This rarely visited lake is located in the southeast section of Lassen Volcanic National Park. As there is a small island in the lake, hence the name. Civil Engineer, Arthur W. Keddie (1842-1924) named the peak after his good friend, Dr. J.H.C. Bonte, For many years, Bonte was the Rector of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Sacramento and later Professor of Legal Ethics and Secretary of the Board of Regents of the University of California.
Tim
On September 2, 1931, a fifteen-year-old boy while hopping on a Western Pacific freight train at Flanigan fell under the wheels and was horribly mangled at the scene. Reports from the Coroner’s Inquest and newspapers accounts were sketchy.
Accordingly, 15 year old Paul McArthur left on a Southern Pacific freight at Reno. The Southern Pacific train stopped at Flanigan to allow the Western Pacific to travel through. At the point McArthur got off the Southern Pacific train and tried to hop on the moving Western Pacific train slipped and fell. After the Western Pacific passed through, Southern Pacific employees noticed the boy lying on the ground. They gave him first aid and took him to Wendel where the Allen & Edenholm ambulance was summoned. McArthur was apparently in a state shock and he told Edenholm, the ambulance driver, where he was from, and that he did not appear to suffer. He died shortly after his arrival at Riverside Hospital in Susanville.
When the Coronoer’s jury was summoned the next day, it deemed not necessary for the trainmen to testify, since no one actually saw what happened. When Edenhom concluded his testimony he stated, “McArthur was just his beating his way, and he didn’t have a cent to his name and he hadn’t eaten for several days. It is a pitiful case and very unfortunate.” The Coroner’s verdict” Shock from injury in railroad accident. He was a trespasser on freight train (Western Pacific R.R.) and accidentally fell under train. Train crushed both thighs.”
Tim
Personally, I think it is interesting to do a comparison of then and now scenes, to see what changes have occurred. I have a most wonderful volunteer who has been scanning my old negatives. Earlier this year, she was in the Fall River country and she took photograph from approximately where the one I had published a few years ago of the Pit River Falls. Of course in that post I noted that this original route to leave Fall River Mills to head west to the Sacramento Valley, In 1930, the route was abandoned when Highway 299 was constructed.
Tim
“One of the truths about historical research is that it is never finished. So many sources are consulted, there are always more to be added. There are certainly more sources of information about early Bear Dances and about early Mountain Maidu life that I could not get to when researching this book.” — Leigh Ann Hunt, Preface for the 1996 Edition of Rite of Spring: A History of the Mountain Bear Dance .
Rites of Spring is Leigh Ann Hunt’s thesis for Master of Arts of Anthropology at California State Unversity, Sacramento, 1991. I met Leigh Ann back in the 1980s when she is doing her research. In 1996, the Lassen County Historical Society published Leigh Ann’s thesis. I am not if it is still available, though I highly recommend it.
One of notable inclusions is Edith Young’s notes, a field matron in Susanville, who was only such employee in the Greenville Agency of Bureau of Indian Affairs. Young was in Susanville during the 1910s, and I, too, have some of her observations, and I think a possible photograph of her. I will add it to my to do list.
Tim
Here is your Tuesday Tidbit. Whether you are an old timer or new to the area, there have a been a lot changes. The Lassen High School campus, has completely changed, There is no Susanville Supermarket. Of course, the latest victim that is no longer there, the baseball grandstand at Memorial Park.
Tim
And then there was Max’s Mausoleum post. Sound confusing? I thought about this unusual landmark that was created in the 1920s, as a part Hollywood motion picture production. During the 1920s and 1930s a number of Hollywood films used the region as a location, thanks in part of Susanville’s native son, Ephraim “Ephie” Asher.
Asher, was the only child of Morris and Fannie (Greehn) Asher. He was born on September 1, in either 1887 or 1888 in Susanville. There is some discrepancy as to year he was born. His son, William, thought it was in 1890. In 1887, his parents had a house constructed on the corner of North Lassen and North Streets. They moved in February 1888. This was the house Ephie was raised and he attended local schools. Since there was no high schools, he would receive his higher education in San Francisco. By the mid-1910s, after a stint in New York City, involving the motion picture industry, he located to Los Angeles became associated with Universal Studios as producer and production manager. Thus, he had an influence as locations. His son, William Asher, had a lengthy career in the Television industry and he was producer of such shows as I Love Lucy and Bewitched. It should that he was married to Elizabeth Montgomery, the star of Bewitched.
