It wasn't to long ago that most of Scott Valley was a lake.  Beaver had made dams across the rivers and streams backing up the water.  The Scott Valley branch of the Shasta tribe lived in this virgin paradise with everything they needed for food, clothing, and shelter close at hand.  The green mountain slopes provided acorns, nuts, berries, wild cherries, and plums.      Deer was abundant as were wolves, coyotes, and mink.  The three foot long salmon and steelhead were thick in the streams.  The beaver drew trappers to the area.  Famous mountain man Stephen Meek trapped Scott Valley in 1836.  He came to know the area with a party led by Thomas McKay, a well known mountain man.  He later described it as, "the richest place for beaver I have seen,"  Scott River was named Beaver River and the valley, Beaver Valley.  Meek returned many times to the valley and is buried in Etna Cemetery.      The Oregon Trail wound its way from Redding through Old Shasta, up over Scott Mountain, along the east side of the valley to Fort Jones, out McAdams creek to Deadwood and Yreka.  Miners followed this trail and then up every creek and draw searching for gold.  John W. Scott found a large nugget at Scott Bar and the town, the river, the valley, and Scott Mountain were all given his name.      The miners at Scott Bar needed pasture for their horses and mules.  The closest area was around Fort Jones.  Thus ranching was established in the valley at what became know as the Meamber Ranch. FORT JONES      The town of Fort Jones was first named Wheelocks after O.C. Wheelocks who built a trading post here in 1852.  Fort Jones became a stage stop along the Oregon Trail which traveled through Scott Valley.  In 1854 it was named Ottiitiewa, the Indian name for the Scott Valley branch of the Shasta tribe; however, it was renamed Fort Jones in 1860 after the US Army fort that had been built in 1852 a short distance south of Wheelocks.  The fort was active only a few years and was abandoned in 1857.  Fort Jones became an active trading center for miners and ranchers alike.  Numerous stores, a livery stable, and a hotel sprang up to meet the consumer need of a growing area.  An 1880 census records that 400 people lived in Fort Jones.  Other early names for the community include Scottsburg and Scottsville.  Today there are many older homes reminiscent of this bygone era and a few commercial which now houses a flower shop, antique store and restaurant. ETNA      Enterprising ranchers and businessmen joined together and started the town of Etna by establishing mills to utilize their produce.  In 1853-54 two competing business areas started just one mile apart.  Both contained a sawmill and a flour mill, and the took their names after their respective flour mills--Rough and Ready and Aetna Mills.  Stores, hotels and dwellings sprang up around the mills and trade flourished between the ranchers, the businesses and the Salmon Mountain mines.  The Aetna Mills post office is now a private home.      Then in the 1861-62 flood, Whisky Creek(Etna Creek) became a torrent and destroyed the town of Aetna Mills.  The people rebuilt their businesses in Rough and Ready and moved their post office to that community.  There was some confusion as the post office was one name and the town another.  Also there was another town with the name of Rough and Ready in central California.  Soon everyone was using the name of Aetna Mills which officially became Etna on March 13, 1874.  People still refer to the former area of Aetna Mills as "Old Etna."  What is now the Scott Valley Drug Store was one of the eleven Denny Bar chain store--Denny Bar was the first Northern California chain store.      Some famous people came from this town--Anita Beers Loos, author of the screen play and book, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" was born here as was Randolph Collier, a well known California Senator.  Halle Daggett, first women fire station lookout, is buried in the Etna Cemetery next to her father, John Daggett, a lieutenant governor, president of the US Mint in San Francisco and mining engineer.  Hallie's cabin was moved and is now on display at the Etna city park. CALLAHAN      Callahan was named after Mathias Bernard Callahan.  He was a merchant who had established a trading route between Trinidad on the coast and Yreka.  He was on  his way to Yreka with his so when his wife floated off her horse while crossing the Scott River at what was to be named Callahan.  An Indian boy rescued her and by the time her husband arrived at her side she had given birth to a premature son, weighing only 3 pounds.  Callahan bought a cabin nearby which he turned into a place for food and lodging for travelers on the Oregon Trail--this was in 1852.      Today Callahan is just a shadow of what it once was,  and you can glimpse into the past by looking at the old buildings.  Steel plates cover the windows of the former Wells Fargo  building, which was also one of the Denny Bar stores.  Farrington's Merchatile and General Store was established in 1860 and is the oldest continuously family run business in Scott Valley. GREENVIEW      Greenview was first called Hayes Corner because the Hayes family had built several homes on the homestead that became a crossroad between Etna, Oro Fino, and Fort Jones.  The name Greenview is said to have come from the view the Green family had from their home.  Buildings that once graced this little town were the Siskiyou Creamery, Petersen's store--which later became a Denny Bar store, a hotel, a blacksmith's shop, a butcher shop, a theater, and Judge Baldwin's Store.  