Siskiyou
County
Biographies
ERNEST S. SCOTT
Ernest S. Scott, of Weed, Siskiyou county,
is well known as a member of one of this state’s pioneer families. He has
ranched and mined and has done his full part in the development of the
resources of the Sacramento valley. Born in Siskiyou county,
on the 6th of February, 1875, he is a son of Samuel and
Helen A. (Quigley) Scott. His father was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
where he was reared to the age of seventeen years, when, lured by the discovery
of gold in California, he joined the rush to the coast. He came by steamship,
walking across the isthmus of Panama, and arrived here
in 1852. He followed mining for a while and endured all of
the privations and hardships incident to this locality at that time. At
times he waited as long as nine days for a pack train to bring in flour, which
cost as high as fifty dollars a sack, and then packed it ten miles on his back
to his camp. He mined in various places, including Feather river, went to
Trinity river in 1857, and later to Scott mountain, in the Scott valley,
locating at a place known as Orofino, which in Spanish meant “fine gold.” He
quit mining at the age of sixty-five years and turned his attention to
ranching, at which he spent three years in Scott valley and eleven years at
Edgewood, also doing some stock business. He died at Edgewood in 1914. The
mother, who was a native of Illinois, was brought to the coast in 1852 by her
parents, John and Mary Quigley, who crossed the plains by way of the Oregon trail, through Utah. They remained in Oregon three years and
in 1855 came to the Scott valley. She lived to be eighty years of age, her
death occurring at her son’s home, December 16, 1927. She met and married
Mr. Scott at Orofino. To this worthy couple were born seven children:
Mary E., deceased; Ernest S.; Jane, who died young at Orofino;
J. Y., who is in business at Weed; Alice, deceased; Clare, who is married
and lives at Weed, and Eva, who is married and lives at Redding, Shasta county.
Samuel Scott was a republican in his political views, but never took a very
active part in public affairs. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows at Fort Jones, where both parents are buried.
Ernest S. Scott was reared at home and attended the
schools of the neighborhood. He has devoted his life to farming and mining. He was a “sour dough” in Alaska, to which territory he went in
1896, enduring many hardships there. Though he made from fifty to sixty dollars
a day in Alaska, where he remained about two years, bacon and beans constituted
his ordinary bill of fare. About 1898 he returned to Scott valley, where he was
engaged in ranching for three years, then moved to Edgewood, where he farmed
and raised livestock until 1918, when he moved into the town of Weed, where he
has since lived, devoting his time to his personal affairs. He also owns some
town property, which he rents. He is regarded as one of his county’s
public-spirited and substantial citizens, an exemplar of the best type of citizenship,
and is respected by all who know him.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
01 June 2010.
Source: Wooldridge, J.W.Major
History of Sacramento Valley California, Vol. 2, Pages 135-136. Pioneer Historical Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Marie Hassard..
Golden Nugget Library's Siskiyou County Biographies