Tokens

The State Cafe was located on South Gay Street, Susanville.
The State Cafe was located on South Gay Street, Susanville.

On a Sunday, awhile back, during a weekly ritual where two of my friends and I get together for a toddy and french fries at the Pioneer to discuss whatever happenings that have occurred or other topics. On one such occassion, a person came up to me to  ask a question, which whenever this happens, I hope to have the answer, and if not, well I will work on it. Believe me, while I do hold a wealth knowledge of the region’s history, there is so much I do not know, so on any given day can be a new learning experience.

Anyhow, back to the original inquiry, which this person received a Pioneer Mercantile aluminum token and wanted to know more about such objects.  Generally, tokens given can be for an item, for a monetary amount, or whatever the given establishment desires. The earliest known token, and these were made of brass, was for Bill Neuhaus’ Cozy Pool Hall that was located on  North Gay Street in 1908. In the 1920s, the Pioneer began issuing tokens. The H.P. Anderson in Hayden Hill gave out tokens, which I found one back in 1990 before Kinross started open pit mining there. The H.S. Anderson Company, no relation to the previous mentioned Anderson, leased the Red River Lumber Company’s various mercantile enterprises and they, too, issued tokens.

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