Awhile back, I received this message: “I was born in Susanville.  I am related to the Peconom family, Joaquins, Dixons.  I was just reading about the vast land owned by the Red River Lumber Company (800,000 acres).  No where do I see how many of these acres were manipulatively stolen from the Indians.  I have checked the government land records for the 160 acre parcels that many of my ancestors owned.  They were quickly sold for $200, an old pickup truck, or maybe shack somewhere.  I think you need to be honest about the real history of Lassen/Plumas counties.”

For starters it is complex story how Red River and other large timber companies like Collins and Weyerhauser acquired their lands.These include the 1897 Forest Lieu Exchange Act and the Timber and Stone Act of 1878. As to writer’s statement, some background is needed. In 1887, Congress passed the General Allotment Act also known as the Dawes Act. It is a complicated story, however, for Indians not on tribal reservations they were entitled land allotments up to 160 acres. Locally, a majority of these Indian allotments were timberlands. In 1914, two years after Red River established Westwood, the Bureau of Indian Affairs held a public auction of lands the writer referred to. Red River purchased those lands that were located in Mountain Meadows.

Tim