Pioneers were a hardy folk and proud of their heritage. Their legacy lives strongly in descendants in many of the small, rural communities of Northern California. In Siskiyou County, children and grandchildren of pioneers who settled in communities such as Yreka, Dunsmuir, McCloud, Happy Camp, and Fort Jones, dedicated themselves to preserving and sharing their heritage by forming the Siskiyou County Historical Society.
By collecting stories and artifacts from their forebears, they helped to keep the history of Siskiyou County alive. With the support of the County Board of Supervisors, they built a museum in 1951. Over the next 60 years the Siskiyou County Museum has become the repository of pioneer biographies and diaries, of furniture, equipment, and every day articles that tell how folks lived, worked, and survived in a much harsher world. With painstaking determination, the history of Siskiyou County has been preserved and shared.
The Siskiyou County Museum, Historical Society, Genealogical Society, and other organizations are keeping alive the legacy of collection, preservation, and sharing of history and insuring the efforts of those from so long ago are not forgotten.
Sources: Feustel, Glenn: “The Museum,” Siskiyou Pioneer Yearbook, 1949, Vol., No. 4, pp. 45.
