Welcome to Shasta County Sheriff’s Office history page. We welcome you to read about the sheriff’s office from its creation in 1850 and the men and women who have kept the Shasta community safe.
Be sure to view the sheriff's document below to learn about each sheriff and some of what they and their employees encountered during their time of service.
Shasta City was a ubiquitous “Wild West” town. Masses of would-be gold miners and explorers filled the banks along the creeks and rivers. Wherever there was hope for gold, camps aka “tent cities” could be found. As the hillsides filled with tents, settlers would often find themselves in disputes with each other and Shasta was a lawless town. It wasn’t until September 1850, when California became a state, that Shasta would be considered an official county and elect officials, including a sheriff.
Until then, the miners took it upon themselves to administer punishments for crime. Whether fighting for a prime mining location, drinking too much, or stealing, punishments were decided by the “citizens” and could be quite creative. One of the first documented punishments was for theft in Horsetown. A group of men set out to catch the thief. Once he was captured, they tied him, and dunked him in the icy waters of Clear Creek. Freezing and scared of what may happen next, he was released but chased out of town and sternly warned about returning.
Major criminal matters could be handled through Fort Reading and the discernment of Major P.B. Reading. Although the Major had no experience as a lawman, he was authorized by the governor to allow the hanging of men for certain crimes.
As the population grew, murder, assault, robbery, and theft were also on the rise. “Vigilante Committees” were organized in many towns and mimicked court trials. These committees formed groups of men to hold a trial. A judge would be appointed, and punishments were immediately administered. A few committee verdicts saw men hung who may otherwise not been punished so harshly. As citizens began recognizing unfair punishments by the committees, they realized having local law enforcement was greatly needed.
The camps came together and petitioned for Shasta to become an official county and authorize an election.
The first law man to be elected was Michael Oppenheimer. (To learn more about each sheriff and some matters they handled, please see the sheriffs’ document below.)
But one man alone, was not going to be able to handle all matters in the county. Townships began organizing, each township ran its own court with a judge or justice of the peace, along with a constable. Shasta is a large county, and at the time even larger, as it included the Siskiyou and Lassen areas. To ensure the law would cover the entire county, each sheriff would often dually deputize township constables as deputy sheriffs to assist with county laws in outlying areas. Constables could hold prisoners in their township jail or calaboose when charges were local, but many crimes committed required the arrestee to be housed by Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff also relied on the community to assist and would often deputize a trusted citizen as a “special deputy" to ride in a manhunt or help transfer prisoners from Shasta County to the state prisons.
To keep the citizens safe, two Shasta sheriffs enacted martial law during the 1850s, enlisting the citizens to help maintain law and order. Both Sheriff Nunnally and Sheriff Stockton utilized this law during emotionally charged instances. One due to a man being jailed and a group wanting to free him and the other during a time white citizens decided to run Chinese miners out of the area and the sheriff requested and received firearms from the governor. Please see the sheriffs’ document below.
Shasta County did not have an official jail until 1854. Until then, the sheriff would house criminals in the Trinity House, a hotel, saloon and gambling house that was built by Shasta’s second sheriff, David Corsaut and his business partner (and later undersheriff) William Bonnifield in 1850. A special jail cell was constructed in the basement to house the criminals.
With the county’s growth Shasta County built and outgrew three jails within 35 years. The smallest, built in 1854, was known for its ease of inmate escape. It was built with steel walls and was located on the second story of the county courthouse, but the stairs were built on the outside of the building, allowing outside assistance to free an inmate.
In 1861, the second jail and courthouse was converted from businesses that were located along Main St. The jail was in the basement and not so easy to escape. Although one of the biggest jail escapes did occur in this jail when Shorty Hayes and fellow inmates were able to liberate themselves. Hayes, a notorious highway man and stage robber, along with three other inmates were unsuccessful with their first attempt to escape by burning through the floorboards in their cell. They were successful on their second attempt, when they managed to steal firearms from the sheriff’s office and ambush Undersheriff Kennedy. Read more of the escape under the sheriffs’ document below.
