life. afterwards, copper prices limited and it didn't make much sense to continue operation -- continue to operate. copper mining and smelting was done. continued to operate. they were seeking other minerals such as zinc. the iron mountain mine continue to operate and we have gold mines operating in shasta county today. activity resumed as this was the terminus for the conveyor belt. aggregates to shasta bay. after that, it fell silent and today, it is a pleasant vacation ranch. the trees are starting to recover and other areas of shasta county, unfortunately, are not so lucky. standing in front of

eternal bay exploration park in redding, california. come inside as we look at an exhibit that shares the story of the agricultural history in the region. >> i think it's really important for us to her number that agriculture is one of the back tones of california. even here in far northern california where it is mountainous and the terrain doesn't necessarily lend itself to a lot of big agriculture, it does lend itself to positive agriculture and a community that is very close to the land. welcome to turtle bay exploration hall. you are here and rooted in this land which is a temporary exhibition. i lived in redding for 20 years and i've always known redding is an agricultural area. we were looking through our

collection and we have a lot of great photos of agricultural time tond we thought it do a big exhibition that celebrates both the history and modern practices of agriculture in our area and let people know what is going on here. right now, this particular area has been occupied by win two people for thousands of years. includes several native peoples, their neighbors. before european settlers got here, the native population lived very much in tune with the lannett was here and they did not cultivate crops the way we think of growing crops. they did cultivate the natural environment. they grew basket materials on purpose and wood trim willow trees to make willow sticks for baskets. there population was the right size. they knew how to exploit the area.

this spot was an amazing fishery and they lived very well before white people got here. they had not actually settled. native population heavily influenced by that, but we did one to celebrate that these people were here using the land. so i have a gathering basket and hopper mortar set up that would be for grinding acorns. women carried these on their backs with a palm plant across their forehead to celebrate the fact these people are still here, but we are not really talking about them when we talk about the agricultural component isshasta county because that a euro-american institution imposed on this land. settlert euro-american was pearson be redding.

he arrived in 1834 and sets up shop. he did not occupy the land right away. he brought in horses and cattle and started the livestock industry as well as cultivating and growing crops. he grew grapes in shasta county very early on, which is something people have not realized. winemakers did not realize this had been going on since 1834. redding comes in and sets up shop and start his ranchero and begins selling off land to other people who sell off their farms and ranches. strikes inold rush 1849 and redding finds out what is going on with the gold and knows that this area has the potential and discovers gold himself.

that became the beginning of the gold rush in shasta county. agriculture was here before gold. redding, when california became a state, he was trying to make registerednchero got but had to register with the state of california. century, the 20th system for registering brands was to get this cow shaped head and fill out the back with information. book is a wonderful produced by our historical registriess early which is great historical research where we can ask learn more about families. one of the things we discovered is this is a livestock area.

his range cattle and beef cattle and that's one of the things that was wrought in here initially. they were very valuable at time. variousa underwent changes. he was going grapes and pairs and fruit became a big deal. capital of prune northern california at one point. irrigation changes that at all the sudden, we can irrigate land and get more cattle, growing more hay and alfalfa and we get very cattle. there he becomes a big industry and slowly but surely, that erodes and we are back to beef cattle again, which is one of our big exports out of the area

second only to timber, which is an agricultural product. is our biggest export, our biggest dollar producer here in shasta county. one of the things we did was a deep dive into old newspaper articles and old directories from the 19th and 20th century trying to get a handle on the various crops we were looking at. we found this farmers and ranchers listing and this is only the people who are registered. many are represented in anderson. only 25,000 people in the county at this point. commercial grade growing had the successful but in 1960,

acreage reported was devoted to wine, but it was only 10 acres, so the growing had collapsed but then expands again because we compared0 acres which to other places in california is not many. this is a new rise like the rest of california, growing wine grapes. another amazing shasta county success story is b's, not just the honey, but the b's. andh b'sarted getting honey since they got here but the queen bee industry started with a man named homer parks who became interested in b's became interested in the queen bees in high school. he started specifically breeding and raising queen bees for export all over the united states and then to canada.

now they cannot do that. it is confined to the united states. are one ofd family shasta county has biggest industries and the products including the b's and beehives are a big economic driver. to peopletheir hives who grow almonds and other crops that have to be pollinated and a to people for permission to put b's on their property, but every day, they are raising and shipping out queen bees. starteralso buy beehives from the men be packages to start a hive. i went to visit their facility and it is amazing and wonderful. designed byogy homer park and honed over time tostill what they are using

create these salable queen bees. golden queens or italian queens -- they lent us a lot of their set up, including abe that is a good starter hive. bees every few years. knives.lacks they are working gloveless with these bees. and sort out the queens pull them out for shipping. any guestspe that that come to our museum, get a really great snapshot of what northern california is as far as

agriculture and water region is in reading. local people see themselves mirrored here and understand the importance of their neighbors who are agriculturalists. it is a little microcosm of california, the california story. we can, "american history tb" is future ready, california. visited towards staff to showcase its history. learn more about redding all weekend on american history tv. lori: at the height of california's gold rush in the 1850's, this town of shasta had seven hotels saloons, bars, , bookshops, wholesale businesses, retail businesses. you can see the shell of the buss