Category Archives: History

History

Washington School – Then & Now

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The grammar school, 1915.
Built in 1900-01 it was originally known as the Susanville Grammar School. During the boom era of the early 1920s when three more elementary schools were built in Susanville, brought about the need of school names, all named after presidents—Washington, McKinley, Lincoln and Roosevelt—and the grammar school became Washington. When the Washington School was condemned and torn down in 1948, it did find a bit of reincarnation nearby. The bricks were recycled and used to construct the residence at 709 Mill Street.
709 Mill Street, October 12, 2017

History

A tale of the Methodist Church

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Susanville’s Methodist Church, circa 1896. Courtesy of Philip S. Hall
For nearly the first fifteen years of Susanville’s existence it could said it was somewhat a scene of the old wild west, plenty of saloons, but no houses of worship. It was in the mid-1870s when two churches—the Congregation and Methodist—that the community started to become more civilized.

The construction of the Methodist Church at the corner of Lassen and Cottage Streets began in 1875. In 1877, with church nearing completion a bell was installed. The Lassen Advocate of June 23, 1877 reported: “The bell is already hung in the tower of the new M.E. Church. It is really a tony bell, its reverberations are heard for miles around. Our town is gradually taking on city airs.”

The bell it should be noted served a dual function for not only calling the faithful to worship, but it was the town’s fire alarm system for nearly three decades. However, it was no match for June 1900 fire that destroyed the church and three city blocks from Roop to Union. The bell survived that fire and when a new brick church replaced the old wooden one it was re-installed. The church was destroyed in the August 1915 fire and this time the bell did not survive.

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History

Decious Ranch

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Decious Ranch, 1886. Courtesy of Judith Matley Gibbons
In 1875 Joseph Decious purchased 213 acres five miles north of Milford. It was in a primitive state, only a small portion was under cultivation, and a log house for a dwelling. This would, of course, change over time. In his 1906 biography he boasted: “Visitors to the ranch notice with interest, on the shore of Honey Lake, the only steamer that ever sailed upon its waters, a small craft built in 1895, capacity thirty thousand pounds, which has been used principally for the bringing of freight to the residents of the valley.” In addition, his biography noted he had rented the ranch and retired to Chico, before he was sixty years of age.

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History

Frederick West Lander

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Worth the segment alone dealing with the Nobles Trail.
Frederick Lander was part of several expeditions of the 1850s to locate a route for a Pacific Railroad. There would be many turn of events during this time period, among them the nation’s civil war. When Lander arrived in the Smoke Creek/Honey Lake area, it just happened with the outbreak of the Pyramid Lake War of 1860, and there were several contributing events in the Honey Lake Valley that had a bearing. Lander was caught in the middle. He did keep an excellent account of those activities, which were published by the Desert Research Institute in 1993 with Joy Cleland as editor.

On a side note, even though he died in 1862, one hundred and thirty three years his estate funded a re-photographic survey of Eagle Lake; where in using photographs of the early 1900s, Desert Research Institute went back to those sites to photograph and examine the changes.

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History

Susan River, 1899

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Susan River, 1899. Courtesy of Philip S. Hall
As the Bizz Johnson Trail, formerly the Fernley & Lassen Railroad, is popular with locals and out-of-towners, alike, I thought some might enjoy today’s photograph. This was taken below Hobo Camp in 1899 prior to the railroad’s construction through there in 1913. The flume carried water to the Arnold Ditch would power the Arnold Planing Mill at the Richmond Road Bridge.

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History

1947 Kindergarten Program

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Courtesy of Louise West Collection
I scanned this and a few others last spring from the Louise West papers who taught Kindergarten and First Grade in Susanville from the 1940s to the early 1970s. At that time, I had mentally prepared a post about this topic, it has since been lost to one of those deep recesses of my mind. Many will find the names quite familiar and these youngsters became a part of Lassen High’s Class of 1959.

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History

The T.N. Long Residence

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October 9, 1977
Located on the 900 block of North Street once stood the residence of Thomas N. Long. It was built in the mid-1870s and demolished a century later. The residence had two owners, Long and Bundy & Winifred French. It was torn down in October 1977 and plans were for an apartment complex on the site that that never materialized.
October 20, 1977

History

Brick Building Bonanza

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The Emerson Hotel located at Main & Lassen Streets, the current site of the Hotel Mt. Lassen.
In 1900-01, Reno building contractor, C.E. Clough kept busy in Susanville with the construction of four major brick buildings—Emerson Hotel, Methodist Church, Oakes & Philbrook and the Susanville Grammar School. Only two remain, the Methodist Church and Oakes & Philbrook, though the Susanville Grammar School was reincarnated, more about that later.

The brick was produced locally, though I am not sure where. In 1878, Robert M. Bean had a brick kiln along Piute Creek, a quarter mile north of town. That would place it around Marmo meadows.

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