Pack Mules Leaving Crescent City

At one point, Crescent City was the center for supplies for the inland mines. Pack trains were commonplace, with some consisting of 200 animals at once. They generally carried two and a half tons of bacon, flour, whiskey, sugar, coffee, saleratus (a precursor to baking soda,) matches, whale oil, lard, salt, fry pans and pans, and various tools and hardware, making life possible in the remote camps, included Altaville, Sailor Diggings and Althouse.

From the beginning, Crescent City’s recognized destiny was to supply the mining camps of Southern Oregon and what is now Siskiyou and Del Norte counties, making Crescent City the most important port between San Francisco and the Columbia River in the 1850s. Pack trains continued to supply the camps and the miners of the middle Klamath and eastern Del Norte County for many years by means of the trail which went over Howland Hill, east of Crescent City, crossing Mill Creek, and down the ridge south of that area.