Redding, CA news and local guide

During the Gold Rush, miners found gold to the north near Shasta and to the south along Oregon and Olney creeks, but the site of Redding was poor placer ground called Poverty Flats. In 1868 Benjamin B. Redding, a former Sacramento politician and the Central Pacific Railroad's first land agent, bought land at Poverty Flats for a northern terminus, which the tracks reached in 1872. The railroad built the town, named for him, which was incorporated on October 4, 1887, and in 1888 Redding took the county seat from Shasta. In the early 20th century nearby copper and iron mining spurred growth, but the industry declined and the economy and population faltered by 1920. The city recovered in the 1930s with the construction of Shasta Dam to the northwest, completed in 1945, which nearly doubled Redding's population. The lumber industry, tourism drawn by the dam, the building of Whiskeytown and Keswick dams and Interstate 5 in the 1960s and 1970s brought further growth. Sources Wikipedia: Redding, California