Category Archives: History

History

Diamond Mountain

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Diamond Mountain, circa 1940. Courtesy of Margaret A. Purdy
An inquisitive mind wanted to how Diamond Mountain obtained its name. It was so named in the 1850s, when prospectors found numerous crystal quartz along the range. The crystal clear quartz had a “diamond” like character. Some of these can be quite large. In the 1950s, a large crystal quartz weighing over 100 pounds as discovered on Thompson Peak and eventually found a home at the Smithsonian Institute. In 1910, Lassen County historian Asa Fairfield wanted to change Diamond Mountain to Mount Roop, but that did no go over well with anyone. Finally, the Honey Lake Pauite referred to the mountain range as wago yamos or ‘timber bend.”

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History

Worley Ranch – Lassen County

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Jeanette Worley at the summer headquarters. Courtesy of the Worley/Crum family.
In the late 1800s and into the early 1900s the sheep industry played a major role in Lassen County’s economy. In 1906, Lassen County officials estimated 200,000 head of sheep were brought into the county for summer grazing. Many of these outfits came from nearby Tehama County. On February 25, 1902, Adam Crim Worley of Tehama County, purchased 481 acres from John Sites, and established his summer stock range about ten miles west of Susanville on the western base of the mountain, that would become known as Worley Mountain. (This is the mountain one crosses to travel to the south shore of Eagle Lake.) Worley’s son, Jesse C. Worley continued with the family sheep business for some time. In 1909, Jesse married Jeanette Alexander and in 1911, he became associated with his father-in-law’s, Jules Alexander, general store in Susanville. 1942 was a monumental year for Jesse Worley as closed the store in Susanville. On August 17, 1942, he sold the ranch to Bill and Zella Ahern for $3,000.

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History

Thomas Bracken Sanders

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Thomas B. Sanders. Courtesy of Gilbert Morrill
Thomas Bracken Sanders

He was born on November 29, 1848 in Illinois, one of thirteen children, yet ten of his brothers and sisters died in infancy, some of whom are buried in the Susanville Cemetery. It should be noted that the family came west in 1860 and settled in Plumas County and in 1867, they moved to Susanville.

One of his more interesting jobs began in the late 1870s, when he went to work for the Fish & Game Department as a deputy. They kept him busy planting fish in the various lakes and streams to learn what would best adapt in the area. In January 1879, Sanders along with Dr. H.S. Borette and William Dow introduced the first non-native species of fish at Eagle Lake. It was two wagonloads consisting of 225,000 Great Basin whitefish. That fall they planted brown bullhead catfish at Eagle Lake. Sanders also planted catfish in the Susan River and Piute Creek, where they did quite well. Take for instance, in 1883, Masillon Martsteller caught a twelve pound catfish from the Susan River. Sanders, himself, caught a catfish from Piute Creek that weighed fourteen pounds.

While Fish & Game paid Sanders a stipend for what he did, the work was sporadic and the payment not sufficient to make a living. For a livelihood he learned the carpentry trade. He specialized in making cabinets, furniture and trunks. As most furniture makers of this era, he was called upon to make coffins. He added undertaker to his profession and continued until 1896 when he sold out to Tom Oakes. In 1897, he moved to Sacramento where his brother, Plumas Sanders resided. It was not a good move. Two years later, unable to find steady work, he committed suicide.

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History

All Those Doyles!

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John W. Doyle (1832-1892). Courtesy of the Nevada Historical Society
The community of Doyle was named for John W. Doyle, who settled in Long Valley in 1859 and spent the rest of his life there and passed away in 1892. He had a brother, Stephen who also became a resident of the Honey Lake Valley and for many years operated the Milford Hotel.

In 1860, James Doyle, no relation to the Long Valley Doyle’s settled at Milford. His great grandson, John Doyle, owned Doyle Motors in Susanville for a number of years. Across Main Street from the former Doyle Motors, on the corner of Main and South Roop Street, is the Del Mar building, which was built in 1914 by Otis Doyle, a Long Valley Doyle.

It can get confusing, and descendants from the two different Doyle families still reside in the region.

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History

1882 Wages

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Haying at the Elledge Ranch, near Standish, 1900. Courtesy of Camilla Moody
If you were gainfully employed in Lassen County in the early 1880s, the following was the prevailing wage. Regular farm hands with board were paid $30 to $40 a month. If you happen to just work at harvest time such as haying $2 a day, and possibly board. The sheep industry was a major component in Lassen County’s agricultural community and sheepherders salary ranged from $25 to $40 a month. The task of sheep shearing was paid at 6 cents a head.

In the lumber industry the head sawyer was paid $75 a month, plus board, while the average mill worker received $40 a month plus board. Since firewood was a much needed commodity those laborers were paid on the average 75 cents per cord.

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History

Highway 29

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Highway 36 Fredonyer
The road over Fredonyer as it appeared in 1914.
In the early 1920s, the State of California had the daunting task of plotting out a highway system, and there were plenty of details to be dealt with. Among them, especially for the traveling public, was the designation of highway routes. In the early 1920s, the California Automobile Association led a campaign to give descriptive names of the mountain routes. Highway boosters of the region proclaimed the route between Red Bluff and Susanville, the Lassen Volcanic Highway, since the highway went by the southern entrance of the national park. In time, the State of California began to use a numbering system, and initially proclaimed this route as Number 29. In 1935, it was changed to State Highway Route 36. The change of the number was necessary to reflect the adoption of a uniform system, where even road numbers went to east-west direction and odd ones were for north-south routes.

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History

Lewiston, Lassen County

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Hayden Hill
Hayden Hill, 1894
Hayden Hill is Lassen County’s best known mining community. However, and especially in the late 1800s, there were numerous mining camps surrounding the hill. One of these was Lewiston. It was a very short-lived mining camp in 1884, that Joseph W. Hayden named after his partner, Seneca Lewis. Of note, both Hayden and Lewis are buried in the Hayden Hill Cemetery.

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History

Shirley’s

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Shirley’s, Hall Street, Susanville. Courtesy of Hank Martinez
Shirley’s was a bar on the north end of Hall Street, the current site of the Juniper Apartments. Established in the 1930s after the repeal of prohibition, by Jean “Shirley” Tilton, and its distance from town on a road heading to points northward was similar to the roadhouses between Susanville and Westwood. *

It was quite the interesting watering hole, “Shirley” a former nurse, was confined to a wheel chair, but remembered for her generosity. She was also a madam, and cabins behind her establishment took care of certain needs of her clientele. Then there was her friend, gay piano man, and member of Sacred Heart Church’s choir, that assisted her, until he committed suicide in 1938. When she died in 1954, Gene Garayoa and Steve Arainty transformed it into the Juniper Inn.

*Ash Street, was not in existence.

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History

Doyle Post Office

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Doyle, 1921. Courtesy of Lola L. Tanner
I realized recently that I have not wrote much about the postal history of the area. Just like the one-room schools that were found throughout the county, the same applies to post offices of another era. It was the construction of the Western Pacific Railroad that was the catalyst for the creation of the town of Doyle. The Doyle Post Office was established on January 29, 1908. However, the region was not without mail service. On December 29, 1869 the Long Valley Post Office was established at the Doyle Ranch, just a short distance south of would later become Doyle, and its first postmaster was John W. Doyle.

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