Evans Mercantile History

Evans Mercantile was founded in 1911 by Nate Evans. He had two daughters, Ora and Pearl. When Nate retired his daughters and their husbands managed the business.

At that time Pearl was married to Arthur Attebery. Arthur contacted his friend, Guy Head, a logger in Klamath Falls, asking him to come to Happy Camp to be a partner in the store. Ora Evans married Guy Head.

Around 1950 Arthur Attebery retired and sold his share of the business to Guy and Ora Head. Tragically, Guy lost his life in an automobile accident in Montague in 1964. At that point Guy's son, Gilbert, known locally as Hooley, managed the store along with Ora.

In 1979 Wilford and Charlotte Attebery bought the store and managed it until March, 2005 when Lahel Garami and Laura Lathrop, two newcomers to the Klamath River Valley from Hayward, bought Evans Mercantile. These are the first owners not of the original Evans family.

Over the years, Evans Mercantile has been in several different locations within a ¼ mile radius of the present location. Originally the store was in a wood frame building that no longer exists. For many years it was in the building on Indian Creek Road now occupied by the Family Resource Center. In 1964 Indian Creek flooded and the basement of that building was destroyed. Forced to look for a better location, the Heads moved the business to the present location which was originally built as a grocery store.

Happy Camp History

The first store in Happy Camp was actually a supply base called “The Pelican House” run by a Mr. Cochrane and his wife. Cochrane came here with a group of about thirty miners who arrived in July 1852. They were the original white settlers who founded the town and named it Happy Camp because they were pleased to see so much gold in the river nearby. While all the other miners spread out to look for gold on both sides of the Klamath River, Cochrane stayed at their base camp near the confluence of the river and Indian Creek where he looked after property including the mules.

The historic J. Camp and Co. Mercantile building on our property is the oldest building in Happy Camp, though it was not the first. The original owners were James Camp, his brother Heil Camp, and a friend, John Titus.

John Titus was an English immigrant who came to California from New York. Like the Camp brothers, he came here seeking gold and developed a variety of other business interests while in this area. After arriving in the Klamath River Valley he originally settled in Ferry Point where he, along with James Camp, purchased the ferry, store, and other buildings in 1857 from Lewis Barnes and Richard Humphries. Ferry Point at that time also had an active mining camp, a hotel, and a dance hall. Today it is a river access area about ten miles southwest of Happy Camp and all the buildings are gone, but a cemetery remains.

After a short time in Ferry Point Titus and the Camp brothers moved to Happy Camp. They left Ferry Point because business dwindled after a direct mule trail was built to Cottage Grove which bypassed Ferry Point. Also Cottage Grove got a post office, something Ferry Point didn't have. In Happy Camp they bought the land the old brick mercantile is built on from Martin Cuddihy, who had purchased it from Henry Doolittle in 1860. Henry Doolittle was one of three Doolittle brothers who at one time owned most of Happy Camp. His brothers were Alphonso and Albert.

Henry Doolittle had a home on the east side of Indian Creek and built the original American House hotel across the street from us. According to the descendants of local pioneer families, that building had to be rebuilt several times due to fires. His hotel and a merchandising business were built by 1856. At that time a settlement called Indian Town a few miles north on Indian Creek had a population of 450 and Happy Camp had only 100 residents. Now Indian Town has disappeared from the map.

By 1860 there were four stores in Happy Camp - three owned by white settlers and one owned by a Chinaman. Their supplies were brought to Happy Camp by mule trains. There were two trails. The Waldo Trail, also known as the Gasquet Trail because Horace Gasquet helped finance it and was a principle user of it, was between Waldo, OR and Happy Camp. The other mule train trail was called the Kelsey Trail. It was built by Ben Kelsey between Crescent City and Happy Camp, and down to the Scott River and Yreka. Packing lost its importance later when wagon roads were developed, but in the early days of Happy Camp, mule trains were vital to the economy.

The J. Camp and Co. Mercantile was built in 1865 using bricks created at a kiln on the west bank of Indian Creek. At that time a lot of the gold miners had left as the easy pickings were gone, but hydraulic mining, ground sluicing, and wingdams were popular. There were many 200-yard claims up and down the river from Indian Creek. The Camp brothers and John Titus owned multiple claims and were able to profit greatly from their mining activities. They owned the Classic Hill Mine near Indian Town and claims near Clear Creek, Wingate, Elk Creek, Little Grider and Curly Jack Creeks, George Wood's Bar, and Muc-a-Muc Flat. In 1875 they bought Staples Sawmill which was ½ mile downriver from Happy Camp on the south side of the Klamath.

Happy Camp's original post office was built next to the J. Camp Mercantile building in the area now used as our parking lot. The first postmaster was Henry Doolittle who served in this capacity from 1858 to 1860 and again from 1864-1870. James Camp was postmaster from 1870 to 1890.

In 1875 Horace Gasquet, the mule train trail developer, bought Martin Cuddihy's saloon and turned it into a store. The original store was destroyed by thieves who robbed him then set the building on fire. He then built a better store, once known as the Red Cross Hall, which was just north of the American House hotel in the area of the parking lot of the Indian Creek Cafe building. It was damaged beyond repair by the 1964 flood and had to be torn down.

In 1880 the population of Happy Camp was 597. This included 97 Indians, 250 Chinese, and 250 whites. Chinatown at that time covered a large area directly behind the J. Camp and Co. Mercantile's brick store. There were four stores operating in the Chinese section of Happy Camp at that time.

Here's a story about how the Muc-a-Muc Mine was named:

“The Muck-a-Muck Mine was formerly the Smith Mine; but every Friday Smith would go to town and buy five mule loads of groceries, then invite 100 hungry Indians to come up to his place and eat as long as the grub lasted. One Saturday morning when there were about 50 Indians going through town, James Camp asked them where so many Indians were going. One Indian woman with a large clear voice yelled back, “Hi you muckamuck.” That means in Indian “a big feast.” From that day until today Smith was called Muck-a-Muck Smith, his mine the Muck-a-Muck Mine.” - Harry C. Chester (Siskiyou Pioneer, 1953)

In 1883 the Camp brothers and John Titus built a steel and wood bridge over Indian Creek as a service to the community. The following memoir was written about Gus Meamber, the packer who brought the steel to Happy Camp:

“One great feat of Gus' packing was taking some long irons into Happy Camp to build a bridge across Indian Creek. They were so long they had to be packed on the sides of the mules at each end of the iron; so the mules were in pairs with the irons on both sides. They had men and boys lead each mule so they could make some short turns without shoving each other over the dangerous bluffs.” - Bill Mathews (Siskiyou Yearbook, 1950)

In 1890 John Titus sold his interests to James Camp. Titus moved to Fruitvale, CA where he lived until his death in 1906. Soon afterwards Camp retired from his postmaster position after twenty years and sold his business to Howard Gasquet. He moved to Fort Jones where he had other business interests.

In 1910 Happy Camp's Chinatown was destroyed by fire and nearly all the Chinese residents moved away. By 1920 only two Chinamen were left in town. They worked for Minnie Reeves on her ranch.

Evans Mercantile - Hardware & Feed

64146 Second Ave. - P.O. Box 347

Happy Camp, California

(530) 493-2364 - Fax (530) 493-2360

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Open Monday through Saturday
9:30 AM to 5:30 PM