What a cute story (the cement mixer portion was an especially big hit with
folks around here!). To add an historical note, one of our reference books
"California Place Names" (Berkeley, 1960) lists the name of Yreka as
being derived from the Shasta name, "Wy-e-kah," for Mount Shasta, also
refered to as "Wi'ke." Since "wai" is the Wintu word for north, it means
north mountain. Apparently it has been recorded under several spellings
including Wyreka and I-reka, with its current spelling of Yreka
established by the legislature in 1852. Yreka began as a mining town in
1851, then named Thompson's Dry Diggings, and later became Shasta Butte
City. It became the county seat of Siskyou County when the named was
changed to Yreka in 1852.

For those of you who would like to see an image of Yreka, go to:
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu:38008/ead/calher/books/letter/figures/I0041824B.jpg

So, there is a little California trivia for you. Thanks for sharing your
story with us Adrienne.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary W. Elings                        University of California
Pictorial Archivist                         Berkeley, CA 94720
The Bancroft Library                           Ph 510-642-8170
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu                    Fx 510-642-7589

On Tue, 21 Jul 1998, Adrienne Deangelis wrote:

> Hello--I believe I know how Yreka got its name; or, at least I remember the
> story we were told in the 4th grade:  It was originally a gold rush
> settlement, but after a time the residents looked around themselves and saw
> that they had the beginnings of a real towm.  Buildings were going up,
> businesses of a more permanent nature were being started.  So, big question:
> what do we call our new town?  Much discussion.  This was resolved one fine
> day by a traveller, who entering the town, saw at the edge of town, hanging
> from one of the finer new buildings, the sign YREKA.  He tied up his horse at
> the nearby library (perhaps it was the saloon, instead) and greeted the
> locals: "Why, it is a very nice town you've got here, Yreka."  After
> realizing that he was not addressing any one of them, the locals, scratching
> their heads, muttered "Yreka, Yreka, why yes it is a very nice name."  And so
> they there and then christened their town Yreka.
>         The sign?  The traveller had happened upon the new baker's shop.  He
> had just painted his sign on a piece of cloth, and as the day was rather
> dusty he had hung it up with the painted side turned in.  All the letters of
> BAKERY had shown through the cloth except the B.
>         "Se non e vero, e ben trovato."
>         Told to us at Roosevelt School in Redwood City by the same teacher
> who told us that the reason that Hoover Dam is pink is because five men fell
> into the cement mixer.
>
>         Adrienne DeAngelis
>         [log in to unmask]
>