Photo by Michael Woodward

HOUSE OF MANY LIVES: This “dam” house on South Street in Anderson was built, like many others, to house workers who built the Shasta Dam. It was relocated to Anderson after the dam was completed in 1944 and continued to be used as housing.

When construction of Shasta Dam began in 1938, there was a great need for housing for all the workers and their families. Land was cleared and building had begun to provide housing, medical and recreational facilities and project buildings for the influx of people.

The area on the east side of the canyon on the Sacramento River below our present dam site was cleared for these facilities. The houses were thrown up for temporary use, to be torn down and removed upon completion of the building of Shasta Dam.

The 131 houses were small — one to five rooms, one bath, with a shower or bath tub and a wash tray on the porch. They were constructed primarily of pine lumber siding and fiberboard composition walls. They had electric stoves and ice boxes and were heated with an oil heater.

Following the completion of Shasta Dam in 1944, many of the houses were donated or sold to people interested in moving them to other locations. The moving of the houses was quite a chore as the road leading into the Dam area was narrow, winding and along a steep canyon.

Many of the homes ended up in Anderson, where there was a great need for more housing to accommodate returning veterans and people moving to the area for jobs in the lumber industry.

The Veterans Park in Anderson, located below the high school between South Street and Veterans Lane, was one place where the houses were relocated. Shasta County donated the land for this housing project. The Anderson Veterans Post 9650 was involved in this project, according to Henry Christensen.

The main places I remember where most of the homes were concentrated, besides Veterans Park, was the north end of Ferry Street and along Ventura Street and Stingy Lane. Others were scattered here and there around town. Some of the homes have been updated and improved today, but others were condemned and torn down. Others are in need of updating, repair or being replaced.

Some of the people who lived in them until they could find improved housing said they had very little insulation, were drafty and hard to keep clean and heat. Harold Sass said they were little more than shacks. The Paul Jollys and George Waddles lived there because there were no other houses available due to the big shortage of homes in Anderson. For some, the rent was affordable, as in those years wages were quite low.

At the time, the dam houses were a great improvement over some of the houses in the area — at least they had bathrooms, running water, electricity and were not tar paper with only wallpaper or newspaper on the inside walls.

The people who purchased the houses for rental properties made a good investment, but the renters were the ones who dealt with the hardship especially when the houses were left to deteriorate and people still had to pay their rent. These temporary dam houses from the mid-1940s are still being rented today.

A few of the dam houses were duplexes. Today there are very few of the original duplexes left in Anderson. The ones in the 3300 block of Stingy Lane have been upgraded, but the ones along Ventura Street appear to be mostly unchanged. The ones along Ferry Street have been replaced with rental apartments, but the people who rented the original dam houses lived in deplorable conditions until someone purchased the property and tore the houses down.

The Anderson Historical Society invites those who had their start in these old homes to share their stories and experiences. Those interested can contact the Anderson Historical Museum at 2330 Ferry St., Anderson, by calling 365-7045 or by sending an e-mail to andersonhistory.org.