Ruggles Brothers Gold

One of the most famous gold heists made the new town of Redding famous throughout the state. It occurred in May 1892. The Ruggles Brothers held up the stage to Weaverville just west of Redding, and made off with the strong box loaded with gold. Just past a sharp bend on what is known as Middle Creek Road today. As soon as the stage headed round the turn the younger brother Charles jumped out of the manzanita chapparal with his shotgun aimed, ordering a halt. The driver complied, but unbeknownst to the Ruggles, the stage had an armed escort, Buck Montgomery of the Hayfork Montgomery clan.

Montgomery began firing, and Charles Ruggles fell. His brother John fired back, while the stage raced away to get help in Old Shasta. John Ruggles thought his brother dead, cached the strong box off the trail and hid is somewhere close by. That loot was never recovered, but the Ruggles Brothers were subsequently lynched by Redding vigilantes.


View Larger Map

John and Charles Ruggles lynched: gold loot never found

As the legend goes, both Ruggles boys were young, charming and handsome. Numerous of the local ladies began to pamper them with gifts of food and even marriage proposals. For some reason there was an aura about the boys that girls and women found extremely appealing, perhaps their "bad boy" persona, or their good looks. Redding was still a preponderantly male town in those years. The locals already had it in for the two for the murder of the popular Buck Montgomery and they sure were not going to tolerate pampering of murderers, and secretly concocted a sheme for lynching them. The question exists as to how much help the Redding lawmen gave the "citizens." With no pretence for due process or the rights of the accused, the two boys were lynched in Redding July 24, 1892 --the mob took the two from jail, led them to a tree on the northwest corner (Redding Blacksmith shop at the time) where Shasta Street met the railroad tracks, the 'backyard' of the current Paul Stowers Garage business of today. Even on the improvised gallows, John Ruggles refused to divulge where he stashed the loot.

Authorities went back and scoured the area, and even found the express bag pouch (with letters intact) in the Lower Springs area, but the of $5,000 in gold coins still remains unfound, though over a century of seekers have tried. In recent days, our own local Brad Garbutt has rallied the historical interest, and given pointers to the curious. The place to begin, he says, is along the unpaved section of Middle Creek Road between Iron Mountain Road and the Shasta Transfer Station in Old Shasta.

So there's the challenge: find that hastily-buried gold loot!