Portuguese Flat, California, was a mining camp of the early 1850s during the California Gold Rush, consisting largely of Portuguese miners, located about 35 miles north of Redding, California, USA). Arising along the route of the Siskiyou Trail, with its rich diggings, Portuguese Flat gained the reputation of being one of the roughest camps in northern Shasta County. As late as 1933, just north of Pollard's Gulch on what is now I-5, one could see a few old tumbledown buildings, one ancient log cabin, and some veteran apple trees - all that remained of Portuguese Flat. Pioneers Ross McCloud and Mary Campbell McCloud operated an inn in Portuguese Flat from approximately 1853-54 through 1855 or so (before going on to operate the inn at Upper Soda Springs). Gold rush handbill The California Gold Rush was a period in American history marked by mass hysteria concerning a gold discovery in Northern California. ... Redding from space, April 1994 Redding is the county seat of Shasta County, California, USA, located on the Sacramento River and on Interstate 5 south of Lake Shasta. ... The Siskiyou Trail stretched from Californias Central Valley to Oregons Willamette Valley; modern-day Interstate 5 follows this pioneer path. ... Shasta County is a county located in northern California, in the Cascade Mountains. ... Ross McCloud (April 16, 1819 – August 22, 1868) was a California pioneer and early settler in Northern California. ... Upper Soda Springs is on the banks of the Sacramento River in Dunsmuir, California, USA. It consists of approximately five acres (20,000 m²) of level ground, the surrounding hillsides on both sides of the River, and continues north along the eastern bank of the Sacramento River to the Dunsmuir...

In the story of the famous "Battle of Castle Crags" (which took place in 1855), a young Joaquin Miller tells a dramatic tale of being seriously wounded, by having an arrow shot through his jaw and neck. Miller was taken to the Portuguese Flat inn operated by the McClouds to recuperate, and was nursed to health by Mary Campbell McCloud. Castle Dome, a popular trail destination at Castle Crags (left foreground). ... Joaquin Miller was the penname of the hyperbolical American eccentric Cincinnatus Heine (or Hiner) Miller (September 8, 1837, or November 10, 1841 - February 17, 1913). ...

References

• History of Portuguese Settlement in the Sacramento Valley;
• Reference by Joaquin Miller to Portuguese Flat;
• Joaquin Miller chronology mention of Castle Crags;
• Joaquin Miller tended by Mary Campbell McCloud];
• Portuguese Flat deserted by 1885 Census