Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Mount Shasta, CA

The city of Mount Shasta sits at about 3,600 feet above sea level on the southwestern flanks of Mount Shasta, the more than 14,000-foot volcano it is named for, less than 9 miles from the summit.

The city incorporated on May 31, 1905, under the name Sisson, and voters did not settle on the name "City of Mount Shasta" until a 1922 popular vote, finalized in 1925.

Before it was Sisson, the townsite was known as Strawberry Valley and then Berryvale, after the wild strawberries growing in the area; its post office opened as Berryvale in 1870.

The town was renamed for Justin Hinckley Sisson, a stagecoach inn and tavern keeper who donated the land for the townsite and the Central Pacific Railroad station in 1886, and the town's street names still honor members of his family.

The city grew up along the Siskiyou Trail, an ancient Native American footpath network, and traffic surged after gold was discovered at nearby Yreka in 1851.

Completion of the Central Pacific Railroad in 1887 brought a boom in tourism, lumbering, and population, and the Sisson Museum near the old mill site preserves that pioneer era.

In the early 1900s a large number of Italian immigrants settled in Mount Shasta to work in the timber industry.

Mount Shasta is the last community up the Sacramento River along Interstate 5, marking the river's northern terminus.

Despite its modest 3,600-foot elevation, Mount Shasta city averages about 89 inches of snow a year, and in 1952 a record 349.6 inches fell.

Mount Shasta had a population of 3,223 at the 2020 census, down about 5% from 3,394 in 2010.