Yreka's Forest House Ranch Subsides into Home of Early Day Vintage
By J. O. McKINNEY
Mail Tribune Correspondent
Yreka-Forest House is a
name given to a ranch five
miles out of Yreka on the
Ft. Jones road.
Built 100 years ago, it was
In its day one of the great
show places of early Califor
nia. Today it has subsided
into a gracious home of early
day vintage. But if its glor
ious past was run on a screen
today, H would outdraw any
thriller ever to come out of
Hollywood.
Not only does Forest House
lihow many thinss of the long
ago, it shows attractions of
today. Blooded stock Is there
Too, there are evidences of
4-H clubs and Future Farm
ers of America. A 100 years
hence Forest House will be
keeping step with the times,
still reproducing as in the
days of long ago.
But it is inconceivable it
will be producing the vari
eties it did in the days of
gold. Things today are more
readily available where they
may be produced at less ex
pense. In 1850 there were no
places to get many things
save by making them one's
self.
Forest House once support
ed a brick manufacturing
plant, ice plant, lime kiln,
fruit drying plant, packing
house, and distillery. The lat
ter was not the fly-by-night
bootleg variety. It was at
Forest House a bona fide li
censed distillery where bran
dies were manufactured, and
sold under license number
supplied by the U.S.
The usual run of saw
mill, box factory, and
such articles that are made
here today were also manu
factured then. But old time
folk did not have sources
from which to secure other
things. They made them at
l . v. SSSsfiSy
FOREST HOUSE This is the main build- from Yreka on the Ft. Jones rd. It was
ing on Forest House, a ranch five miles once a stage station and hotel.
Redden Says House
Representative James A.
Eedden (D-Medford) accused
members of the House of
Eepresentatives of "nit-picking"
in finding excuses to
vote against Senate Bill 10,
providing for life imprison
ment in cases of first degree
murder rather than death.
The bill passed the house
find was sent to the Senate
People Nit-Picking
for concurrence to the amend
ments. Redden pointed out that
those opposed to the abolish
ment of capital punishment
need not find excuses, but
should admit that they were
opposed to the concept and
not the bill.
The bill passed the House
36-24.
Subscribers
To report improper or non
delivery of the Mail Tribune in
Medlord, phone 772-6141; Ash
land call at 416 Bridge it, or
phone 482-3002: Yreka, phone
Victory 2-2808 before 6:45 p.m.
daily and 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
If regular delivery arrives
shortly after you call please
notify office, thus eliminating
special messenger service.
home. And Forest House sup
plied all orders.
This enterprising firm own
ed by Messrs. Knight and
Short built a toll road over
the mountain that loomed be
tween Yreka and Scott Val
ley. They showed true enter
prise and public spirit when
paying to drive over the
roadway became noxious to
travelers, they collated $1,600
to a fund to buy out their
own enterprise.
Didn't Miss the Change.
But they didn't miss the
change. Theirs was the attrac
tion for all dances, and big
time entertainment. A log
pen with a box-rype trapdoor
was erected on their property
in Moftett Creek Canyon for
trapping bear.
Grizzlies were plentiful. A
bad bear was captured, taken
to Forest House and put in a
pen with a rampaging range
bull. The spectators flocked
to see the duel. It must have
been an epic. Neither battler
wanted to sell out. When it
was over, each lay dead on
the field of battle.
But Forest House contrib
uted more than entertain
ment. The first car lot of
produce shipped from Yreka
over the Yrcka-Western Rail
way was apples from Forest
House. For years these were
shipped fresh, dried, and can
ned. Many trees that were
among the thousands once
bearing fruit are still stand
ing, still producing, but now
showing ravages of years and
neglect.
It is no longer thought of
as a fruit center, but 100
years ago smudge fires burn
ed at Forest House as they
do today in Rogue valley.
They were then crude affairs
helped by shovels of dirt to
regulate the fires.
But times changed. The
senior member of the firm,
Horace Knight, sold his inter
est to Brown. Brown's wife,
a Presbyterian, disliked the
distillery, and bar business.
That went out. Traces of the
old still remain, and the old
bar is now a resting place
for a grand collection of In
dian baskets, other artifacts
of the people who once called
that region home.
Baskets Collected
These baskets were collect
ed by Mrs. Burton, wife of
Fred C. Burton, who now
owns the ranch. When Brown
and Short could no longer
handle the stage business, and
other activities of the ranch,
Burton stepped in and has
kept step with the times to
where he has It under con
trol. There Is room for the old
businesses only in memory. He
raises cattle, hogs, grain, and
lets the other activities fol
low the woodbine.
So Forest House during its
span of more than 100 years
has seen many industrial
changes, put few changes of
ownership. From Knight and
Short, to Short and Brown,
to Burton, appears all that
may come soon. When, the
present owner, Fred Burton,
steps down, still another Fred
Burton is ready to take over.
And the Burtons love the old
ranch that has endured so
long and made so much history.
SECTION D
PAGES 1 to 16
Medford
WTribune
MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, MAY 26, 1963
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