 Meek reportedly trapped 1,800 beaver from the valley in the year 1850 alone.Meek, who had hunted all over the West, declared the Beaver Valley, soon to be renamed Scott Valley, one of the best places he had ever seen to trap beaver and hunt game, and returned to retire there at the Josiah Doll ranch from 1871 until his death in 1889 at the age of 90.An early road, an alternative to the Siskiyou Trail, wound its way up from Shasta, California, through Scott Valley to Yreka, California, and then into Oregon.