Tim
In 1871, M.O. Folsom (1845-1931) moved with his family from Virginia City, Nevada to Willow Creek Valley, just north of Susanville. In 1873, he became a partner with his brother Louis, when they purchased 600 acres in the Willow Creek Valley. When his father passed away in 1903, He took his possession of that ranch. In 1908, Folsom sold ranch to the Hill & Lonkey Land & Livestock Company and moved to Susanville. It should be noted, that his father, Orman, dabbled in real estate, and purchased Hank Landt’s Clear Creek property. In 1909, the younger Folsom sold it to the Red River Lumber Company for $6,500.
In 1911, M.O. Folsom entered into the subdivision field, with his East Addition to Susanville. This we explored, and you can read about it here. The subdivision did not meet his expectations, though not a failure, the real action was the south side of town where the railroad was located. Folsom, however, did serve on the committees to secure the Fruit Growers Supply Company and Lassen Lumber and Box Company’s mils.The mills more than tripled the town’s population, thus a golden opportunity for island speculation. For instance, in 1922, Folsom sold a parcel land to the Susanville School District for $9,000 the future home of Lincoln School.
Folsom also had a benevolent side. In 1929, he offered the future site of Memorial Park to the Susanville Rotary Club at a bargain price. It was a complicated affair that ultimately fell through. He also owned what now known as Hobo Camp, along the Susan River, near Susanville. It was known as Folsom Park, a favorite picnic spot among locals.
Folsom passed away in 1931 and is buried in the family plot in the Susanville Cemetery. In 2005, his granddaughter and only heir, Mary Dale Folsom, still owned several parcels that once belonged to her grandfather.
Tim
A reader sent me this vintage 1970s postcard of Hot Rock. It is one those unusual features in Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Hot Rock was of many remnants of the Lassen Peak eruption of May 19-20, 1915. First, there was a blast dacite lava and with great force that created boulders, large and small. But, there is more. The lava melted the heavy snow, creating what would became known as The Great Mudflow. When B.F. Loomis visited this site on May 21, what became the Devastated Area, he noted this large boulder, was still hot, and hence its name. Schaffer. (1981) estimated that at time of the eruption the rock could have exceeded 1600F. It should also be noted, that looks can be deceiving. The rock is like an iceberg. It is estimated that the 300-ton boulder is buried under of twelve and eighteen feet of mud in its final resting place.feet, so one only sees a small portion of the boulder.
Tim
In 1864, German immigrant, David Goldstein, along with fellow countryman, William Greehn arrived in Susanville and opened a general merchandise store. They named their enterprise D. Goldstein & Company. In 1871, they dissolved their partnership and Goldstein moved on to greener pastures. In 1874, Greehn entered into a partnership with Morris Asher. It would eventually be a life changing event for the two men.
In 1882, Morris Asher married Fannie Greehn, William’s oldest daughter. In 1887, Greehn relinquished his interest in the store, and devoted himself full-time as a lending institution. There were no banks in Susanville, so those who had financial means, lent money. Of course, the borrowers not only had to sign a promissory note, but mortgage any real property they might possess to the lender, in this Greehn. Those that had defaulted on their loans, Greehn took them to court and usually became owner of the borrower’s real property. Greehn would eventually own quite the portfolio of real estate, like what would become known as the Five Dot Ranch in the Willow Creek Valley, the Leonard residence, which became known as the Susanville Elk’s Lodge and the Bremner Sawmill on the Susan River. In 1902, Green retired and moved to Byron, Contra Costa County, where his daughter, Hattie Grunauer resided. He passed away in 1907.
Morris Asher continued with the general mercantile business. In 1912, in 700 block of Main Street, he had a stone business building constructed, which embedded in the stone named the Greehn Building in honor of his father-in-law. It still remains today.
Greehn’s descendants have made last lasting impact in the motion picture and television industry, and we will explore that topic shortly.
Tim
Here is your Tuesday Tidbit. For decades this was a popular grocery store in the uptown district located in the Knoch Building. You can read more about here. It closed some time in the early 1970s.
Tim