Fall is a great time of year, if you can or the conditions permit to get out and about. A worthwhile sightseeing trip is Jonesville on the old Humboldt Wagon Road. One of its unique distinction is that it is the only intact stage-stop on that road. The Humboldt Road came into existence in the early 1860s. It originated in Chico, then to Big Meadows (Lake Almanor) to Susanville with a final destination of the Humboldt mines of Northwestern Nevada. The line later extended to the mines of Southwestern Idaho.
The Jonesville Barn, November 25, 1980
To make the jaunt take a forest service road west of Lake Almanor which will take you to Jonesville. From there the next destination is Butte Meadows which you can connect to Highway 32 and make a loop. Enjoy!
Inspecting the lodge remnants—National Park Service
By mid-September 1937, C.P. and Cora Snell closed the Juniper Lake Lodge for the season to return their home in San Francisco. In mid-October 1937, Park Ranger Barton went on a routine inspection of Juniper Lake. What he had found was Snell’s lodge had been destroyed by fire. The area had recently received an electrical storm that was probably the cause of the fire. The lodge had a galvanized iron roof and it was believed lightning struck it, igniting the fire. In the aftermath, the lodge was reduced to ash and rubble.
Not to be undaunted the Snell’s built another. There was a major change in the operation, as the Snells leased it. This remained the status quo for a long time. In 1950, the Snell’s granddaughter, Leslie, along with her husband, Ray Hanson decided to “rejuvenate the resort.”As Leslie recalled, “We had eight cabins and a small store. We rented boats and campsites and quite a few of the vacationeers returned year after year.”
The Hanson’s stint of being operators would be short-lived. In 1955, the National Park Service filed a “friendly” condemnation suit against the Snell family to acquire some 400 acres of private property inside the park. At that time the Hanson’s closed the lodge and in 1957 the park acquired ownership of the property.
In the early 1920s, C.P. Snell constructed a modest lodge at Juniper Lake, inside Lassen Volcanic National Park. It was a venue for him with his Juniper Lake Resort, as a sales feature for a 1500-lot subdivision there. His wife, Cora was in charge of the lodge, and she hired a cook and supervised the kitchen and dining room. Cora’s many duties were to run the store, along with cabin rentals and campsites. C.P.Snell busied himself with the sale of lots, road improvements and made regular trips to Westwood for supplies. An outgoing man he would greet visitors and ask them to sign a guest register.
The sale of lots never materialized to the degree that Snell desired. The remoteness of Juniper Lake and the fact that it is only accessible for about four months of the year, did not help. While the lots did sell, the buyers rarely built on them. During the 1920s, Snell sold an average of six lots a year.
Tomorrow: The demise of the lodge.
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A town is born, Litchfield. Courtesy of John M. Gibson
In early 1912, when the news, survey and construction began on the Fernley & Lassen Railroad that would traverse the Honey Lake Valley with its ultimate destination of the new lumber town of Westwood, spread like wildfire through the investment community. Land speculation was rampant. It was none other than the DeWitt Postmaster, W.B. DeWitt, of the Standish-Tule District became a tour guide of bankers from Southern California willing to invest in the region. It was this particular district that had an appeal that could be a major agricultural shipping point. The established community of Standish had been ruled out, it being three miles from the railroad. Two sites were in the running—the B.F. Gibson ranch and the Purser ranch, the latter a few miles west of Wendel. It was the Gibson ranch that appealed to the investors, and thus the foundation was laid for a new town Litchfield—named in honor of Gibson’s father-in-law, Andrew Litch.
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A October 1931 Susanville Rotary Club meeting turned out to be an unusual affair. As one observer noted that these meetings usually are neither serious or gloomy.
The meeting began with local banker Charlie Bridges about the serious problems facing the banking industry. Local attorney, J.E. Pardee went on about oppressing taxes—but then this person did not believe in higher education, either.
The main speaker, was A.J. Mathews of the local telephone. A little bit of background on Mathews (1886-1950). Mathews came to Susanville in 1910 from his native San Francisco, with a handful of others to form the telephone company, which they were successful. Mathews became very involved in cvic affairs, even was a California Assemblyman, and served as House Speaker.
Anyhow, to our story. Mathews read, what some considered a weird tale regarding the world wide depression and an attempted solution as a comparison.
