Qualla: Tower House Historic District

Tower House Historic District: Introduction

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Charles Camden (Life time: 1880), Public domain. The double wedding on November 11, 1852, united more than two couples. When Levi Tower married Mary Shuffleton and his business partner Charles Camden wed Tower's sister Philena, they sealed a partnership that would shape Shasta County for decades. The ceremony took place at the Free Bridge House, a name that would soon give way to Tower House, marking the spot where Mill Creek and Willow Creek flow into Clear Creek. Just four years earlier, Major Pierson Barton Reading had struck gold at Reading's Bar downstream, and the rush was on. But Tower and Camden saw something beyond the glitter in the pan: a crossroads where travelers needed rest, food, and water. Their vision built a small empire. Their rivalries and misfortunes would scatter it to the winds.

Image: Charles Camden (Life time: 1880) | Public domain

Tower House Historic District: The Unlikely Partners

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Derivative work by john2690. Other authors listed on source image page., CC BY-SA 3.0. Levi Tower came from Cumberland, Rhode Island, sailing to California aboard the Edward Everett in 1849 when gold fever swept the nation. Charles Camden's path was more circuitous. Born in England in 1817, he worked in New York City at seventeen, then traveled to South America as ...

Image: Derivative work by john2690. Other authors listed on source image page. | CC BY-SA 3.0

Tower House Historic District: An Orchard in the Mountains

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Charles Camden (Life time: 1880), Public domain. Tower understood that gold fever would fade but hunger would not. After completing the hotel, he planted a thousand fruit trees: apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, and nectarines. Four hundred grapevines joined them, along with a plant nursery. The Tower House Hot...

Image: Charles Camden (Life time: 1880) | Public domain

Tower House Historic District: Flames and Failure

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Charles Camden (Life time: 1880), Public domain. Success bred ambition. Tower purchased the Globe Hotel in Shasta and another hotel in Redding, expanding his empire beyond the mountain crossroads. He served as Shasta County Supervisor from 1856 to 1858, a respected figure in the growing community. Then disaster struck. In an er...

Image: Charles Camden (Life time: 1880) | Public domain

Tower House Historic District: Camden's Empire of Water

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Charles Camden (Life time: 1880), Public domain. Charles Camden proved more resilient than his partner. While Tower gambled on hotels, Camden built infrastructure. His gold claim on Clear Creek produced $80,000 over 18 years, but his real genius was water. The Camden Water Ditch, a small-scale aqueduct system, brought water fro...

Image: Charles Camden (Life time: 1880) | Public domain

Tower House Historic District: What Survives

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Charles Camden (Life time: 1880), Public domain. The Tower House Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 2, 1973. The Camden House, one of Shasta County's oldest surviving homes, anchors the district just west of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. The stagecoach roads that once connec...

Image: Charles Camden (Life time: 1880) | Public domain