Well, can you believe it, it has been two years on Thursday that the old barn at the east entrance to Susanville was destroyed by a fire. It was built in 1920/21 for the Fruit Growers Supply Company, who were in the midst of constructing their new sawmill/box factory nearby.
Okay, one may ponder what does a sawmill have to do with a hay barn? In this era, a tremendous amount of logging was done with horses and big wheels. Of course, winter pasture was needed for the horses. It should be noted that, Fruit Growers had originally purchased what is known today as Susanville Ranch Park. It was their intention to winter pasture the horses there. Instead that property was converted into a dairy. Since Fruit Growers had abundant acreage adjoining the plant, it was decided to pasture the horses there, hence the need of a hay barn to provide feed during the winter months. Improvements were rapidly being made in the logging operations with motorized tractors, and by 1927, Fruit Growers phased out the use of horses.