Susanville’s first electric power plant was located at Bremner Dam on the Susan River, about a mile from town. It was destroyed by fire in 1894. In 1895, James Branham revived the power plant and it was located further downstream. Just below Hobo Camp he built a dam and on the north side of the canyon he built a flume to convey water to the power plant about a half-mile away. The plant operated until 1910, when it was closed and a new plant was built at Bunnell’s.
T.A. “Ab” Ramsey saw the potential in the dam. In 1888, he purchased a 737 acre ranch just south of Susanville, along Richmond Road. Many know by its current owner, Les Allen. Ramsey had an irrigation ditch starting at Branham Dam and extending to his ranch, which is still known today as Ramsey Ditch.
In 1898, the dam caught the attention of civil engineer Albert Halen, who was working for the development of the Standish Colony. The colony had acquired the Susan River Irrigation System. He proposed to heighten the dam and extend the Ramsey Ditch all the way to Bald Mountain. That did not happen. In 1906, the Lassen-Willow Creek Water Company made the same proposal. Ditto, it did not happen.
In February 1928, a lawsuit was filed concerning the water rights to Ramsey Ditch. Several weeks later, unknown parties dynamited Branham Dam leading to its destruction.