Reading's Bar

The register, written in 1932, says Major Reading and his Indians washed out the first gold here in March 1848. The bronze that replaced it in 1998 says Reading discovered it, and the men who did the washing are gone from the metal. Local histories agree he worked the bar with Native laborers, on Wintu land. The find opened the northern mines; by 1851 Clear Creek Diggings, later Horsetown, stood near the bar, and fire took it in 1868. Clear Creek's own landmark, number 78, still names the laborers.

What the plaque says

Reading's Bar Major Pierson Barton Reading, California explorer and participant in the Bear Flag Revolt, discovered gold on this bar in 1848. Soon afterwards he made a similar find on the Trinity River. News of these discoveries opened the entire northern region of California to the gold rush of '49. By 1851 the town of Clear Creek Diggings had been settled near the bar. Later renamed Horsetown, it was the commercial center for this mining area. Horsetown was destroyed by fire in 1868. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 32 First registered August 1, 1932. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Shasta Historical Society, Darrell Moss Historical Fund and Trinitarianus Chapter 62, E Clampus Vitus, May 16, 1998.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Clear Creek — 6.0 mi
• Bell's Bridge — 6.1 mi
• Father Rinaldi's Foundation of 1856 — 6.9 mi
• Old Town of Shasta — 7.3 mi