This rather obscure hill located in Honey Lake Valley’s Belfast District has an interesting tale behind it. Isaac Coulthurst was one of the first Anglo settlers of the region, but in time his sanity came into question.

In 1873 Coulthurst stated that the Lord commanded him to go to the top of this hill. Coulthurst held communion with the Lord in a cave there. He spent a portion of the winter in that cave. Coulthurst stated it was warmed by supernatural heat, but the cave became unbearably hot in the summer. It was then that he discarded his name of Coulthurst and changed his name to the “Second Coming of Christ.” His wife, Mary, had him declared insane. Twice he was placed in mental institutions, each time he spent only a few months. In 1881, a third examination was held on his competency. The courts two examining physicians stated he was fine in all aspects, especially keen in business dealings. They admitted to his religious peculiarity but did not think he would derive any benefit from being institutionalized. After that court hearing, the court proceeded with the divorce proceedings that had been filed by his wife and the court approved it. Coulthurst agreed to the divorce and to pay alimony, but would not divide the property with her. Coulthurst’s refusal to divide the ranch property was based on his belief that it would be the site of a new Jerusalem. Coulthurst contended that a large city would be built there, the streets paved with gold. In 1893, Coulthurst transferred the ranch to his son, Henry, with the provision that his son clothe, feed, maintain, and support him during his natural life. Coulthurst signed the deed “Christ the Lord.”

An interesting footnote when Coulthurst died in 1919, he was the first person interred in the Lassen Cemetery.

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Constructed in 1889 as part of Benjamin Leavitt’s expanding reclamation enterprise and now part of the Lassen Irrigation District. Lassen National Forest Service Supervisor, A. G. Brenneis, wrote an article about the origin of its name that was published in the California Ranger, August 1938: “Many years ago the residents of Honey Lake Valley joined together to start the Susan River Irrigation District and, as a first step, began the construction of the dams at the present sites of Hog Flat and McCoy Flat Reservoirs. The first winter this country received heavy storms and as a result the dam at Hog Flat was destroyed. The entire meadow, which should have been a lake was covered with a rank growth of vegetation and in order to salvage something from the reservoir, the farmers of the district banded together, placed a huge herd of hogs on the meadow, fattened them, and made some money to repay them for the loss of the dam. Ever since then the reservoir has carried its name of Hog Flat.”

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