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
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