1907 was a most interesting year. in certain circles. There was a national financial crisis, but California and Nevada were experiencing a building boom. For the Golden State it was still in the midst of rebuilding the San Francisco Bay region from the previous year’s earthquake. For the Silver State, a mining bonanza it had not experienced since the discovery of the Comstock. These two episodes created a lumber shortage. Lassen County’s timber resources had basically remained untapped due to the lack of a railroad infrastructure to develop it.
There was the Nevada California Oregon Railroad (NCO) in eastern Lassen County that allowed for some export commerce. Because of its Nevada interests, the timber around the Honey Lake Valley came into prominence. A number of Nevada mining companies entered into substantial contracts with the Cornelison and Jordan sawmills near Janesville and the Diamond Mountain Lumber Company near Susanville. This represented nearly a million board feet of lumber, and the first time of lumber of this magnitude was shipped out of the county. The problem with contracts, how to get the lumber and mining timbers over to the NCO Railroad at Hot Springs, now known as Wendel, and Amedee. It was George Harrison of the Diamond Mountain Lumber Company that had a plan to purchase a mammoth Best traction engine. The mighty machine was no match for the roads and bridges of the Honey Lake Valley. It got stuck once crossing Baxter Creek. The rest of the time it chose a route on the north side of the Honey Lake Valley. For one season it hauled over 300,000 board feet of lumber to the railroad.
However, the Lassen Mill & Lumber Company came up with alternative to Harrison’s traction engine. They bought a tugboat used on San Francisco Bay to take lumber across Honey Lake from the westside lumber mills to Amedee for shipment on the NCO. This was accomplished by building a 70 foot barge to haul the finished lumber products. While the boat was only needed for one year to transport lumber, it then was used for recreational purposes.
The boat picture is perfect. I had the opportunity in 2015 to visit with Ramona (York) Roper in Clear Creek. Among the many topics discussed, I asked if she remembered a boat on Honey Lake, and she said yes, that her mother Opal (Barham) York was married to Melville Masten York in 1925 on that boat. Good times. Thanks for the picture.