Born in Ohio, as a young man McCloud moved to Iowa, where he married Mary Campbell in 1848. He came to California as a Forty-Niner in the early 1850's, but had limited success in the gold fields. His wife took the Oregon Trail and joined him in Northern California in 1853.
Together they operated an early inn in the (now-disappeared) mining settlement of Portuguese Flat, California on the upper Sacramento River. The McClouds purchased the rights of the Lockhart brothers to property at the site now known as Upper Soda Springs in present-day Dunsmuir, California, where (beginning in about 1857), they expanded an early wayside hostel into a more substantial inn.
McCloud was instrumental in improving the roads and trails in Siskiyou County, California, and was twice elected County Surveyor. In 1856, the Shasta Courier published a statement by Ross McCloud in which he advertised completion of his new project: "The new trail by way of the Sacramento river to Yreka is now completed and (mule) trains can now pass without crossing any mountains or having any deep snows to contend with. No molestation from Indians. The undersigned claims this trail to be the best mountain trail in Calif, and asks the public to test its merits and decide for themselves. There is no want of feed for animals on this route. Ross McCloud, Shasta, Cal. Feb, 2, 1856."
By 1860, mule train and later stagecoach traffic between California's Central Valley, Yreka, California and Oregon had increased, and the McClouds (and their business partner Isaac Fry) operated a toll bridge over the Sacramento River at Upper Soda Springs, as well as increasing the size of the inn. In particular, travelers came to enjoy the "soda water" at the Upper Soda Springs site. Ross also built and operated a sawmill near present-day Mt. Shasta, California.
The McClouds eventually sold their interest in the Upper Soda Springs inn, and moved to a ranch near present-day Gazelle, California, where Ross died in 1868. The Upper Soda Springs inn was later acquired and operated by the daughter of Ross and Mary, Elda McCloud Masson, under the name "Upper Soda Springs Resort" until 1920.
He is regarded as a namesake of the town of McCloud, California, and the nearby McCloud River.
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