Once a station for switching out horses and mules for fresh ones along the old Oregon-to-California Trail, a 54-acre ranch near Mount Shasta has hit the market for under $1 million.
History is at your feet at the Lil Bit of Heaven Ranch in Northern California. While out walking or working on irrigation, the ranch owners have found remnants from the Gold Rush when the property was part of the old stagecoach route.
Listed for $995,000 in the small community of Callahan in Siskiyou County, the ranch is filled with rustic charm.
In addition to a cozy and updated three-bedroom, 1,600-square-foot main home, there’s a small 19th-century cabin with a rock chimney still standing on the property. Constructed from huge logs, the building is where people would greet freight wagons and trains that came through during the Gold Rush, owners Dennis Jensen and Sally Painter said.
“That’s where they would first meet them,” Jensen said.
They use the original carriage house as an art studio and a garage.
Boundaries of the 54-acre Lil Bit of Heaven ranch in Callahan, Californa. Screen image from California Outdoor Properties
Mountain views
Cattle still graze in the pastures today. There’s also a 2,400-square-foot wood barn, year-round ponds, streams and an abundance of wildlife, too.
Views from the remote ranch take in Mount Bolivar, the Russian Wilderness and Trinity Alps. The property, sitting between the Marble Mountain Wilderness Area and Mount Shasta, is less than 15 minutes from the small town Etna. The Oregon border is less than 30 miles away.
“When I walk onto that property, I just feel like the rest of the world goes away,” listing agent Kathy Hayden of California Outdoor Properties said. “It’s just a real feeling of peace and quiet, kind of a little sanctuary. It’s not very far off a Highway 3, but it’s kind of a hidden little gem.”
The property, tucked into the Russian Wilderness Area in picturesque Scott Valley, contains a fenced yard, garden, small grape arbor and various heritage and newer fruit trees on the ranch, including 19 apple trees, according to California Outdoor Properties.
Over the years, Jensen and Painter have unearthed artifacts from the past.
Horses and mules have been a part of the property since the 1800s. California Outdoor Properties
Arrowhead found
“I’ve walked this path numerous times, a couple times a day, every day, and I found this arrowhead,” Painter said.
Another time, they found a well-preserved 1800s whiskey bottle from Louis Taussig and Co. of San Francisco., which no longer exists.
“We had a broken irrigation pipe that we dug up, and (the bottle) was still intact, still had the cork in it, three feet underground,” Painter said.
The owners lease a pasture that runs 22 head of cattle from spring to fall. The ranch is equipped for riding horses and mules.
“If you love the outdoors, hiking, trout fishing, deer hunting, bicycling, horseback riding and more are locally available,” the property listing states.
Lil Bit of Heaven lies within a half-hour of the Pacific Crest Trail and near numerous trailheads, mountain lakes and streams. Mount Shasta Ski Resort is close enough for a day trip.
The ranch holds second-priority water rights on Sugar Creek, which flows into the Scott River. The guaranteed irrigation “is like having gold” in today’s world, Painter said.
Signs of spring
Spring is arriving at the ranch now that a good foot of snow has melted, with signs of new growth and returning wildlife. The transition is a beautiful time at the property, Painter and Jensen said.
”I’m seeing a crocus up and there’s a green tinge to the grass and willow. (Plants are) budding now, and the black, red winged black birds are back.”
They owners have identified 138 varieties of birds on the ranch, including heron and geese.
California Outdoor Properties
One year, the owners rescued and cared for an abandoned baby goose, about the size of a “bathtub rubber ducky,” that had been injured and rejected by its parents. After raising the gosling — named “Lucky” — for about a year, the owners saw it take flight. They now delight when the goose returns every year with his mate.
Painter and Jensen have seen beavers, muskrats, pond turtles, deer and black bears roaming the grounds.
The ranch last sold in 2016 for $470,000, according to public property records.
The rutted trail from Oregon to California helped hunters, fur traders and gold miners travel from state to state. While Lil Bit of Heaven provides a quiet place to live today, 400,000 people traveled the route during its peak from 1846 to 1869.
The settlers walked the same land Painter and Jensen have for nearly a decade.
David Caraccio is a video producer for The Sacramento Bee who was born and raised in Sacramento. He is a graduate of San Diego State University and a longtime journalist who has worked for newspapers as a reporter, editor, page designer and digital content producer.
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