Folsom A to Z: Pierson B. Reading

Editor's note: Folsom A to Z is an intermittent series in the Telegraph where readers can learn facts and history about Folsom. Each week, the Telegraph will select a landmark, place, historical figure and major historical event that start with the next letter of the alphabet. This week we continue with R." • Pierson Barton Reading (pronounced Redding) was born November 26, 1816 in New Jersey. • Reading came across the country to California as a member of the Chiles-Walker party in 1843. • Gold had not been discovered yet, but Reading was looking for wealth in land. • Employed by General Sutter as a clerk, explorer and chief of trappers, he saw what the future suggested for Sutter and learned from him. Like many others who Sutter helped establish in California, Reading became successful after he left his employment at Sutter's Fort. • He was given land grants by the Mexican Governor Micheltorena that included vast tracts of placer claims in the northern sections of the Sacramento Valley. • Reading received the 26,632-acre Rancho Buenaventura land grant in Shasta County in 1847. • After discovering gold in Trinity County in 1848, he became a very wealthy man. Reading participated in the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846. • He enlisted under Fremont and was appointed Paymaster of the Californian Battalion with the rank of Major. • He became the Whig candidate for governor of California in 1851. • Four years later, Reading was appointed a Special Indian Agent. After his death on May 29, 1868, the Central Pacific Railroad arrived and laid out a town they named for him, Redding, California. • Joseph Folsom honored Major Pierson Reading because of his leadership in California by naming a street after him, Reading Street.