An interview with...

Judge Richard B. Eaton
Redding Historian

 

The city of Redding has changed a lot, I guess; especially from your memories as a boy…

Well, I have lived in Redding 82 years now, and it's changed a great deal. In those days Redding was a city of 4,200 people. And the county had about 13,000. Now Redding has about 80,000 people and the county has about 160,000. People say to me, "You've seen a lot of changes," and I say, "Yeah, certainly." And they seem to think that I should just approve of them -- and in many respects I don't. Because in those days, in a very static community that Redding then was, if you wanted anything fancy in the way of merchandise, or anything complicated in the way of medical care, you had to go to San Francisco to get it. Now it's all available locally.

What do you think makes Redding such a great city?

Well, we are expanding, of course, which is always helpful. We are now the largest community north of the Sacramento area, in California. We're a transportation hub, in all four directions. We have a climate that is considered unpleasant because of the heat in the summer, but that is mitigated considerably by domestic coolers, which of course we didn't have 75 years ago.

What is it about Redding that you think is so special to come home to?

Well, simply that it was my home. It was a town that I was acquainted with, and of course it was where my family lived also, in this town and this house.

As a judge, how did you see Redding change over the years?

In the beginning the city of Redding was entirely on the West Bank of the river, centered around Market Street. And when they first began to build across the river, my predecessor Judge Ross was quoted as saying, "They were spoiling an awful lot of jackrabbit pasture." Crimes, in my years on the bench, were more frequently crimes against property than any other. We didn't have the drug problem we have now. But crimes of personal violence, we had then, we have now, and we had 150 years ago for that matter. Those are not new.

From your perspective as a judge, what do you think a city should do to keep down gang and drug crimes?

Well, gang crimes require, in the first place, investigation, and the second place observation, of those who might be gangsters who choose to come here. The drug crime is spreading evil here and elsewhere; the various means of control are not really notably effective, here or elsewhere, apparently. And about all I can suggest is continual watchfulness and continual action.

Can you tell us what Redding was like in the early days? Even before it was a city…

Well, originally this was part of the tribal lands. And Native American tribes that were prosperous because of the salmon in the river, numerous because they had the means to feed many mouths, and peaceable because they outnumbered their neighbors about ten to one. Then it was part of the Rancho Way to Ventura, ceded by the Mexican government in 1844, to Piercen Barton Redding, an American, who became a major in the Mexican war, our first settler. Then it was called Poverty Flat for a number of years, because the only use of it was this camping ground for freight wagons, compelled to halt here for the night, to until you cross at Read's Ferry north of town on the Sacramento river, by daylight. And then the town was followed in 1872 by the Southern Pacific railroad, at the topographic head of the Sacramento Valley. The railroad needed a town to serve as temporary railroad, until it could muster its strength and its energy, and its money and its time, to build a railroad up the difficult terrain in the Sacramento River canyon. And Redding remained a railhead then until 1886. Then in 1887 it was incorporated. As I always tell my classes, those who believe in women's equality will be startled to learn, the one provision of our first ordinance code, in October of 1887, when we were first incorporated into the city, was this: it shall be unlawful for any female to enter a saloon or any place where liquor is sold for the purpose of taking a drink, concerting with men, or playing at games of chance. Then in 1888 there were two elections that had been in a lawsuit. Redding snatched the county seat from Shasta, our mining town some miles to the west -- and of course Redding has been the county seat ever since. Then in the 1890s came our copper mining boom. In 1906, Shasta County had five big copper smelters, the last of which closed in 1919. Then all during the 1920s we had what amounted to a prolonged depression. That changed after the building of Shasta Dam in 1938. And after the dam came the lumber boom. And after that the building of I-5, the coming of tourists by the dozens, and in recent years the coming of retired persons, which would not have been possible earlier. And people, of course had to work for a generation to take full advantage of pension plans. But now, many people in effect carry their incomes in their hip pockets and can live where they please. Increasing numbers of them pleased are to live in Redding.

Why do you think they choose Redding?

Well, partly because they can. Metropolitan areas are getting uncomfortably crowded. And partly because they can sell their houses in metropolitan areas for far more than they paid for them, and retire to a town like Redding with the difference. And, real-estate values here are much higher than they used to be, but also they're still within reason.

Is the town doing a good job of balancing the environment with tourism and business?

Well, as far as the city influences the matter -- which is only partially for us -- they are aware of the factors. We are trying to balance them, yes.

What would you like to see in the next decade or so in Redding?

Well, I would hope that its growth would be gradual so people could adjust to it, and not beyond reason. Because there are many people who do not enjoy living in large cities. That's a hazard I've never experienced, but those who have don't enjoy it.

What is your favorite memory of growing up in Redding?

The fact that my first grammar school is a block away to the north. My first high school is a block away to the south. In between was something called a middle school -- clear on the far side of town -- but I'd commute to it by bicycle, on Chester Street, where there were very few automobiles at the time.

What were some other nice things about growing up in Redding?

Well, around the courthouse square here, there were eight long-established families that I used to know, and in later years, each of the members over 80 living in the house. In the days when I was a youngster, it was traditional on Christmas, for example, to go from door to door to call one's neighbors, and on each house one would be greeted with cookies.

In your experience, what is the conventional wisdom about Redding from people who aren't from here?

Well, many people have a prevailing view of Redding as a very hot place. They come to Redding from the mountains, to the north, the east, and the west, and here in Redding they encounter for the first time on their journey the considerable heat of the interior valley of California, and they think that we are a very hot place.

Can you cite a decisive moment in Redding's history?

Well, the greatest change in Redding came immediately following 1938, as a result of the building of Shasta Dam. The population more than doubled between 1938 and 1940, and the population of the county more than doubled -- and all the communities north of Redding, which is now Shasta Lake City are the direct result of the building Lake Shasta Dam. And before that, in that area, nothing had existed except farmhouses. Shasta Dam is a massive structure, a concrete dam, weighing over 12 and a half million tons. Therefore we were always rather amused by the bronze sign at the end of it that said, "US Government Property: Do Not Remove."

Was Shasta Dam a good thing, in your estimation?

Well, it was intended first to control floods in the winter, which it does pretty effectively; second, to increase the irrigation in the summer, which it does regularly; and third, to generate electricity at all seasons, which it's been doing quite regularly since it was completed in 1945. It had the unfortunate result of stopping the migration of salmon up the river to their favorite spotting ground on McCloud, where the water is abnormally cold. But the hatchery has been established below the dam, Coleman Hatchery.

What do you think of some of the newer changes, like the new city hall?

The new city hall is a beautiful building we've serviced for many years, and considered our artistic treasure. In that building is the city seal, in the floor of the vestibule, which is a marvelous piece of mosaic. Colored marble. I've seen overseas many colors of marble but one or two of those colors were new to me.

How about the new bridge that they're building in the Turtle Bay area.

That's a bridge of a rather spectacular design. It's in the early stages of construction now, and what it will look like when it is finished remains to be seen.

Do you think it fits with Redding's image?

Well, Redding's image in that immediate neighborhood was railroad and rock. So it didn't have to fit with anything in the immediate neighborhood. See, that was all floodplain land before Shasta Dam.

Presentation also made possible by a grant from
the Great Valley Center