W.T. Summers Boarding House, Hayden Hill, 1894—Del & Diane Poole
During the recent Ask Tim segment, someone had two Hayden Hill questions. One was about the 1890 mining accident that claimed the lives of Frank Auble and William Dunbar. The other concerns the town’s disastrous fire of 1910. I am in midst of composing an interesting tale of the abrupt closure of the town’s largest mine the Golden Eagle in 1907.
Finally, a little bit about today’s featured photograph. Hayden Hill was a peculiar mining community. Through all of its ups and downs, the town never boasted a bona fide hotel. Instead of hotels, the town had boarding houses for the mine workers, which also provided rooms for the transient travelers. My great grand Aunt Rose (Murrer) Bagin operated one at Hayden Hill, and when she finally moved to Reno, had a basement full of brass bed frames from her Hayden Hill days.
It has been an interesting winter so far, with the first snowfall on November 7. December provided lots of snow, followed with rain, and then very cold temperatures to freeze the whole lot in a frozen zone.
While, I am slowly getting around to scan old photographs for Tuesdays, the above was one of the first. Since Eagle Lake was still at its historic high level, it had to be darn cold for the lake to freeze over when the above was taken in December 1921.
Asa Merrill Fairfield (1854-1926) is known to different people for various aspects of his life. When I started my research a long time ago, I interviewed numerous people who knew him. Today, Fairfield is best known for Fairfield’s Pioneer History of Lassen County. More on that later. Continue reading Asa Fairfield—Teacher and Historian→
Some one wanted to know whether the Fernley & Lassen Railroad had a logo or specialized letterhead. As far as I am aware the answer is no. It is fairly simple. The Fernley & Lassen was a branch line of the Southern Pacific, so all communications appear on Southern Pacific letterhead. If the Fernley & Lassen had been an independent railroad, things would have been different. It also should be noted that some time by the early 1930s, the Southern Pacific dropped the Fernley & Lassen name and the line then became known as the Westwood Branch.
Speaking of logos. Lassen County did not have a logo until the early 1950s, which happened by accident. State law required government vehicles, whether city, county or state display a logo for public identification purposes.
One odd thing about the county logo, at least to me, is that it features Lassen Peak, which happens to be in Shasta County.
The Susanville mills of Fruit Growers and Lassen Lumber & Box.
For newer residents of the region they might have difficulty understanding just the enomority of the size and scope of the lumber industry in Lassen County’ history. Even residents a century ago, knew it was big, but how big.
In 1926, Charles Mitchell of the Westwood Auto Club compiled some interesting data that he presented at a Lassen County Chamber of Commerce meeting.
””At the present time the standing timber in California amounts to 253 billion board feet. There are 105 billion feet of white pine, 32 billion feet of sugar pine, 33 billion feet of white fir, 50 billion feet of Douglas fir, 9 billion feet of incense cedar and 24 billion of other species.
”Natural growth and reproduction are adding 250 million feet annually. Conservative estimates show supply of these woods. will last at present rate of production for fully two centuries*
”The annual production in Lassen County is one and one-half billion board feet. White and sugar pine slightly more than one billion feet. Footage used as follows: 33 million for sash and door frames; 70 million for interior trim and exterior finish; 50 million for industrial uses; 200 million for boards—dimension for construction, sheathing and forms; 350 million for box and crating materials.
“Lassen County is the biggest lumber producing county in California. The Lassen County cut is 350,000,000 feet or one-fourth of the entire state.
”There are five mills in Lassen County with a capital of $15,000,000. The men employed total 6,000. The monthly payroll is $600,000.”
*There were skeptics about the comment that the timber supply would last for two centuries.
Camp 38, Red River Lumber Company at Lake Almanor circa 1925—Hank Martinez
One of California Department Fish & Game’s concerns with the creation of Lake Almanor was the lack of a fish ladder at the dam. While the issue was being debated in the summer of 1916 occurred a massive fish kill at Lake Almanor. Deputy Fish & Game Warden Frank Cady went to the lake to collect some samples to be analyzed. The fish, it was discovered, did not possess any disease. The problem was with the. lake itself and water quality. There was a tremendous amount of vegetative matter decomposing in the lake from logs, brush and such from the initial flooding. It had all the characteristics of millpond, and coupled with warm summer temperatures was the problem of the fish kill. Once fall arrived with cooler temperatures, along with the rains, the water quality improved, and so did the health of the fish.
On Sunday, May 6, 1917 a Loyalty Day at Westwood was held. One of the features was a large American Flag was hoisted on top of the box factory. It was a prelude of the United States entry into World War I. As a number of Susanville residents were attendance at the Westwood event, they decided to move forward with their own “Liberty Pole.”
On Tuesday, June 5, 1917, a sixty-foot tall flag poll had already been placed at the west end of Susanville’s Main Street. It was time for a flag raising. It was low key affair—with the blare of a bugle and some lusty cheers when Old Glory was raised.
It should be noted, since that time, there has always been a flag pole at that location.
The Antelope Station, date unknown. Courtesy of Nevada Historical Society
It was a popular stage station in the upper end of Long Valley on the Susanville–Reno Road. It was established in the mid-1860s by Jonathon C. Roberts. In 1873, Roberts sold to David F. Evans and for many years it was known as the Evans Ranch. In 1882, when the Nevada-California-Oregon (NCO) constructed its railroad there, they established a station named Oneida, for the Sierra County Township of Oneida. On June 6, 1889, a post office was established there named Purdy—for Solomon Purdy who came to Sierra County in 1852, from Oneida, New York and eventually sold to David F. Evans. In 1891, the Purdy Post Office was moved to a site known today as Bordertown. Travelers of U.S. Highway 395 between 1931 and 1976 will know the location of the old Antelope Station as the first site of the California Agricultural Inspection “Bug” Station.
With the pending arrival of the railroad to Susanville in 1912, it started a frenzy of housing subdivisions. The first was Hill Long’s Long Addition. It was unique in many ways, it being one of the smallest and at that it was located inside the city limits, a very small territory. Continue reading Susanville’s Burma Road and View Drive→
