DISCOVER OUR HERITAGE

About the Museum

The McCloud Heritage Junction Museum was incorporated in 1983 by local citizens passionate about preserving and sharing the McCloud story - to collect, preserve, and curate artifacts and images documenting life in this progressive company town, in its logging camps and on its connecting railroad network. In 1985, the Museum first opened its doors in its current building, which was built in 1904 and formerly used as an employee recreation and pool hall, AFL/CIO chapter headquarters and a clothing store. Just a few years later, 17 buildings in town were added to the National Register of Historic Places (one of which, the Railroad Depot, was later destroyed by fire).

the McCloud Story

The McCloud region and its inhabitants played an exceptionally important role in the frontier history of northern California; the Museum's volunteers look forward to share their personal stories and knowledge of its rich legacy!

The story of McCloud is, in part, the story of America's growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hungry for natural resources and fueled by the engines of the industrial revolution. As early as the 1850s, hardy settlers had discovered the area known today as Squaw Valley and the McCloud "flats", and some quickly recognized the potential value of the huge trees seemingly stretching forever in the shadow of Mt. Shasta. These early entrepreneurs built sawmills and began to fell the timber, but without the benefit of rail transport they were unable to profitably mill and ship their wood product out of the mountains to the cities. It took the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in Sisson (now Mt. Shasta city) plus the vision and financial resources of a few savvy businessmen to overcome this challenge, and in just a few years the company town of McCloud exploded into existence.

What sets McCloud apart from most other communities in the region at the turn of the 20th century was its intentional design by the McCloud River Lumber and Railroad Companies' management not just for profitable business operations, but also for the welfare of the workers and their families. McCloud truly was a model town, being one of the first in northern California to offer steam heat, electricity, indoor plumbing and telephone service to its residents. While living and working conditions were not always ideal or equitable, for the most part "Mother McCloud" provided well for its citizens until its life as a company town ended in 1963, and McCloud became the open unincorporated community it is today.