According to Mathews, a number of pelicans had been bred and brought up to depend upon stale fish dumped into the San Francisco bay by fish dealers. When the slump came, there was no longer any fish to throw away and the pelicans were slowly but surely starving to death.
The humane society in an attempt to solve the problem, imported a number of live, bustling birds that had never heard of a fish line or fish kitchen, or whatever it is that pelicans call free food, and turned them loose with the native flock. When it came time to dine, the strangers dived into the sea and hustled a dinner. The natives looked on in wonder, but eventually they took the courage and began rustling for a living, and a colony of starving pelicans became over night a thriving prosperous community of well fed birds.
That is how Mathews ended the story without any type of moral of the story, and left a few befuddled how this would solve the unemployment problem from the financial depression.
The Red River Lumber Company’s Time Clock, 1915—Otto Kratz Collection
The Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen, also known as the 4Ls was a unique government intervention to get sawmill operators and their workers to work together during World War I. This unique labor organization was created due to a lumber strike of the Pacific Northwest that crippled the production of spruce lumber. This commodity was essential for its strength and flexibility in airplane construction and the government was in dire need of the aircraft.
When the War Department intervened it was able to get both the mill operators and lumber workers to work together as a patriotic association. Concessions were made by mill operators to provide for an eight-hour day and better working and living conditions. In return the employees were required to sign a loyalty pledge. Those who refused to sign the pledge were not hired. In essence, the 4Ls was a government sponsored union.
After the War the 4Ls reorganized and it remained a regional organization of the Pacific Northwest. It was the American Federation of Labor that was the main rival of the 4Ls. It had problems competing with the 4Ls since the latter was a de facto “company union.” The company’s management were members of the 4Ls and basically dictated the organization. This had great appeal to Red River Lumber Company. In July 1933 Red River joined the 4Ls, and Ted Walker, a member of Red River’s management served on its Board of Directors. It was short-lived when Congress approved the Wagner Act that allowed the labor movement and union formation more clout.
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Whitely’s Furniture Store, circa 1956—W.V. Laughead
This is one of those instances, that I am relying on seasoned residents to provide the information. Whitely’s Furniture Store was located on the 1400 block of Main Street. While the building is still there, it has been through many tenants over the years. If anyone knows when it was built or anything else, I hope you share it with the rest of us.
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In the fall of 1916, E.W. Hayden, editor and publisher of the Lassen Advocate went on a rant when he discovered that in the Susanville stores there were 12 different brands of flour, but no Honey Lake flour. There were the obvious nearby producers of Adin, Alturas, Fall River Mills and Reno. Hayden was not pleased with flour from as far away as Stockton and Idaho.
There was one flour mill at Janesville that operated for a brief periods, but the aged owner, J.K.Gehring was not up to the task. In 1917, Fred Bagin established the Lassen Grain and Milling Company and once again there was home grown flour available.
Janesville Flour Mill, 1913.
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For some odd reason, I have never ventured to write about eastern Shasta County. It is in a sense, familiar territory for me as my great-grandmother, Mary Knoch Murrer (1877-1964) was a native of that region. While she married my great-grandfather Edward Murrer in1898, she was always a frequent visitor in the Fall River Mills region to visit family.
To accompany Mary, on those trips, was her only daughter Lola. For about an nine-year period, 1916-1925, Lola had a camera with her at all times. She photographed on visits the construction of Pacific Gas & Electric’s Pit River powerhouses. The above dam construction would create Lake Britton, named for John A. Britton, Vice President and General Manager of PG&E.
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Fruit Growers Supply Company housing, Susanville, 1924—Boyd Benham/Connie Boomer
This was a major labeling blunder by the photographer. The scene depicted is Fruit Growers housing for mill employees in Susanville, located along Alexander Avenue. When Fruit Growers proposed to locate in Susanville, they had wanted to avoid to provide housing, whereas their operation at Hilt was a complete company town. They had hoped some enterprising individuals would step up to the plate to provide housing. That was asking a lot, since Fruit Growers would need housing for over 1,000 employees and their families. Fruit Growers would eventually build 80 houses, in addition to dormitories at a cost of $245,000.
Camp A, Fruit Growers Supply Company, located just north of McCoy Flat Reservoir, 1921
The above was a typical Fruit Growers logging camp, that consisted of portable cabins that could be easily moved by rail from one location to another.
