Denny, California facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Denny, California
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 Denny, California
Location in California
Denny, California
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Trinity |
| Elevation | 1,480 ft (450 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| Area code(s) | 530 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1655965 |
Denny, California is the name for two small mining towns. They are located in the northwestern part of Trinity County. One is called Old Denny. It is deep inside the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area. The other is New Denny, about twenty miles downstream. The land around Denny is very steep and rugged.
The Story of Old Denny
The first town, now known as Old Denny, started in September 1884. Two other small towns, White Rock City and Marysville, were also nearby. This area was home to miners looking for gold in hard rock.
For a few years, Old Denny was called New River City. Later, its name changed to Denny. This new name came from A.H. Denny. He owned a store there and other stores in Siskiyou County. Interestingly, A.H. Denny never actually lived in the town named after him.
Over time, finding gold became less profitable. People started to leave Old Denny. By 1920, two brothers, Grover and Willard Ladd, began building a ranch. This ranch was 160 acres and located twenty miles down the trail. This would become the site of New Denny.
In 1921, their parents, Frank and Nellie Ladd, moved from Old Denny. They brought the Denny Post Office with them. Soon, the new location also became known as Denny. Old Denny was eventually abandoned. Today, no buildings are left standing there.
The Story of New Denny
The site of "new" Denny is a large, flat area. It sits on a bench next to the New River. Gold miners first came here in the mid-1850s. This was soon after gold was found in the New River.
General James W. Denver helped discover this new gold source. He sent a group of men to this area in 1851. Later, a city in Colorado was named after him.
Cyrus Quimby and his brother-in-law, Robert L. Thomas, moved to this flat area. It was also called "Big Flat" in its early years. They started farming and opened a business. It was called the Thomas-Quimby Trading Post. This is known from official tax records from the late 1850s.
Thomas and Quimby married sisters from the Chimariko Indian tribe. These sisters grew up along the Trinity River at Cedar Flat. The area became known as the town of Quimby. A creek about a mile upstream was also named after Cyrus Quimby. This town had a post office. It was also a place where local people could vote during elections.
Around 1907, the site was called Burris for a few years. This was named after Frank Burris. He was the postmaster, ran the store, and mined for gold. He worked at the Beartooth Mine, which was across the New River from Denny. The ranch continued to be farmed. The store or trading post was run by different people over the years. Then, in 1920, Grover and Willard Ladd took over the land. They planned to make it their homestead, as mentioned earlier.
Denny Today
Denny sometimes appeared in national news from the 1970s to the early 1980s. Many new people moved to the area. They wanted to live on mining claims. These mining claims are part of public lands managed by the National Forest system. The U.S. Forest Service worked with the Bureau of Land Management. They had to deal with people living on claims without permission.
The Mining Law of 1872 had allowed miners to live on their claims. But later laws changed this. The Surface Rights Act of 1955 said that a claim had to actually support the miners. It could not just be a place to live. This was a complex situation. It sometimes led to disagreements.
A store operated full-time in Denny until the early 1970s. Then it opened sometimes for a few years. After that, it closed completely. There is no store in Denny now. However, a small log building still stands by the road. People driving by can see it. The road to Denny from Highway 299 West is about 19 miles. But it takes almost an hour to drive. This is because of the many curves and steep hills.
Denny is known as the entrance to the western part of the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area.