Little remains of the Greenview of the last century except a few of the older commercial buildings that have seen a variety of uses.      There is still evidence of the rock and mortar construction in a few of the buildings--particularly the old livery stable on Main Street.  Check out the little church that was one of the first churches in Scott Valley. QUARTZ VALLEY AREA      Quartz Valley was first settled in 1851 when W. J. Evans established a ranch there.  In 1860 there was a mining camp established in Mugginsville--there was a post office, eight stamp mills, a grist mill, a store, a hotel, and a blacksmith shop.  Mugginsville was the home of many quartz miners who worked in the stamp mills and deep mines in the area such as the Morrison-Carlock Mine.  The large Howard House which is still standing, was built in 1860.  It is said that many a fine party was held in the upstairs ballroom of the home.  A few other homes remain standing; however, there is no evidence of the hotel or other enterprises.  This area was the home of the Quartz Valley Reservation.  (See section on Native Americans.) ORO FINO AREA      Not far from Greenview, nestled in a little valley, is Oro Fino, which means fine gold in Spanish.  Oro Fino was once a prosperous mining community.  In fact, it was one of the richest strikes in all Siskiyou County.  It was home for many miners as there were two large hydraulic claims, a quartz mill, a store, a hotel and a post office that was commissioned in 1861.  The post office closed in 1903.  Oro Fino is presumed to have the first white man's grave in Siskiyou County.  A grave was discovered there from the early 1830's by a headstone carved on a native rock.  Mining dwindled in Oro Fino by the 1880's, but resumed again for a period in the 1930's and 1940's.  There is nothing left of the town site; however, there is one lovely old home remaining.  It was built by Lafayette Eastlick, one of the owners of an early mine nearby. SALMON RIVER AREA      The Salmon River area to the southwest of Scott Valley was a rich gold bearing area.  Gold was first discovered on the South Fork of the Salmon River above Cecilville in the spring of 1849 by a group of fellows from Illinois.  It was then discovered on the North Fork the next spring near the present day Sawyers Bar by a group of miners who came over Etna Mountain.  This is a very rugged, mountainous area.  Supplies could only be brought in by pack train.  Sometimes they were brought from Callahan or Etna, but frequently over the Trinity Alps or up from Arcata on the coast.  Freight was very costly.  A road was not built over the Etna mountain until 1890's and from Callahan to Cecilville in the 1950's.      Very little resistance was meet with from the Indians of the several tribes in the area.  Many thousand Chinese came to work the mines in this area.  Very little evidence of their existence remains beyond the many piles of rock that resulted from the mining.  Some of the best producing mines bore interesting names: The Black Bear, Evening Star, Live Yankee, Knownothing and the King Solomon.  Very few buildings remain from this prosperous mining era.  Towns that remain are Cecilville, Forks of Salmon, and Sawyers Bar. NATIVE AMERICANS IN SCOTT VALLEY      The Scott Valley area was first visited and then inhabited by various bands of Indians now called the Shasta Indians.  Later several bands of Indians now called the Karuck Tribe made their way into the valley over the Marble and Salmon mountains from the Karuck villages along the Klamath River.  Life for the Scott Valley native people was called "the good life," close to the laws of nature.  There was an abundance of natural foods and no crops were sown.  The life-style centered on careful attention to the cycles of nature and the habits and needs of all wildlife and plants.  Strict laws, including hunting, fishing, and gathering, were observed to guard the wildlife, water and all natural resources so that all remain pure and in balance.      A rich culture of songs, ceremonies and artistic works was developed in this beautiful land.  Elaborate ceremonies were held at certain points in the natural calendars, and these ceremonies were the main social gatherings for various villages and tribes.  These ceremonies are still practiced by the Northern California Indians , and other tribes are invited to participate as guests.      When settlers first came from the east for furs, gold and timber, many Indian villages were displaced.  An attempt at a treaty was made in 1851, and it was signed by six bands of Shasta and Scott Valley Indians, but it was never ratified by US government.  It appears that most of the Indians were murdered in the old Fort Jones.   Up to the 1930's, the remaining Indian families lived in the Quartz Valley/Oro Fino area.  In 1937 and 1939, the Federal Government bought land at the mouth of Shackelford Creek under the Reorganization Act for Indian people.  The Quartz Valley Reservation was home to many families who raised their children there.  The old life-style gradually slipped away from them as farming, mining, and logging changed the land and wildlife.  In 1960 the Quartz Valley Reservation was terminated and the property was deeded to the Indians.  Most of the land was sold out of Indian ownership.  Twenty years later in 1983, the termination was declared unlawful and the reservation was legally reinstated.  Today the reservation provides services to the Indian people and to the Scott Valley community.  Goals include education, health, cultural programs and housing.