Category Archives: History

History

Red River Rails

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Westwood Junction

In the early 1930s, Red River Lumber Company was going through a refinancial organization process requiring an inventory of all assets and liabilities. Not an easy undertaking, with so much territory to cover. An item of interest to me was the inventory of rails used in its logging operations. It was duly noted that Red River owned 93.7 miles of rail.

However, when it came to the Piute Line, that went from Hog Flat to Susanville, those rails were leased from the Western Pacific Railroad. This, no doubt, added more fuel to the speculation that this particular railroad was destined to be a feeder line for Western Pacific’s nearby Highline. The report noted that the initial 1917 survey of the Piute was to begin north of Westwood Junction near McCoy Flat. However, those plans had to be scrapped when Fruit Growers logging railroad traversed there.

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History

Bunnell Railroad Siding

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Bunnell siding, circa 1921. Courtesy of Lenala Martin

This siding on the Fernley & Lassen Railroad was located a mile west of Devils Corral. In the fall of 1919, James McNeen relocated his sawmill from Colorado to this site.  The steam-powered mill had an average daily output of 30,000 board feet of lumber.  The mill served as a major supplier for Susanville’s Lassen Lumber & Box Company.  Yet, after a year in operation, McNeen was plagued with financial problems and turned the mill over to Herman Enhorning. In 1922, Enhorning sold the mill to Perry M. Newgard.   In 1925, Joseph McAllister purchased the sawmill from Newgard. McAllister had financial problems and the mill did open for the 1927 or 1928 season. The sawmill was destroyed by fire on October 12, 1928, some thought it was rather suspicious.

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History

Indian Allottment Lands

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A portion of the lands sold were east and south of Eagle Lake, such as surrounding Deans Meadow, Photograph taken September 15, 2017

Early on the federal government made arrangements to provide lands to Native Americans . Originally, these were through treaties, but evolved over time that particularly locally individual allottments, usually 160 acres were granted. Exactly, how these lands were selected, I do not know. It should be noted that locally, a high percentage of these allottments were timberland. It was the Bureau of Indian Affairs who managed the lands for the Indians. Routinely, these lands would be sold at public auctions, the proceeds purportedly to be placed into trust accounts. In December 1912, A.A. Bear became the resident agent to oversee the lands owned by the Indians. On February 18, 1913, an auction of 17 parcels was held, the names was like a who’s who of the local Indian populace—Jackson, DeHaven, Joaquin and Peconum to name a few. These properties were are all timberland, and was it just a coincidence that they were all purchased by the Red River Lumber Company?

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History

Hotel Mt. Lassen Re-opens

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The aftermath of the fire. Courtesy of Margaret A. Purdy

On July 24, 1947, the Hotel Mt. Lassen was destroyed by fire.  The fire was so intense that it completely gutted the structure. Fred Abbay, the owner of the hotel, estimated the loss of the hotel, its contents and the businesses housed there at $700,000. Initially, it was uncertain what would become of the property.  A structual engineer was brought in to ascertain whether the exterior walls were sound. It was determined that they were. In the fall, Abbay announced his intention to rebuild the hotel, utilizing the existing walls. The rebuilt Hotel Mt. Lassen opened its doors to the public on May 21, 1949.

In 2019, the big question, since the place has been closed for nearly a decade, will it ever re-open?

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History

Lumberjack Advertising

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Camp 33
Camp 33, Red River Lumber Company

Someone in the Red River Lumber Company was a good spin doctor.  When it came time for the seasonal layoffs of the logging crews it was reported as: “Men Leaving Camps Are Good Advertisers. Owing to the closing of several of the camps about 600 men have left Westwood. It is interesting to watch the different directions taken by these men on their departure. Some have gone to the extreme east, many to South America, some to Mexico, some to the north country, Washington state and some to Alaska. Most of the men intend to return and bring more fellow workers. As a rule men in the lumber camps have tried making a living in many parts of the world and these men boost it as good advertising for the company.”

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History

Where are we – Eagle’s Nest

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August 9, 2018

Eagle’s Nest is located in a small cove on the east side of the lake, about three miles north of Gallatin House. In 1956, the Lassen National Forest opened a small subdivision for summer home development. There are forty-two lots with long term leases with the forest service. In September 1956 the forest service held a random draw as the selection process to allocate the lots, as they had received 226 applications.

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History

Lassen County Courthouse Lawn

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North side of the Lassen County Courthouse.

This happens to fall under the year’s end clean up category. While the quality of the photograph has a lot to be desired, there are two items of interest. First it was taken in the late 1920s, either December or January when the area experienced a pogonip, notice the frost on the trees. In the 1930s, tennis courts were built on the site of the Courthouse Annex. It should be noted the current occupants of that structure prefer the high falutin name of Administrative Building.

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History

Westwood Goes Wet

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101 1941
The 101 as it appeared in 1941. Courtesy of Dina Matteucci

On November 19, 1935 T.S. Walker of the Red River Lumber Company announced the end of an era that Westwood be a “wet” town as a liquor store concession had been given to Aronson and Taylor.

In a prepared statement, “Heretofore we have aways tried to run a dry town. Before prohibition this practicable due to the distance to neighboring towns and deplorable conditions of the roads. During prohibition it was a relative simple matter for obvious reasons. Since repeal, however, it has been a different story. With fine pavement to neighboring towns, with various resorts operating not far from town and with the great number of automobiles, liquor has been and is readily to all who desire it, whether we like the situation or not.

“This being the case, the directors of the company have decided that it is useless to longer refuse to have liquor sold in Westwood. It is also felt that a better quality can be made to such employees as are determined to have it anyway than is now available from bootleg sources.”

The truth be known, Red River was losing money by not providing alcohol for sale, when they needed every cent during their financial crisis.

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History

Who was here first syndrome

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A gathering of Maidu women at Johnstonville, 1900

The way the local Native American community bickers amongst each either, puts most family feuds to shame.  Two topics of discourse is territorial boundaries and the contentious who was here first.    Of course,  not just from a historian standpoint, but as I have blood related cousins who are part of the local Native American community,  it is just plain amusing to watch the antics.

Both the Maidu and Paiute have done a fantastic job concerning “over reach” with federal agencies, even concerning lands not within boundaries that they had in the past never claimed. A classic example is the south end of Eagle Lake—the Maidu in recent years have claimed Papoose Meadows as “sacred.”  What perplexes me then, the victims of the 1866 massacre there were Paiute.

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