One of many glyphs to be seen along Upper Smoke Creek.
In the 1960s, the newly organized Lassen County Historical Society published historical bulletins. In 1964, the Society released Petroglyphs of North Eastern California and Nevada by Tom Eilers. What Eilers ascertained like others, these petroglyph sites have one item in common-they were above the Lake Lahontan shoreline.
It is interesting that sixty years later when Eilers wrote his observations we still do not know a lot about them. Years later, Tom shared with me photographs he took of glyphs back then. Hopefully, after I am relocated and settled in, I scan share and post them.
This was a Pleistocene lake that covered a large portion of Northwestern Nevada and extended into parts of Northeastern California. Approximately 10,000 years ago, the lake began to recede, leaving behind remnants such as Pyramid and Honey Lakes. Lake Lahontan’s greatest depth was estimated at 920 feet at Pyramid Lake. To give a better perspective, locally, Susanville’s Elk’s Lodge, if it existed at the height of Lake Lahontan, would have been a beach front house. Around the Wendel region, but not excluding other locations one can see shore line terraces when the lake receded.
This map is illustrative about tomorrow’s topic: petroglyphs.
In the late 1940s, soap box derby races held in Susanville. In normal circumstances I would venture to the library to examine the Lassen Advocate newspaper on microfilm. I know this sound like broken record, but until my housing situation is resolved, it really limits my research ability. Who knows, there might be a reader could enlighten us. Anyhow, I thought there would be some that would enjoy this photograph.
This is a prominent feature of the old Bonham Ranch of southwestern Smoke Creek Desert. Early day travelers referred to it was Rotten Egg Spring, due to its sulfuric smell. Early day folklore stated that the spring was bottomless. Jack Bonham stated the spring had a depth of thirty feet.
There were a number of Hollywood films that used Lassen County locations in a number of movies. Susanville native, Ephie Asher, had a lot of influence as a Hollywood producer, and members of the Asher family are still in that business. One the last films shot here, was released in 1939 and called “The Good Samaritan.” Featured in the film was Antelope Grade and some scenes near Westwood. I have never had the an opportunity to research it further to ascertain about its availability, because it is one of those items that are on to do list, but never seem to get around to.
Red River operated numerous logging camps from 1913 through 1944 when it sold to Fruit Growers. The camps were assigned numbers, though in no particular order. The majority of the camps were short lived and only had a span of one to maybe three years. One of the more interesting camps was Camp 33, but referred to as Town Camp, as it was located less than a mile west of Westwood. What made it unique was that Red River’s company town of Westwood would experience from time to time a housing shortage for its employees.. On occasion, this camp was used to house mill workers instead of loggers.
Today, is the memorial service for Norma Story Stampfli (1932-2026). Norma graduated from Soldier Bridge School at Litchfield. Soldier Bridge was the first school in what would become the Standish District. It was established in March 1865 and the original school was located near Mapes Ranch.
In the early 1920s the school was relocated to Litchfield. On February 25, 1929, a $10,000 bond election was held to build a new schoolhouse at Litchfield. The bond was narrowly approved, 40 for and 37 against. The opponents retained an attorney, Ben V. Curler, to file a protest against the bond measure, the school district, and the County Board of Supervisors, the latter having had the authority to sell the bonds. The opponents argued that there were only 34 students and no prospect of any increase in student enrollment. In addition, they stated, the majority of the voters supporting the bonds were non-taxpayers and while most of the property owners favored a new building, they thought the proposed cost too excessive. On April 10, 1929, the school trustees and the County Board of Supervisors held a joint meeting to seek a solution. They agreed on a smaller school, only $6,500 in bonds was issued to construct the school. In 1951, Soldier Bridge, Standish and Bridgeport Schools were consolidated to form the Shaffer Union Elementary School District.
Dennis Tanner’s residency in Lassen County was brief but a busy one. Upon his arrival in 1871, in Susanville, he installed a skating rink in the first floor of the Masonic Hall. The following year, he purchased the Janesville Hotel, if one could call the crude structure that. It had been built in 1856, before Janesville existed. Tanner dismantled it, and built a two-story 22 room hotel. In 1874 he sold to McClelland and Byers for $3,500. His next venture was a general store at Milford, and then had a brief stint as a innkeeper of the Milford Hotel. In 1878, Tanner relocated to Ukiah where he operated another hotel until his passing in 1898.
Of what was one of the more unusual uses of Eagle Lake water was a proposal to use that resource in the mining operations at Hayden Hill, located some twenty-five miles north of the lake.
During the 1920s and 1930s, both the mining activity and the population at Hayden Hill declined. In 1934, Stratton & Stratton of Spokane, Washington consolidated the mine ownership. They had high hopes to revive the Hill. One of the main drawbacks that Hayden Hill suffered was the lack of water for milling. In 1938, Stratton & Stratton proposed to pipe water from Eagle Lake, at a rate of 2,500 gallons per minute. This scheme never came to fruition.
Camp A, Fruit Growers Supply Company, located just north of McCoy Flat Reservoir, 1921
In the summer of 1920, Fruit Growers started their logging operations near McCoy Flat Reservoir, while their Susanville mill was still under construction. Since logging then, was seasonal in nature, they wanted to make sure they would have a steady supply of logs ready when the new mill would be placed into operation in the spring of 1921.
Camp A was the first of ten railroad logging camps of Fruit Growers Lassen Operation. It opened on July 1, 1920. The operation was comparatively small, only logging 720 acres that season. On April 29, 1921 the first woods crews were dispatched by rail, where they encountered three foot of snow on the ground. The first item of business was to remove the snow from the railroad spurs, so that the timber fallers could start work. Within in a weeks’ time, logs were already being shipped to Susanville. In addition, a second camp, known as Camp B, opened three miles to the north of Camp A. Between the two camps, they housed over 600 men.
