Category Archives: History

History

815 Cottage Street, Susanville

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815 Cottage Street, Susanville, circa 1925.

This house was built in 1893, as a wedding present. Susanville merchant Alfred Jackson had it constructed for his bride-to-be Rose Murrer. In the stone mantle he had the letter “R” carved into it. Unfortunately, their happy marriage was cut short, when he died in a deer hunting accident in 1895. In 1914, when Rose’s mother, Franceska Neuhaus constructed the St. Francis Hotel behind her home, she planted an elaborate flower garden for guests of the hotel to enjoy. Rose remained at her home until the early 1940s, when she moved to Reno, to reside with her only child Leona Byars.

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815 Cottage Street, Susanville, February 3, 2018
History

The Holden Dick Mine

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Published in 1976, I never purchased a copy.

Throughout the American West most every region has some sordid lost gold mine tale, and the region around here is of no exception. Of course, over the years the story takes on a life of its own. Holden Dick was a Pitt River Indian who in 1885 was tried for the gruesome murder of Samuel Shaw on the Madeline Plains. Some attribute that it was not actually a mine, but loot from a freight wagon loaded with gold that was robbed when it traveled through Modoc County. Whether Holden Dick was perpetrator is not clear. Whatever the case may be, the gold was hidden in a cave in the South Warner Mountains. Anyhow, from time to time, Holden Dick would show up in the streets of Alturas and Susanville with gold. Where it came from he never said, and he took his secret to grave when he was lynched in 1886. To add more intrigue there is his lost map. Some sources indicate Holden Dick had a map where his bounty was located and he gave it to defense attorneys, Ephraim Spencer and John Raker. What became of the map is pure speculation. The bottom line, to this day, there are people still looking for the elusive mine.

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History

Eagle Lake Architecture

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Eagle Lake’s own Hobbit House, 1921.

It is always fascinating what one may come across in the most unexpected places. A lava cave near BlyTunnel was converted into a dwelling of sorts by construction workers at the tunnel, and then abandoned after activity ceased there. Jim Martin, a travel writer for the Sacramento Bee did a feature article on Eagle Lake in 1968 and made mention of this unique residence  and wrote: “But before you get there, you will notice a metal tank on your left. If you park there, you will find a trail nearby. By following this trail you will come upon a lava cave which has been converted into living quarters. It looks like a place for gnomes or some characters from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It once was used by construction workers and goodness knows who else. It is deserted now.”

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History

Amedee Lime Kilns

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Amedee Lime Kiln
Amedee Lime Kiln, 1975
Amedee Lime Kiln, February 15, 2018

In the early 1890s, when the railroad town of Amedee came into prominence, led to many interesting developments. One of these was the discovery of lime deposits, then a key ingredient used in cement. In 1893, a lime kiln was constructed on the hillside above Amedee. However, due to the nation’s economic depression and the NCO Railroad’s refusal to lower freight rates the enterprise abandoned.

In 1913, with another railroad at Amedee and a surging economy, Susanville businessmen fired up the abandoned lime kilns. After over a year in operation, this they discovered was not the most prudent business investment, and once again the kilns were abandoned.

If you don’t succeed the first time, try again and again. In the 1920s, Janesville resident William B. Hail operated the lime kilns. In 1927, he used the lime for construction of the Bigelow Apartments in Susanville. After that it they were finally abandoned once and for all. Hail stated it was due to the poor quality of the lime.

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History

Where are we, the answer

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Skedaddle Dam, 1992. Courtesy of Ginger Martinez

Skedaddle Creek. In the fall of 1889 construction began on 140 foot tall dam. Little did any one know that the winter of 1889-90 would be one of the most severe on record. By the end of January 1890 it was estimated that were over ten feet of snow on the higher slopes of Skedaddle. In February a warm storm hit, melting the snow and with it a wall of water one hundred feet wide and ten feet deep. It was the first of a series of storms, that eventually caused the dam to collapse.

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History

Secret Valley Munitions Depot?

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Secret Valley, as seen from the lower end of the valley.

In the mid-1920s the U.S. government sought to establish a munitions depot in the west. The two main criteria, that it be a sparsely populated region and have railroad access. In 1927,the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce, along with the Lassen County Board of Supervisors petitioned Congressman Harry Engelbright to consider Secret Valley. It had rail access and only five families lived within thirteen miles of the proposed site. In the end the government selected Hawthorne, Nevada.

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History

The demise of the old hospital

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The original Lassen County Hospital also served as the poor house and old folks home, 1911. Courtesy of Alphozene Terril

A week ago, I wrote about the conditions found in the Lassen County Hospital in 1914. I thought I do a brief follow up as to what happened to it. Lassen County and Thomas “Ab”Ramsey did a property exchange wherein the county received thirty acres adjacent to Richmond Road, portion of which would become the home of Roosevelt School, as well. Actually, for a little bit trivia, the school site was designated to become a cemetery but that is another story.

Ramsey rented the hold hospital as a residence and it remained a rental until 1923, when A.H. and Grace Andrews purchased it. In 1927, the W.D. Haws family acquired and made extensive and necessary improvements to the structure. The building was destroyed by a flu fire on January 12, 1933. Little could be done to save the structure as the water pipes were frozen.

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History

Westwood’s Roller Skating Rink

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Charlie Munroe posing at the end of an era.

A long time fixture of Westwood was Charlie Monroe and his roller skating rink. Timing plays an important role in many events, being at the right time and right place makes a big difference. In the 1930s, Westwood’s Red River Lumber Company began divesting of  assets to lease out operations they had done in the past. It was an effort to economize.

The Westwood Auditorium was built in 1920 at a cost of $20,000, the most expensive Red River public facility to date. It was used for multiple purposes. In 1937, Monroe leased the building from Red River. It was an oral agreement on day to day basis. Through successive ownership of Westwood, that agreement was honored. In the fall of 1976, Greater Westwood, Inc. owners of the property held a public auction, and the roller skating rink was one of them. It sold. After nearly forty years of operation the rink closed.

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History

The Ice Man

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Ice Harvesting
Ice harvesting at Adin, 1911

Way before the days of refrigeration, one of the annual rituals in the region was the harvesting of ice. As anyone who has lived around these parts for any length time, winter can be finicky. Such was the case in January 1904 when the Susan River was frozen over, the ice being over eight inches think. It was imperative to harvest as much ice as possible before there would be a change in the weather.

Now enter Susanville’s sporting fraternity on a betting proposition in which considerable money was waged. The bet was whether Andy Buchler could cut twenty tons of ice in ten hours. Buchler surprised everyone by sawing twenty-two tons in eight hours!

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History

A Bit of Trivia

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Westwood Depot

The December 1955 floods caused considerable damage to the railroad line between Susanville and Westwood. With the imminent closure of the lumber mill at Westwood, the Southern Pacific Railroad decided to close that segment, rather than spending significant amount of money when freight would decrease. Since they did not abandon the line at that time, if a person wanted to ship something by rail from Susanville to Westwood, or vice versa, Southern Pacific could only charge the freight costs between the two points. It was their problem to figure out how to deliver the freight and bear the additional cost. In 1976, Southern Pacific began the formal process to abandon that segment of the line, which we will explore in the near future.

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