In 1924, Fruit Growers Supply Company’s logging operations was on the west side of Antelope Mountain near Eagle Lake. On July 28, a fire broke out there caused by a steam donkey operating between Camps D and F. It would in the end consume some 7,000 acres.
Three years later, the Lassen National Forest sent Fruit Growers a bill $156,000 in damages for 2,000 acres of forest service land that had burned in the fire. During ensuing negotiations it appeared the Forest Service wanted really was not the money, but reforestation.
A settlement was reached. Fruit Growers agreed to replant the burned over Forest Service land, plus an additional 20,000 acres and to contribute $1,500 over the next ten years for reforestation. Fruit Growers even established a small tree nursery at their Susanville mill.
Tomorrow: The Susanville Nursery