Recently, there was an inquiry about the privately owned cabins at Juniper Lake inside Lassen Volcanic National Park that were destroyed by the Dixie Fire. For those not aware, there were eight cabins, seven which were destroyed.

When the park was created in 1916, inside its boundaries were numerous privately owned properties, that the park would spend decades to purchase. Even Manzanita Lake was not only privately owned it was not even inside the original park boundary, but that is another story.

In 1917, C.P. and Cora Snell created a subdivision at Juniper Lake that contained 1500 lots.  While lots were sold, only a a few individuals built cabins. This was due in part, that the lake’s high elevation, the summer season was relatively short, typically June to early September and a rough road did not help matters.

After years of stalled negotiations with the Snells, the park in 1955 filed a condemnation for their unsold lots and their Juniper Lake Resort. It went fairly smooth. In 1959, the park filed a another condemnation suit against the owners of the unimproved lots.  While the owners protested, eventually the park prevailed. So the only lots left at Juniper Lake were those with cabins, with a goal of a possibility the park would acquire one day. The park had an opportunity to purchase a cabin there, which they did and was used by park personnel and it was one of the cabins destroyed.

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Way before gasoline taxes were introduced as a funding mechanism to maintain roads, there was a $2 a year road tax applied to all males over the age of 21. Sometimes, it was confused with the Poll tax, for often one would pay the tax when one voted.

However, one could opt of the road tax and provide labor in an exchange. Each county supervisor would appoint a road district overseer, who in turn would perform the work on in their respective districts, usually with the volunteer labor of those who did not pay the tax. Not the best system, especially in a large rural county like Lassen, but nevertheless it got the job done.

*To the far left is Satch Whitten, road overseer. The long time Janesville resident was married to Carrie DeWitt.

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Some times the way my mind works is a marvel. The daily posts than really evolve, some quickly and other over months. Initially, I was going to focus on the Blunck homestead, which was yesterday’s featured photograph. Today, just indicates how twisted my mind can function.

Over the years, I have corresponded with a lot of people. One of which was Gladys Goodfellow Scott (1905-2003) who grew up in Willow Creek Valley. In one of those letters, she wrote about various homesteads, and one known as the Shep place. It was so named for Shep Thomas who took over from Blunck circa 1918. Gladys went on to send the picture featured today.

Examining the photograph it appears they are part of a road crew. Back then one could pay a road tax, or volunteer several days of labor. I will go into that tomorrow. I do want to point out, Levi Conklin, featured in the photograph was a long time resident of Dry Valley, between Grasshopper Valley and the Madeline Plains. He is one of the few named known individuals to be buried in the Dry Valley Cemetery.

Tim

One of the many side-effects of World WarI witnessed the depopulation of certain rural areas. For some who served, they did want to return to the farm, since many had a hardscrabble existence. This especially true like places the eastern Honey Lake Valley and the Madeline Plains. Some were fortunate to find buyer for their homestead. There are still family ranches here, that started small but during the 1920s and 1930s were able to purchase adjoining 160-acre homestead. My own family ranch, Tanner, is a perfect example since it now includes Hartson, Stampfli and Whitehead homesteads. However, the ones who were not so fortunate to find a buyer, simply abandoned their property and later sold for delinquent taxes.

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