Category Archives: History

History

Vya, Nevada

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A recently cleared homesite in Long Valley, August 2017.

Located in far northern Washoe County, in Long Valley was the lonely outpost of Vya. Like so many desert communities, it thrived briefly during the early 1900s during the dry farming experience. When the Vya post office opened on September 29, 1910, it was named for Vya Wimer—the only child of Roy and Artie. While folklore has it, she was the first Anglo child born there, in reality she was born on December 22, 1904 at Lake City, in neighboring Surprise Valley. A number of hardy souls struggled to eke out a living there, and in 1941 thirty people were still living there.

There is somewhat of a resurgence there, of a new kind of desert homesteader. These folks are determined to live off the grid, content with the remoteness of the country.

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History

Where are we – Murrer Ranch

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Remains of the 1934 fire that destroyed the ranch house.

Located in the Willow Creek Valley, north of Susanville, the Murrer Ranch dates back to 1865.  1870, when gold was discovered at Hayden Hill, causing an influx of travel to the north, it became an impromptu stage-stop. The ranch played an early role in the development of Leon Bly’s Eagle Lake project, since the tunnel outlet adjoined Murrer’s Upper Ranch. Like so many family enterprises it had its moments. There was a moment that it did not seem that the it would not make it past the third generation, which is always a major hurdle.

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History

Lassen County Gray Wolves

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Deer Hunt
A successful deer hunt near Skedaddle, 1906. Courtesy of Marge C. Foster

It was on November 29, 1883 that Charles E. Jones reported that he had killed two gray wolves on Skedaddle Mountain that he stated each weighed approximate 150 pounds. According to Jones he stated the wolves had been a “terror” to the sheepmen there. In 1890, A.J. Hall reported seeing a lone gray wolf on the mountain.  In the course of time, with increased livestock operations, the wolf population witnessed a steady decline. It was in 1924 that the last gray wolf in California was killed near Skedaddle Mountain. Fast forward to January 2012, a lone gray wolf from Oregon dubbed OR7 made its first appearance in nearly a century to the north Skedaddle, in the Madeline Plains. Reaction, of course, is mixed depending on one’s perspective.

On a related footnote, the last big horn sheep killed on Skedaddle Mountain happened in 1883.

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History

Honey Lake’s Bridge to Nowhere

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Proposed Cromwell-Milford Road

Earlier this year I wrote about the proposed town of Cromwell, the current location of Herlong. In the spring of 1912, Fred Cromwell, the promoter approached the Lassen County Board of Supervisors to construct a new road from Milford, with a 1800 foot bridge across Honey Lake to his new town. The Board took the matter under advisement with a wait and see approach to see what would materialize of the development. It was a good call, because by the end of the year the proposed community of Cromwell was abandoned.

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History

Where are we?

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Well this is an accidental back up plan. I had originally intended the new bridge construction over the Lake Almanor spillway this summer. I took a photograph at the view point, but alas, it became a forest through the trees moment.

This ranch established in 1860s, is one of a handful that still remains in the family.

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History

Bly Tunnel sealed

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Bly tunnel inlet, July 1924. Courtesy of Wyn Wachhorst

In 1871, Hayden Hill postmaster, A.W. Blair was the first person to conceive the idea to tap Eagle Lake to irrigate the sagebrush lands of Honey Lake Valley.  Nearly fifty years later, it was Leon Bly, who finally succeeded in building a tunnel where others had failed. In 1923, the mile and a half long tunnel, costing $975,000 was completed as far as Bly and the contractors were concerned. However, the contractor only put in a cut of three feet below the surface at the intake, instead of eight feet. From that time on the tunnel was plagued with problems. In 1973, the Bureau of Land Management revoked the right-of-way for the tunnel and deemed it a safety hazard. Using tailings from the tunnel construction, they put a temporary plug to the tunnel. Finally, on November 26, 1986 the BLM hired Western Roads, Inc., to place a permanent concrete plug at the tunnel’s inlet.

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History

Susanville Street Changes

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What the city looked like then.

Yesterday, we examined how the city changed the house numbers. Well, there were a few casualties along the way. Some street names were changed. What was originally Fir Street became Elm Street, to avoid conflict with First Street. What was initially Prattville Road became North Pine Street to the end of the city limit. A segment of River Street became South Gilman Street.

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History

Susanville’s House Numbering System

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Lassen County Abstract building, constructed in 1911.

Susanville’s house numbering system was done in two separate phases. The first began in 1925, when the postal service announced free mail delivery. Prior to this, everyone went to the post office to pick up their mail. Thus, the city had to install street signs, to assist the mail carrier. Continue reading Susanville’s House Numbering System →

History

Christmas Tree Time

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Charles Beckett standing next to a 10 foot silvertip, November, 1976

Well, here it is the day after Thanksgiving and some folks use the holiday weekend to obtain a Christmas tree. A fixture in Susanville for many decades was Beckett’s Christmas trees.  In 1938, Charles Beckett founded the enterprise. Beckett had two locations for growing the trees, one locally on Worley, nee Roop Mountain, just west of Susanville, plus 4,000 acres in Siskiyou County, as well as some leased properties. Beckett stated silvertips were the most popular tree, which referred to as “the Cadillac of Christmas trees.” In the 1970s he sold approximately 40,000 trees annually, with some good years that doubled that figure.

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