The Lassen Advocate of January 12, 1884, provided their readers with a description of Merrillville:
“Every week I see something in your paper about some “ville”—Susanville, Oroville, Marysville, Janesville—but I never see anything about Merrillville. Perhaps you do not know that there is a Merrillville. For your benefit and that of the traveling public, I will describe and locate it as best I can, or at least the business portion of the town.
“At the upper end of Main Street, is the Post Office kept by P.D. Hurlbut, a very sociable businessman, who unlike most government officials, does not try to make a fortune out of his office. When not employed in his official duties, he attends to and runs his sawmill, and keeps on hand a fine assortment of the best lumber.
“From the Post Office down Main Street about two miles is the next place of business, or such I think it is to be. This is the fine new barn, the property of Ben Neuhaus and from all appearances it is to be used as a livery stable as soon as the business will pay. Ben is one of the first settlers in this town, is a fine, jovial, liberal gentleman, and I think will make a good livery man. There is nothing small about Ben—nothing whatever—and that is not his fault.
“The next place of note, one and a half miles down Main Street is the school house, a neat and well furnished building, with a stable and a board fence around the playground. On the northeast corner of this fence I am sitting as I write this. It is a very convenient place to take notes and affords a good view of the surrounding country. The schoolhouse is used for a variety of purposes, town hall, polling place, church, etc. We have church here in two weeks and everyone attends regularly. If you should visit our schoolhouse after we have had a school election, from the empty bottles around the door you would take it to be a country saloon—if you should enter you would take it for the town spittoon.
“Two miles north of the school house, or Swamp Street, is the blacksmith shop and there you will always find Orman Folsom ready at any time. A fine gentleman and one of the best mechanics in Northern California.
“From the school house down Main Street about five miles, you will find Frank Fluery’s saloon, and for ten cents he will give you enough “make you happy” to cause you to forget all your trials, troubles and tribulations for a time.
“Merrillville is situated twelve miles north of Susanville, in Willow Creek Valley and was laid out and named by Capt. Merrill after himself—leaving off the Captain and adding the “ville.”

Hope everyone is enjoying this Labor Day Weekend. Here is a little tid-bit gleaned from a 1914 Lassen County promotion, with one of its slogans: Lassen County Stands for “Opportunity.” It was duly noted that the population was less than 8,000 and the average annual income of heads of families is about $750.00.

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There were two men while not county employees and/or officials did reside for a time in the original courthouse. The two men, Holden Dick and Vincente Olivas aka Mexican Ben were both being held on separate murder charges and the jail was located in the courthouse. Sometime in the middle of the night on January 24, 1886, a vigilante mob broke into the jail and removed Dick and Ben to a nearby woodshed and they were lynched. They were buried in the Susanville Cemetery, their graves unmarked and Spalding Arnold was probably the last person to know the location of the graves.
Yet, unmarked graves are not the domain of paupers and such. We will visit the grave of William Minckler, County Surveyor, and while there are Susanville street signs that bear his name, his grave has no marker—and he is related to Spalding Arnold!

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