Hudson Bay Co. trappers worked the Trinity Valley as early as 1826, where a tenuous peace existed with the Wintu Indians until miners invaded the valley in 1850. In 1851, Moses Chadbourne built a trading post of the same name on his ranch near the Trinity River, and by 1853 the settlement had been moved back from the river because of flooding and quickly became the supply center on the Calif.-Ore. Trail. Stage roads from Shasta to Yreka were completed by 1860, and mining and logging remained the main industries for more than a century, including the 1,000 acre Bloss-McClary hydraulic mine and shaft mines such as Bonanza King, Headligh and Five Pines. Bucket line dredges began operating as early as 1912 with the Alta Bert dredge, and the huge Estabrook dredge worked the Trinity Center area; all the dredges were electric, supplied by the Calif.-Ore. Power Co., which also brought electricity to the town by 1916. With the coming of Trinity Dam and Lake, Ed Scott developed and sold at cost 73 lots in the new town, and by the end of 1959 most homes and buildings in old Trinity Center had been moved to the new location. In 1959, R and G Lumber Co., the largest employer, closed both sawmills, ending an era in Trinity Valley as Trinity Lake covered the great ranches, including the Trinity Farm and Cattle Co., and many historic river sites.