
{{TrinityCountyCA-geo-stub