The first known and identifiable inhabitants of Willow Creek Ranch were the Wintu tribe of Native Americans. It is no wonder they chose this peaceful valley for their summer encampments, where they found an abundance of yew trees (used for making bows), game, and fish. Sadly, malaria took the lives of the great majority of the Wintu in the 1830s. The remaining populations suffered a fate similar to so many other tribes of North America and today there are only about 2,500 Wintu remaining.

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In the 1850s, a California poet, Joaquin Miller, spent time on what is now Willow Creek Ranch in a fruitless search for gold. He married a Wintu woman and his writings shed some light on what those days were like. Aside from the Wintu and Miller, it is certain there are others whose stories have been lost to the wind. Those stories would have come from the Modoc and Shasta tribes and the miners and mountain men, all of whom had their days along Squaw Valley Creek. Occasionally, one will find an obsidian arrowhead or flake from a knapping site on the ranch.

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In the decades that followed, the McCloud River and the surrounding area found its way onto the radar of wealthy and prominent San Franciscans. They were drawn by the beauty of nature, bountiful wildlife, and world-class trout fishing. Phoebe Apperson Hearst and later her son, William Randolph Hearst, settled at a scenic bend in the McCloud River, just over the ridge from Willow Creek Ranch. They named their elaborate rural retreat Wyntoon, after the local Native American tribe, and hosted prominent guests, including Clark Gable, Charles Lindbergh, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and his son, John F. Kennedy, Jr.

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William Franklin Whittier, a prominent San Francisco financier and founder of the firm that became Fuller O’Brien Paints, owned the ranch from 1895 until his death in 1919. His estate sold the ranch to William McPherson Fitzhugh, another San Franciscan who enjoyed fly fishing. Fitzhugh often invited his friend and fellow mining engineer, Herbert Hoover, to join him at Willow Creek Ranch and fish in the nearby McCloud River. Their friendship led Fitzhugh to donate property in Catoctin, Maryland, his birthplace, to serve as a Presidential retreat. It is now known as Camp David.

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After Fitzhugh’s passing in 1950 the ranch was sold to a succession of local residents. The current owners purchased the property in 1987 after their first visit to the ranch. They knew it was the perfect place to raise their family and enjoy time with friends. Over the years, they have improved the facilities, built a network of trails, and expanded the ranch to enhance privacy.