In 1888, the County seat moved to Redding. The Redding courthouse was built on Court St, with the sheriff’s office and jail located on the backside of the building, along West St.
When a convict was given a prison sentence the sheriff was responsible to transport them to the state prisons. Lawmen used whatever means they had to transport criminals. From Shasta, they could sometimes jump in a stagecoach riding town to town, or riding side by side on horseback could be the only option. Before the railroad connected Shasta to other towns, a ride to Red Bluff on the stage would take them to the steamboats. From here they could travel the Sacramento River to San Francisco in about 16 hours.
The 1870-1890s were the heyday for stage robberies and highway men infiltrating the roads and trails around Shasta. Shasta was known for its desolate roads and easily accessible stage schedules. Highway men would sit and wait for travelers to come down the road and rob them of everything they could. Deputies were not immune to highway robbery. In 1875, a notorious criminal, Sheet-Iron Jack Allen, was sentenced to San Quentin for attempted robbery and assault of a blind famer. Deputy Sheriff D.D. Harrill boarded himself and Allen on the stage on the evening of February 18 for his one-way trip to State Prison. The coach had gone only a few miles when it was stopped. As they arrived at the foot of the hill, just below Lower Springs, some men stepped out and one cried halt. The driver, Jerry Culverhouse decided to ride on, not even slowing. One of the robbers fired a shot and hit Culverhouse in the head and shoulders. Culverhouse was badly wounded but he held the frightened horses until they stopped and a passenger drove the stage back to town. The driver survived, robbers eventually caught (one was shot and killed in another stage robbery attempt in 1876) and Sheet-Iron Jack made it to the State Prison by February 20th.
Shasta County, like most Old West towns used hangings as a form of punishment. The first known hanging by a jury was in the fall of 1850. The last hanging administered by Shasta County was in 1879. A total of fifteen criminals were sentenced to hang during this time, twelve actually saw the end of a rope.
Shasta County’s most infamous hanging was made by a lynch mob in 1892 when the Ruggles brothers were taken from the Shasta County Jail, marched to a blacksmith shop by the railroad trestle and given a “necktie party”.
To read about the Ruggles’ brothers lynching, please see the sheriffs’ document below.
The era of the 1900s brought many new things but highway robbery was still in its glory days and while chases would soon turn from horses and wagons to automobiles, the same principle remained, once the crime was committed the suspect had a great head start on the lawman. Tracking skills were a necessity. The sheriff and his deputies utilized local native trackers through the 1800s and early 1900s. Sheriff Behrens was the first to bring tracking bloodhounds to the Sheriff’s Office. Shasta County first saw the use of bloodhounds when notorious outlaw Jack Brady killed the sheriff of Tehama County. Brady was believed to be hiding along Clear Creek and a massive search began. Bloodhounds were brought in from other counties. One of the deputies during this time was Charley Behrens. He was so impressed by the hounds that one of the first things he did during his term as sheriff, was purchase bloodhounds. He bred and raised them at his home (currently the Eaton-Behrens museum at 1520 West St) until they were ready for service. Once trained, the hounds lived at the jail, just waiting for someone to escape. Having the hounds at the jail was liked by both the inmates and employees. Although, by the end of 1906, a story tells of citizen complaints about the hounds’ incessant baying at the jail grounds, while some brushed it off, and joked that the hounds were only protesting a new sheriff that would be taking the office in January 1907.
When horses turned to automated horsepower the sheriff had his hands full with not only stage and train robberies but now also included robberies and chases in automobiles. Sheriff Montgomery was the first known sheriff in Shasta to drive an automobile full-time. He could often be found in the early “teens” newspaper articles “motoring” to the different areas of the county.
