Ross McCloud

Who was Ross McCloud?

Ross McCloud was a California pioneer and early settler in Northern California. While he is regarded by some as a namesake of the town of McCloud, California, and the nearby McCloud River, please see historical note below.

Born and raised in Ohio, McCloud moved to Iowa when he was a young man, where at the young age of 20, he was elected to the position of County Surveyor of newly organized Linn County, Iowa. He married Mary Campbell in Iowa in 1848, came to California during the California Gold Rush as a Forty-Niner in the early 1850s, but had limited success in the gold fields. His wife took the Oregon Trail and joined him in Northern California in 1853. Together they operated an early inn in the mining settlement of Portuguese Flat, California on the upper Sacramento River. The McClouds purchased the rights of the Lockhart brothers to property at the site now known as Upper Soda Springs in present-day Dunsmuir, California, where they expanded an early wayside hostel into a more substantial inn.

McCloud was instrumental in improving the roads and trails in Siskiyou County, California, and was twice elected County Surveyor. In 1856, the Shasta Courier published a statement by Ross McCloud in which he advertised completion of his new project: "The new trail by way of the Sacramento river to Yreka is now completed and trains can now pass without crossing any mountains or having any deep snows to contend with. No molestation from Indians. The undersigned claims this trail to be the best mountain trail in Calif, and asks the public to test its merits and decide for themselves. There is no want of feed for animals on this route. Ross McCloud, Shasta, Cal. Feb, 2, 1856." McCloud's improvements were an upgrade to an earlier and rougher version of what became known as the Siskiyou Trail.