NEWS TO DATE- 02/11/26

The BOOMTOWN MUSEUM is temporarily closed until mid-March 2026.

We are installing new computers, building new displays and training new volunteers. Please check back for updates on our re-opening date. 

If you need to book a tour or have an item to donate or need immediate attention, please call 530-275-3995 and leave a message or email: slhandhs@gmail.com 

We will return your call or answer your email asap. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the Boomtown Museum soon.  

For our membership, a newsletter will be going out before the end of February. 

Our location is 1525 Median Ave. in the City of Shasta Lake. We are part of the Visitors Center housing a Museum, Library and Chamber of Commerce.

Mailing address: P.O. Box 562, Shasta Lake, CA 96019. Email: slhandhs@gmail.com. 


Click on the tab: Newsletters/Membership and there are numerous pdf files from past newsletters for your perusal. Enjoy.  

In the Boomtown Museum are 14ft. tall murals enhancing two of our walls. One wall depicts the Mammoth Mine located above the town of Kennett (which lies beneath Shasta Lake) and symbolic of the Copper Mining that encompassed the area before Shasta Dam was built. The other wall shows the dam workers arriving to work on building Shasta Dam.  

Platforms display antiques and vintage items including the "elephant" in the room, the original movie projector, resurrected out of the "Boomtown" Shasta Theatre ashes. Hands on, we have vintage typewriters and "view masters" for the young people and "the child at heart" to have fun. 

One can only image what it was like in those days of construction on Shasta Dam in the late 30's and early 40's. These are just a few of the many photographs in our collection.

Working on the Pit River Bridge under construction.  In the picture above, look down at the river, that is the old Pit River Bridge in the background. 

Board of Directors

Joan Fackrell, President

Charlotte Bailey, Vice President

Darlene Brown, Secretary/President Emeritus

Kay Kobe, Treasurer

Linda Beaver, Director

Donna Daniels, Director

Sandy Estes, Director

Rick Fox, Director, Past President

Del Hiebert, Director Emeritus



VOLUNTEERS! - they make the world go around...

Shown are only a few of the ladies that worked and contributed to our fundraising booth last year: Charlotte Bailey, Darlene Brown, Melody Christenson, Sandy Estes, Mary Hale, Kay Kobe and Connie Strohmayer.  

   Each November, at the Larry Farr Community Center in the City of Shasta Lake, is an annual Community Holiday Bazaar hosted by non-profits and churches. Our historical society, once again, had a very successful candy booth in a building buzzing with the sound of laughter and fun as shoppers made their way around a room filled with homemade crafts, baskets, plants, baked goods and more. Our table had more than 25 different homemade candies to choose from and with our gift shop items, weraised over $2,000.00 for the museum. 

Check back in later this year for this year's date. You want to shop there! Great prices! Great gifts!  

Sincere thanks to any and all of you who support us!          It is because of your donations that we have been able to preserve the photographs and stories shown in the museum. From before the construction of Shasta Dam - be it the Native American habitats, to the gold rush era, to the copper mining era bringing the cities under Shasta Lake, to the Boomtown era of Shasta Dam construction - we have so much history to share!
 Display cases have Native American baskets, Veteran's memorabilia and more.  We have maps, oh boy do we have maps and newspapers ...and over 5,000 photos and lots of reference material. We also have a big screen TV to show our digital films and a recording studio to digitize and preserve your stories for our files, and a gift shop! 

Shasta Dam has tours telling you how and why Shasta Dam was constructed. We will tell you about the PEOPLE who came to live and work here - before the Dam, during the Dam construction, and after the Dam was completed. 

So on your next visit to Shasta County, make it point to stop by the BOOMTOWN MUSEUM on your way to Shasta Dam, Shasta Lake or the mountains, and learn a little more about local history. You'll be glad you did!  


 "Those Dam Kids". It is a great addition to any book collection. Almost 300 pages, it is full of photos and short stories by the offspring of the workers on Shasta Dam.  Sharing their memories during the "Boomtown Years", it is a quick must read and sure to be a collectible book in years to come.  Above is Mr. Mathew Rumboltz with some of "those Dam kids" and the first 7th & 8th grade students at Toyon School 1938. click: those-dam-kids-book.php

 Many photographs shown on our website are personal photos and can not be used for commercial purposes in any form. Please contact us for permission of use on any reproduction of any of the photographs within our website. Thank you.