A portion of the landscape was drastically altered this summer.
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Category Archives: History
It’s Election Day
It is Election Day so hope every one votes. Having been a former election official, I can attest there is a great deal of work that goes on behind the scene to put on election.
Anyhow, something a little off topic for those political junkies. In December 1938, Senator Edmund R. Burke, of Nebraska introduced a constitutional amendment wherein it would limit future presidents of the United States to one six-year term. It was not a new idea. Burke cited that the Democratic national convention in 1912 placed a plank in its platform calling for a single term. Burke stated, “Six years would be sufficient for a president to place his program into operation. Such a term would remove the president, immediately upon his induction into office from consideration of a second term and could concentrate this energies.” In conclusion, Burke noted, it would remove the president from a dual responsibility—as the head of the nation and as head of the party which elected him.
Tim
Lassen County Hospital Rates, 1916
In the fall of 1916, Lassen County’s new hospital was approaching completion. It should be noted it was funded by the same bond measure the voters approved the previous year to construct a new courthouse. The Lassen County Board of Supervisors who oversaw the operation adopted the following rates.
“The rates adopted are as follows: Private rooms, $25 per week; private ward, $17.50 per week; use of operating room, $10 for each procedure; anesthetic $5 for each procedure. It is made the duty of the head nurse to collect these in advance.”
How times have changed. It was a year ago, when I had my “fall from grace” and broke my leg. My room at Banner Lassen Hospital for two weeks was $25,000. The operating room was double of the room charge and I will let your imagination run wild as to all the cost incurred.
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Halloween, 1935
This is from the archives of the Lassen Mail, dated November 1, 1935 which appears there were more tricksters than treaters on the streets of Susanville for Halloween.
And the Old Town Is Turned on End. That great institution the American Boy went hog wild in Susanville last night, with the result that the old town looked tattered and torn this morning.
Halloween the eve of All Saints was celebrated by the youngsters of the community with great gusto. It’s an old American custom, and it certainly was carried out unrestraindly here.
Gates, fences, automobiles and outhouses stood the brunt of the holiday pranksters. Many a car owner who foolishly left his machine on a public street awoke this morning to find all four tires as flat as a bride’s first cake, and valve caps gone to the land of missing auto parts.
Streets, even the highways were strewn with debris of all sorts, including logs, paper boxes, city garbage cans, milk cans, tree branches and a dead cat or two.
The usual stunt of marking store and automobile windows with soap and tallow was indulged in freely, and plenty of tick-tacking developed throughout the residential sections before the witching hour of midnight.
Yes, it was a large night for the youth of the town, but it won’t occur again for another whole year and so—-why worry?
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Bear Hunting Resumes
In 1917, California reclassified the black bear as fur-bearers, from which they were formerly game animals. The designation prohibited the hunting of bears. This, however, did not prevent the killing of bears if they were deemed predatory.
For local sportsmen this was not good news. The two prime hunting areas were the southeastern area of Eagle Lake and the west slope of the Diamond Mountain Range, such as Last Chance, Murdock Crossing etc.
In time, it was Plumas County officials who sought for a reclassification of the black bear to game animals to restore hunting, the bears being plentiful in that area. They succeeded. On November 1, 1935 bear season opened for a two month period.
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A Carnegie Library?
Lassen County turned down an offer to have a free Carnegie Library built. At the August 1916, Lassen County Board of Supervisor’s meeting, Charlotte Cahlan, Attaway McKinsey, Alberta Dozier and Lassen County Librarian Miriam Colcord approached the board. They had been approved funding to build a Carnegie Library, as long as the County would provide a building site. The women requested a lot on the north side of the courthouse, which at that time was under construction. The board informed the women they would take it under advisement, which was the polite way to say no. More then a century later, the board still uses that lingo.
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Susanville’s Apathetic Voters
With Election Day just around the corner, its only fitting to have a local history story. There was a time, and not that long ago, the City of Susanville elections were a stand alone proposition, not consolidated with Lassen County Elections.
The 1924 the City had 604 eligible voters for the upcoming City Council, with three seats up for election. Only 80 went to the polls. A rather dismal figure to say the least. It got worse. In 1930, only eighteen voters cast their vote in that City Council Election. Those poll workers had a very long and enduring day. If there was a bright side to that election, it only took one minute and three seconds to canvass the election!
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A Janesville Landmark
This post was a long time in the making. Research during a pandemic, along with the courthouse renovation project, just added challenging layers.
While this is not complete as I would like, but it is a start. Who knows, some one might see this, who has first hand knowledge. During the 1950s kitchsy roadside motels were quite the rage. The particular one is Janesville is still somewhat of a mystery. According to the Assessor’s Office, there was never a permit issued, nor were they ever completed. All I remember was in the 1970s Clyde Knox owned the structures.
If anyone has additional information, that would shed more light on this, I would like to hear from you.
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Sagebrush Extract
Since we reside on the western edge of what is some times referred to as the Sagebrush Ocean, the mighty sagebrush is a dominant feature of the Intermountain West. Of course when that region was being settled in the late 1800s there were always individuals who experimented with the plant to see what it could be use.
Of course, in the 1870s, Susanville pharmacist, Dr. R.F. Moody developed his successful patent medicine, Sagebrush Liniment It did not contain a single ounce of any kind of sagebrush extract, it was in essence fortified alcohol.
In 1916, what appeared to be a promising break through use for sagebrush was announced. Inn theory it was thought that sagebrush produced an oil that could be used in ore reduction. It fizzled and soon to be forgotten.
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The Slow Demise of Bennett & Latyon
Now, this something different, since I am approaching this topic in reverse. For starters, Bennett & Layton (actually when established it was Bennett & Cardinal) was a regional powerhouse of a creamery located at 75 South Gay Street, Susanville. The two-story concrete building is still there. This was a full fledged creamery that even produced its own line of ice cream.
However, the nation’s great depression of the 1930s took a toll on Bennett & Layton, like so many other enterprises. To protect their vital interest in September 1935 several Honey Lake Valley ranchers negotiated a lease with Bennett & Layton to use its cooling and sterilization section of the plant to properly prepare milk for local consumption. This group of dairymen consisted of: J.H. McClelland, Mardis Barry, L.E. DeForest, Masten Ramsey, Lester Clark, Fred Hall, J.H. Elledge and McKay & Lowe.