During the 1920s, Susanville’s two newspapers, Lassen Advocate and Lassen Mail published elaborate Christmas editions extolling the virtues of Lassen County. Concerning what the lumber industry meant to Lassen County, the Lassen Advocate provided this profile of the Red River Lumber Company in 1921:
”In 1912 the Red River Lumber Company founded the town of Westwood and erected there on a sixty-five acre site for its mill. The company has timber lands scattered over five counties in Northern California, but its holdings in Lassen County amount to approximately 200,000 acres, and its main plant is at Westwood. During the busy season it employs 1,500 men in the mills and 300 more in the camps, with an average monthly payroll of about $400,000. Their mills have a capacity of 350,000 board feet per ten hour shift and produce about 500 carloads of lumber and by products per month. From two to four logging camps are operated during the dry season, served by approximately forty miles of railroad and logging spurs.”