Kennett, California
Encyclopedia
Kennett was an important mining town in Northern California until it was flooded by Shasta Lake
Shasta Lake
Shasta Lake, also called Lake Shasta, is an artificial lake created by the construction of Shasta Dam across the Sacramento River in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest of Shasta County, California...

 while Shasta Dam
Shasta Dam
Shasta Dam is an arch dam across the Sacramento River in the northern part of the U.S. state of California, at the north end of the Sacramento Valley. The dam mainly serves long-term water storage and flood control in its reservoir, Shasta Lake, and also generates hydroelectric power...

 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
Redding, California
Redding is a city in far-Northern California. It is the county seat of Shasta County, California, USA. With a population of 89,861, according to the 2010 Census...

 and Old Shasta
Shasta, California
Shasta is a census-designated place in Shasta County, California. Shasta sits at an elevation of . The 2010 United States census reported Shasta's population was 1,771....

.

Early history

Prior to settlement by Euro-Americans, the land around Kennett was home to nine major groups of Wintu
Wintu
The Wintu 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 . Others are the Nomlaki and the Patwin...

 indians, 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 white settler in the area was Pearson Reading, who was given a land grant by the Mexican government in 1843. Rather than drive the indians out, as was commonly done at the time, Reading befriended them and taught them agricultural skills. Shasta County was created in 1850, and by 1852 large numbers of settlers had begun to arrive in search of gold and other precious ore
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

. After the Wintoon War of 1858-59, almost all Wintu were either dead or forced onto reservations
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...

. 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 Euro-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.

Kennett is born

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
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 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
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...

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.
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