Doyle, with the Western Pacific Depot, 1915—Sue Whitten
For nearly decade Doyle was serviced by two railroads-the NCO and the Western Pacific. Passengers switching trains from one to the other was problematic. In August 1914, the Reno Journal reported that a meeting of the respective railroad officials was held at Doyle. The outcome of the said meeting it was told that a new depot would be jointly built by the two companies. That was not the last word. In September, the State Railroad Commission held a meeting in Doyle, which residents were opposed the depot merger. The Commission ruled in favor of the residents and the depot issue dropped.
In a couple of years the issue would be moot. In 1917, the NCO sold its trackage from Hackstaff (Herlong) to Reno, thus the NCO would no longer serve Doyle.
When the Red River Lumber Company started their construction of Westwood in 1913, there was a lot of thought that went into it. A neglected matter was a church. In the spring of 1917, Fletcher Walker, Resident Manager, brought up the topic that Westwood was in need of a house of worship with his father, T.B. (Red River’s founder, who resided in Minnesota) and wrote: “We have come to a time when it seems inadvisable to put off further the building of a working church. The Sunday school had 255 last Sunday and the condition of the school in one of the old cook houses is such that the congestion prevents efficient work.”
Fletcher informed his father that a committee had organized to solicit donations. The committee discussed plans for a building, not only its seating capacity but that it should have a full basement to provide for a library, kitchen/dining rooms, and other rooms for sociable functions such as Y.M.C.A. meetings. After considerable debate it was determined that ideally the church should seat 600 churchgoers.
Once the committee agreed to the building’s size, they were able to calculate the cost. They estimated a price tag of $8,700—with lumber the most expensive item at $4,000. Fletcher thought Red River should donate the lumber to such a worthy cause. To finance the remaining balance, the committee had already secured $3,000 in pledges.
In conclusion Fletcher wrote, “We could have the Red River Lumber Co. build the church and direct the work along lines that were best for the Company, keeping in mind that we are against the I.W.W. and politicians as well as the Assessor, etc. That the labor market is a laborer’s market and that we must make Westwood attractive if we are to keep a crew without paying excessive wages. So from my viewpoint I think we should go ahead and build it and let the people use their money on the extra running connected with it.”
By the summer of 1917 the project moved forward with Red River donating the lumber and labor. The site selected was at 500 Cedar Street, which the Rev. R.G. Green described as a rock pile strewn with empty beer and whiskey bottles. By November 1917 the new church was completed.
Initially, it was a church with no name. Since it would serve the needs of variety denominations it was named The People’s Church. On Sunday May 19, 1918 dedication ceremonies were held with Dr. John Wilson, District Superintendent of the California-Nevada Methodist Conference officiating.
The old Fruit Growers barn, June 2, 2015- Photograph by Annie Henriques
Well, can you believe it, it has been ten years to the date that the old barn at the east entrance to Susanville was destroyed by fire. It was built in 1920/21 for the Fruit Growers Supply Company, who were in the midst of constructing their new sawmill/box factory nearby. Continue reading The Old Fruit Growers Barn→
1940 Lassen College yearbook cover of Camel Caravan
This concludes the weekly post about Lassen College’s Centennial history. However, the College’s Willard Hill Ski area will appear near the end of November.