The sheriff’s office had to adjust, while most lawmen still had buggies and horses, they were being out run by motor vehicles. In 1921, a bank in Fall River was robbed by two men who would become known as the Fall River Bandits. One of the robbers was caught in Oregon and admitted they planned to use two vehicles and take advantage of the new highway system, to make it to Idaho, believing the law wouldn’t be able to catch them. One bandit caught in Oregon was driving a Cleveland Six, known for its speed and 8-cyclinder engine. He was an auto racer from Arizona.
Shasta continued to grow and automobiles brought many people to town, many criminals, including more female criminals. Up to this time period, Shasta County Sheriff’s Office employed women mostly as matrons in the jail or to occasionally assist with juries.
In 1919, Sheriff Richardson appointed Shasta’s first female deputy, Mrs. Ruth Garrecht. Deputy Garrecht started as matron in the jail providing food to all inmates and additional services to the female inmates. Soon, Garrecht was the first female to be fully appointed as deputy sheriff. Her duties continued as they were but with the appointment, she was able to transport female inmates to other facilities, without the assistance of a sworn male deputy.
New laws and national concerns kept the sheriff’s office busy. Prohibition played a large part in Shasta County’s crime. Some townships had previously voted themselves dry before the federal Volstead Act was enacted but for many the new law was a hard transition. Castella was a well known area to obtain alcohol. Many stills could be located along the river in the area, many joking that the creeks and river ran with alcohol instead of water. Shasta County created the, “Dry Squad” and included Deputy Sheriffs Charles George and W.B. Scott as Prohibition Agents. They covered the entire county and confiscated alcohol and its makers and transporters until the act was appealed in 1933.
Amidst WWII threats to the west coast states from Japan, President Roosevelt urged all western states sheriffs to form groups that could assist local law enforcement in the event of an emergency. The Sheriff’s Office had used posses since its creation, but Sheriff Duggins formed the first formal Sheriff Posse at President Roosevelt’s request in 1942.
Posse officers were elected and included a captain and four lieutenants. The members were trained in law enforcement techniques and First Aid/CPR. These men trained their squads to not only be utilized in attack emergencies but to also assist search and rescue efforts. All posse members were required to be an American citizen with a good reputation and have use of a saddlehorse to assist in searches of lost people and fugitives. Soon the mounted posse group would grow into many other specialized posses.
In 1946, Shasta County’s and California’s longest running Sheriff, John Balma was elected. Balma embraced the posses for many uses. Not only was there a mounted posse group, the Air Squadron was assembled to assist in the search for downed planes and lost persons. Balma also added the Junior Posse and the Posse-ettes. These groups were not trained for emergencies but trained in drill and performed in many community events including trail rides, shows, parades and were a large part of the local rodeo.
Unfortunately, the United States was still on defense after WWII. New war tactics were devised, specifically air raids and Californians felt vulnerable. The U.S. government looked to Sheriff’s Offices to train the citizens how to react should an attack occur. In 1951 Shasta County Sheriff’s Office became the air-raid warning center for the California Civil Defense Plan. 1953 saw the first alert system that included nine counties that would signal any air raid attacks. Sheriff Balma assigned Deputy Clarice Caporusso to train on the system. It would, once received notification of an air raid, allow SCSO to alert all nine counties of an incoming raid.
Shortly after being elected, Sheriff Balma saw the need to expand the Sheriff’s Office in terms of equipment and training. By 1948, SCSO had the only photo lab, fingerprint equipment, including specialized equipment to take photos of fingerprints, line-up screens, and lights for mugshots north of Sacramento. Deputy Charles Braun designed the lab in the jail basement during his spare time. Please see the sheriffs’ document below for more on Deputy Braun and the lab he built.
1940's Sheriff's Office Staff
1950's Sheriff's Office Staff
1960's Sheriff's Office Staff
1970's Sheriff's Office Staff
As the decades moved along, it seemed the Sheriff’s Office double each time.
The doubling of the force was in direct relation to the growth of the Shasta community. The Sheriff’s Office could be found in many local events. From participating in sports, freeing a theater teacher from handcuffs he locked himself during a rehearsal, and to the training of the public in physical or firearm safety. *All newspaper photos courtesy of Record Searchlight
