Horsetown

Horsetown is a ghost town in Shasta County, California, situated along Clear Creek. Its origins trace to 1851, when a tent mining town sprang up shortly after Major Pierson Barton Reading discovered gold just east of the site — a spot along the creek's sandbar now known as Reading's Bar. The settlement started out under the name Clear Creek Diggings, established along Clear Creek Road, and grew into a significant mining community before eventually taking the name Horsetown.

Visitors today are stepping into a largely vanished townsite where the landscape and the creek itself tell most of the story. The setting along Clear Creek in the Reading area of Shasta County rewards those interested in California Gold Rush history and quiet, contemplative exploration.