The following account is by Neil Wemple, who graduated from Lassen Junior College in 1938: “The story of the camel as mascot for Lassen Junior College is a bit unlikely and interesting and its goes like this. I had thought the selection of the camel had been the work of some of the “old grads” back in the late twenties. Someone had told me this, but it was not so. So I was determined that it was so and when I came upon the truth I could scarcely believe the results of my own research efforts. I wrote many letters, made many phone calls, studied many LUHS and LJC publications and was very embarrassed to discover that the evolution and adoption of the camel came about in my first year at Lassen Junior College in 1937! The advice and efforts of Bud and Don Cady, Adelene and Abe Jensen and my sister Deese Theodore lead me to Frank Rice and Phil Hall, former Lassen Junior College Forestry students who knew the answer. I was finally able to find some old publications which made the first mention of the camel in March of 1938. Frank Rice states that the camel began in 1937, and I know when I entered Lassen Junior College in the 1936-37 year we were called the camels. Continue reading Lassen College’s 1st Mascot→
American Legion Parade, Susanville 1926—Margaret Purdy
In early June 1924, the Thomas Tucker Post No. 204, of the American Legion decided to place American flags along Main Street in observance of the 4th of July. It should be noted that American Legion posts nationwide were doing the same. They ordered 100 flags to be placed on either side of Main Street from the Elk’s Lodge to Weatherlow Street. The flags 4×6 would be attached to 12 foot metal poles and spaced at 30 foot intervals. When installed on July 3 the general consensus deemed it a wonderful improvement from the past, that consisted of haphazard placements of bunting and flags here and there.
Rotary Club members preparing for Flag Day, 2012-Left Right: Rod Chambers, Richard Egan Holly Egan (driver), Morgan Nugent, Martin Balding, and Jim Chapman-Courtesy of Jim Chapman
The tradition continues. For over thirty years Susanville’s Rotary Club has taken over the role of placement of the flags. The flags are flown on major holidays and special events. Thank you Rotary Club!
Indian ruins along Pine Creek, near Eagle Lake, 1938
This is a complicated tale., just like the geological history of Eagle Lake. Noted anthropologist Dr. Alfred Kroeber assigned Eagle Lake to the Atsugewi tribe. While Maidu elders such Roxie Peconum (1851-1958) indicated that Eagle Lake was part of its summer territory. On other hand, William Evans in his extensive research of the Honey Lake Maidu noted that there was a lack specific references to the lake. To complicate things, the Paiutes were the victims of the Papoose Meadows Massacre of 1866.
Of course, there are the rock circles can be found near Pine Creek, and those near the original Eagle Lake tunnel. However, of the three tribes mentioned,, none has claimed them. Can these ruins be associated with lake’s petroglyphs?
My friend, a noted archaeologist, Francis Riddell, would some time ask me to do research for him. One occasion it was Chauncey Spring, in the Belfast region of the Honey Lake Valley. When I sent him my findings, he remarked that we probably made more fuss for about him when he was deceased, than others did when he was alive. Years later, that would be farther from case in regards to Chauncey Smith. I actually published his tale, and his buried treasure in Untold Stories.
Along that line of Riddell’s thought, this tale is about a German immigrant day laborer by the name of Robert Isigheit, who resided at Amedee in the early 1900s. We really do not know much about him. There was an incident that occurred at the Amedee Hotel. On May 10, 1911, while working on the acetylene gas plant that was recently installed to improve the hotel’s lighting, an explosion occurred His clothes, and two other workers clothes were burned and received minor burns arms to their arms and faces, but aid quickly responded, the injuries deemed not serious.
On February 22, 1913, Robert Isigheit, at age of 66, died of a heart attack at Amedee. He was the last person buried in the Amedee Cemetery.
By the end of World War I cigarette smoking gained in popularity. In 1920s, advertisers promoted as stylish among other traits. On the flip side carless cigarette smokers routinely threw their lighted cigarette butts out of the car window. By the early 1920s the California made it a law to prohibit tossing lighted objects from an an automobile, but citizens ignored it. By the mid-1920s it got out of hand and was a major cause of forest fires.
On June 11, 1925 the first forest of season, locally occurred at Eagle Lake’s Gallatin Beach. Luckily, it was quickly contained as group of forty men, composed a campers and day visitors, quickly extinguished the fire. The fire’s origin was a caused by a discarded cigarette.
Gallatin Beach and Peak, July 22, 1974.
Menacing problem of cigarettes igniting forest fires continued for decades. Locally, for instance, on July 17, 1951 a 760-acre fire consumed the majority of timber on Gallatin Peak. The cause a careless cigarette smoker.
