James Quinne: Pioneer of Siskiyou County and Hydroelectric Entrepreneur

Title: James Quinne: Pioneer of Siskiyou County and Hydroelectric Entrepreneur

By David Q. Santos and N.J. Santos

Abstract:

James Quinne came to America in 1854 and married Margret Devine. They had a long and successful life together in Northern California. They had four grown children and a successful career. James was known as the “Pioneer of Siskiyou County” as well as the developer of the first hydropower plant in America.

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This is the story of my Dad’s Mom and how her family arrived in America and specifically the area of Northern California.

These are some details about how they got here and what the family did when they arrived.

This is James Quinne my Great, Great Grandfather. He is my Grandmother Margaret’s (dad’s mom) grandfather.

This is Margaret Devine, my great, great grandmother.

James was born in Glasgow in May of 1830. James’ father was from Scotland and his mother was from Ireland. James’ father died when James was only 24.

His father was killed on October 25, 1854 during the Crimean War.

He was a gunner who was killed at the Battle of Balaclava (read the Charge of the Light Brigade) which was also knows as “The Thin Red Line” because of the thin numbers of Scottish soldiers.

Both of Margaret’s parents were from Ireland.

James was “naturalized” July 11, 1865. This is drawn from the Siskiyou County Voter Registration from 1898.

James and Margaret were married in 1866. As of the 1870 Census of Siskiyou County James and Margaret had one son.

In this census James lists his occupation as “miner”. This census also shows that James had two laborers, one from Iowa and the other from China.

This census also has one unique feature, James lists his birthplace as Ireland while all other documents list it as Scotland.

This shows there are variants at times in such documents.

1870 Siskiyou County Census

As of 1880 James and Margaret had four children, three sons and one daughter. They had a total of six children, Frank J., Dr. John J. Quinne (my great, great grandfather), one daughter, Mrs. Nellie Dewitt, and George E. Quinne, with the other two dying as babies.

1880 Siskiyou County Census

James was the founder of the Quinne Electric Light plant, the first electric light plant in Siskiyou County. James was connected with the “big ditch” which was sold to Edson and Foulke in 1906. He was the first person to operate the canal making him an expert in water movement. In 1880 the Big Ditch was sold by Quinne when he moved to San Francisco where he became the Collector of Customs and engaged in commissioned businesses. In 1890 he relocated back to Siskiyou County and built the first hydroelectric power plant in the United States known as the Shasta River Power Plant (in 1906). The Quinne Power Company was important to the local community. The Overland Monthly noted in 1897 the size of the plant and that Mr. Quinne had been ridiculed for his plan to build the power plant. The Mining and Scientific Press took exceptional note of the works of Quinne in both water management and power supply. Quinne had been called on to supply water to new mining ground as well as supplying more energy than anticipated.

By 1900 the household had changed a lot. After 36 years of marriage James and Margaret had only one son left at home, George. On the 1900 census George is listed as an electrician. Also included in the census is Homer Dorland a boarder and electrician who probably worked at the power plant as George did and Ching Loo the household cook. The sons of James and Margaret, Frank and John, were out of the house as was daughter Nellie. John would not get married until 1917, after the death of his parents.

He was chairman of the Democratic County Committee from 1898-1902, retiring due to his poor health.

The power plant was sold in the early 1900s to E. T. Osborn.

James moved back to San Francisco because of his health concerns where he continued to invest in real estate. He was well known as the Pioneer of Siskiyou County.