In 1882, Julius M. Howells, a civil engineer for Agassiz & Shaw, was hired to study the geological features of the Feather River country. The region left a lasting impression on him. First, there was the abundant watershed found at Big Meadows (now Lake Almanor). Then there was the dramatic elevation once the Feather River left that basin, descending some 4,350 feet in a distance of some seventy miles.  Two years later, Howells left the region to work on other projects.

In the 1890s hydroelectric power was coming to the forefront. In 1895  his brother-in-law, J.J. Seymour, was a co-founder of the San Joaquin Electric Company in Fresno. In 1899 Howells accepted the position of consulting engineer for that power company to construct the Crane Valley Dam.

In 1901, in Los Angeles, Howells affiliated himself with noted engineer James Dix Schuyler.  In November, Howells returned to Big Meadows to compile facts and figures for the potential development of a hydroelectric system utilizing the Feather River. Upon his return, with data in hand, Schuyler arranged a meeting between Howells and Edwin T. Earl—the latter had done very well in the citrus packing industry and was branching out into other endeavors.

Earl consulted with his brother, Guy C. Earl, an Oakland attorney.  They concluded that Howells’ venture was worth pursuing. It was deemed that secrecy was the order of the day, so as not to alert the competition, as Plumas County resident George Cornell had a similar proposition in the works, but lacked financial capital.

Fast forward to the spring of 1913, after numerous hurdles and one failed dam attempt, Julius Howells went to work for the Earl Brothers who had formed the Great Western Power Company. By the summer of 1913 work was in full progress and the newly constructed reservoir known as Lake Almanor was completed in the summer of 1914.

Due to financial issues the original proposed dam was scaled back by half. In December 1924, Great Western Power announced its intention to raise the dam by forty-five feet. Julius Howells was brought back as consulting engineer.

In December 1926, the raising of the dam was complete. On April 22, 1927, Julius Meriam Howells passed away in San Francisco.

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Longville was one of many Plumas County mining communities, some of which have connections over the mountain in Lassen County.  One of those forgotten places was Longville located in Humbug Valley. This valley is located a bit south and west of Lake Almanor. It is  a picturesque meadow surrounding by pine trees.

The settlement began there in 1855, when B.K. Ervine and William B. Long used the valley for stock-range. Two years later, gold was discovered and set off a flurry of mining operations. Long and his father-in-law,  Allen Wood, built a hotel, and a sawmill mill, too, and thus the town of Longville came into existence.  In 1862, Long came to Susanville and purchased William Weatherlow’s ranch, known today as Susanville Ranch Park.

In 1856, Andrew Miller made a permanent home at Humbug Valley,  He did stray on occasions.  In 1863, he ventured over to Susanville for awhile and with Rufus Kingsley constructed the first native-stone building, the site being the current location of Margie’s Book Nook. After his brief stay in Susanville he returned back to Humbug. However, in 1874, he was appointed Receiver of the Government Land Office in Susanville, and remained in that position until 1886. The Government Land Office was the only federal office in Lassen County, and today is known as the Bureau of Land Management. Miller once again returned to Humbug where he remained until his passing in 1903 and is buried in Susanville.

Longville, like so many rural communities, suffered from the effects of  World War I, and it quickly depopulated. Its post office, which Andrew Miller established in 1861, closed in 1918.

It should be noted that Long and Miller descendants still reside in the Susanville. It was Miller’s grandson, Claude Heard, who established Heard’s Market, a focal point for decades in Litchfield, but now closed.

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