Seasoned residents and visitors to Lake Almanor will recall that body of water was plagued with snags—dead standing trees submerged by the lake. The trees were mostly lodgepole pine that had no commercial value to the Red River Lumber Company when it initially logged the basin. Another issue, especially along the shoreline was the remnants of tree stumps left over from harvesting trees.
In 1954 the California Department of Fish & Game estimated it would cost $1.6 million to remove the snags and stumps. California Assemblywoman Pauline Davis, who liked the idea of the snag removal, would not seek state funds to do it, as the lake was privately owned.
As the development of the subdivisions on the peninsula and east shore continued so did the issue of snag removal. In the fall of 1959, PG&E did a pilot test to remove the snags and stumps. After it was completed, it would assess the results, and should it appear feasible from a cost standpoint, it would move forward with the program to include additional segments of the lake.
To the delight of many, PG&E continued with the snag removal program, and in 1961 work was accelerated. Cattermole and Tretheway Construction Company were awarded the contract for removal snags, stumps and driftwood. At its peak the company had five barges, employing over fifty men. One of the more problematic regions of the lake was the one known as Gould Swamp to the east of Chester. A huge pile of snags was created on the Chester boat landing road. Farrell Hamilton, foreman for the company, reported that the pile consisted of nearly six million board feet of timber. It measured some 1,100 feet long, by 60 feet wide and 20 feet high. To dispose of this mammoth wodpile, the company intended to have one large bonfire and it did in late October 1963. As one forest service employee noted, it “really made quite a blaze.”