If there was ever a great misnomer for a building it was one of Red River Lumber Company’s first public buildings in Westwood was dubbed the Opera House. It should be noted that when Westwood was being built in 1912-14, it was remote. There were no highways, and in the winter the only access by train. It was designed this way on purpose to keep undesirable elements, including unions out of the community. However, Red River would need to provide entertainment venues for its employees, if they wanted to recruit and retain. Continue reading Westwood’s Opera House→
It being Valentine’s Day, I thought I share something a bit different. In the way back yonder, how real property was exchanged, was done in a variety of ways. During the late 1890s and through the early 1900s, transactions between spouses carried the clause “in consideration of love and affection,” to deed real property, which in most instances was the title to the family residence, as seen in the illustration above.
There is the case, of property being sold for one-dollar. That signals a red flag to indicate that a mortgage was recorded. For years, deeds and mortgages were recorded in separate volumes. It was not until the 1920s, that the transition began to consolidate all recordings into one volume, that we know today as Official Records.
Conklin mill, circa 1918. Courtesy of Lola L. Tanner
In 1889, Albert J. Conklin purchased 338 acres consisting of the territory known as Jacks Valley, located between Susanville and Willow Creek Valley. In1907, demand for lumber approached record levels. The rebuilding of the San Francisco Bay area from the devastating 1906 earthquake, along with a new mining bonanza in Nevada were contributing factors. In the spring of 1907, to meet the local lumber needs, Conklin built a sawmill. The mill had a maximum daily capacity of manufacturing 15,000 board feet. Conklin continued with this enterprise until 1920, when he sold to W.J. Johnson. In 1923, after only three years of operation, Johnson sold out to the Red River Lumber Company who closed the mill and removed the machinery.
In the fall of 1905, Anton Gerig with a crew of eleven men, constructed the reservoir on Slate Creek, west of Grasshopper Valley and north of Eagle Lake. On April 12, 1934, Lena A. Soldate sold the Slate Creek Reservoir, along with considerable acreage in Grasshopper Valley, to George R. Heath for $26,000. On either May 7th or 8th 1938, spring floods caused the collapse of the dam at Slate Creek. California Department of Water Resources had repeatedly informed Heath that the Slate Creek Reservoir required a spillway, but their warning was ignored. During the aftermath of the dam failure, the State Engineer stated that had an adequate spillway been constructed at an estimated cost of $5,100 the dam would have withstood the spring flood. The dam was subsequently rebuilt and became known as Heath Reservoir.
Jules Hurlbut’s homestead cabin. Courtesy of Orville Watkins
Those familiar with the history of Eagle Lake are aware that Spalding Tract was named for John S. Spalding who first resided there in 1875. (It should be noted that it is also “spelled” with an “u” as in Spaulding. There are two different subdivisions on the same property). Continue reading Spalding Tract’s first house→
In the 1850s, the Anglo settlers of the Honey Lake Valley routinely petitioned the U.S. Military for aide and protection. Many of those pleas went ignored. The Civil War changed that. In the future we will explore the various encampments, and some non-military sites such as Fort Janesville.
Today, we examine Camp Susan, the nearest appearance of a military encampment the town would experience. In late August 1864, the 1st Nevada Territorial Infantry, a mobile military unit from Fort Churchill, under the command of Malachi R. Hassett, established a base camp near Susanville. Their mission was to scout the territory from Susanville, north to Surprise Valley and east to the Humboldt mines. In October 1864, the unit was ordered back to Fort Churchill. On September 12, 1864, Private Ebenezer Williams died at Camp Susan. Williams, a native of Wales, had just enlisted in February 1864.
One of the city’s most interesting streets, does in fact has an interesting story of how it came to be. It originally started as a alley behind North Street. One of its first residents was Bernie Dillinger who gave it the name of Burma. Back in the 1940s as Bernie recalled “A rough, rocky, unpaved road.” Dillinger’s mailing address was 507 1/2 North Street. The 1/2 referred that he was located in the alley, and not fronting North Street.
Dillinger gave it the name Burma, for the famed road in Indochina of the same name. He was attempting to get the city’s attention, since the city did nothing to maintain and it never qualified for snow removal. This, of course, made it treacherous in the winter months, especially at that time Burma did not connect to Roop Street. Instead near the bottom of the hill it made a sharp turn and exited out onto Hill Street. With Dillinger’s due diligence the city finally started to maintain it, and even placed a street sign with the name of Burma Road.
Invoice to Lassen County for the failed Amedee School Bond Election
One of the greatest assets for a frontier town, was to have its own newspaper. It was in fact, a defacto chamber of commerce extolling the virtues of the new upcoming community.
Amedee, the railroad town on the east side of Honey Lake, could even boast its own newspaper the Amedee Geyser. S.N. Griffith one of the original promoters of the town was able to entice 19-year old, Henry A. “Hal” Lemmon to relocate from nearby Sierra Valley where he was publishing the Mountain Mirror. On March 30, 1892 the Amedee Geyser made its debut. The four-page newspaper, common for the era, was quite informative from the exchanges published elsewhere. There is only one known surviving copy, which is in private hands.
The good times at Amedee, and across the nation would not last long due to the financial panic of 1893. On September 28, 1893, Lemmon published the last issue with the following statement: “We have nothing to say–we have done the best we could. We shall continue residence in Amedee and when our patrons have more, we can give them a newspaper worth the subscription price, the paper will appear again. ”
Lemmon had hope to revive the newspaper the following month, but that did not transpire. He moved on to bigger things and at the time of his death in 1947 he was President of the Sierra Pacific Power Company in Reno, Nevada.
While not as remote as Shinn Ranch, Dixie Valley is located in the northwestern section of Lassen County, is none the less on the off beaten path. Like the Tule District of the Honey Lake Valley, this place, too, has its name origin tied to the Civil War. Continue reading Dixie Valley – Lassen County→
Leona Jackson posing in front a locomotive at the Susanville Depot, 1919.
When the Fernley & Lassen Railroad was built through a major segment of the Honey Lake Valley, the residents rejoiced. This was especially true for the agricultural community. One of the major crop exports was apples, and now there was an easy and efficient way to ship them.
Yet, on the other hand, no one knew what to expect when the Red River Lumber Company established its company town. Again, the agricultural community was a main benefactor. In a sense, the railroad was not needed to ship meats and produce out of the area, but to ship to Westwood, a new town that had to be fed. When the mills of Fruit Growers and Lassen Lumber were established in Susanville, that increased the demand for more local products.
