On February 18, 1928 the Lassen High Block L Society formed, that was the boy’s athletic organization. One of their first activities was the painting of the “L” on Susanville Peak. In 2008, Betty Jo Buckles Coplen provided me with this behind the scene account: “In 1924, my father, Maynard Robert “Billy” Buckles accepted a position teaching at Lassen Union High School, and we moved to Susanville. Four years later, members of the new Block L Society came to my Dad. They asked him to help them plan a Block L for them to lay out on the hillside. He helped them to design a letter L with the proper classic proportions (200 yards long). He also warned them that a letter of that size would be difficult to keep whitewashed. The Block L boys persevered and constructed the letter on the hill, moving rocks into the outline to be painted white. For decades as planned the freshman boys painted the letter each year, but eventually that practice died out.”
While the Block L Society no longer exists, the Lassen High Alumni Association has from time to time maintained it, the last time was done in 2008.
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Senior class did this “paint/plaster” task in 1964. No road to the “L” and we packed in the materials and water. A very good time and great memories.
When I was in grade school I had friends on the LHS track team under coach Wall and we packed everything up that hill and painted and made sure the rocks were placed inside the boundaries. Hard day’s work but a ton of fun.