The forested regions of northern Plumas County and western Lassen County remained in an almost virgin state until the early 1900s. Most of the logging done was for local consumption.
In 1849, an emigrant on the Lassen Trail noted that the forest could not be ignored and wrote, “The pine trees are 10 feet in diameter, and 200 feet high, are common sizes—and they are generally as straight as an arrow. Here the traveler may journey day after day, over needle-carpeted or grassy ground, mostly free of underbrush, amidst great clean shafts of really massive proportions, but giving a sense of lightness by reason of their color, symmetry and great height.”
I used to wonder how wagon trains could possible get through the forest. Of course, the forest looked different then, with larger trees spaced farther apart, as this photo shows.