Carl R. Caudle, Engineer

Carl R. Caudle, circa 1900.
Carl R. Caudle, circa 1900.

Personally, this east side Honey Lake Valley resident, is a fascinating figure and I relate to him in on many levels. He began his career first working for U.S.G.S. He did extensive travel in the western United States with that agency. In 1905, he was part of the survey team to survey the boundaries of  Crater Lake National Park. He put together four albums of his work there, with detailed notes.* During this same time, his brother, Marvin, was lured to the sagebrush plain of eastern Honey Lake Valley, and took up a homestead that would later become the nucleus of the town of Stacy.

In time, Marvin convinced Carl to join him the reclamation enterprise there. Their first endeavor was a well-drilling business, since the new homesteaders arriving in the region would need wells for domestic purposes. Carl kept well logs, that information nearly a century is an important resource. In addition, he monitored the flow of High Rock Springs to see how the wells affected its flows.

The big project in the region was the establishment of the Standish Water Company and their intent to build a pumping plant to use the water of Honey Lake to reclaim the sagebrush lands.  The company recruited Carl, as its engineer. Not only, did Carl oblige, he and his brother invested $20,000 towards the project. The project went bust, see Standish Water Company posts for details.

The one bright side, during these bleak times, was they had a great well, that not only provided their domestic needs, but irrigation, too. The family carried on. During the height of the homestead era, Carl was busy as a surveyor to plot out each land claim. By 1920, the area was deserted and services as a engineer or surveyor were no longer needed. Nevertheless, Carl persevered. In the 1930s, the United States Army contacted Caudle for information on this portion of the Honey Lake Valley. Caudle’s knowledge not only paid off for him, but for the region as a whole. It was with his information and lobbying efforts that the government established the Sierra Army Depot in 1942. He never saw its complete development, or that of the community of Herlong for he died in his sleep at his Stacy home on August 4, 1942. He is buried in the nearby Honey Lake Cemetery, with other family members.

*The albums have been donated to Crater Lake National Park.

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3 thoughts on “Carl R. Caudle, Engineer”

  1. Thanks for your posts – most intersting! My great grandfather worked on the honeylake dam project – he came over from Scotland (his name was George Marr – he was 6 foot 6 and 250 lbs – so would stand out in photos – black hair and beard) he would have been there around this same time we know he disappeared from SF around 1890

  2. Jane that wouldn’t be the Marrs who helped to settle the Madeline Plains near Ravendale? And thank you again, Tim, for your history, I always look forward to your posts! I have visited the Stacy cemetery many times, it is my favorite haunt to commiserate with in the desert where I grew up.

  3. Thank you, Tim. Is there a preferred method of communicating? I would like to talk to Jeff at Lassen County Public Works about clearing some of that rabbitbrush around the cemetary for fire safety. My wife and I have a homestead out there as well, but volunteers are welcome whenever. Do y’all think there’s ever a chance we could move the old church that’s in Doyle back? Honey Lake will thrive on..

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