On February 7, 1916, the Lucerne School District was established at a special meeting of the Lassen County Board of Supervisors. It, along with the Glade School District, were the two last rural school districts created in Lassen County. Shortly thereafter a school house was constructed about three miles north of Doyle. The school closed in 1925. At that time the Board of Supervisors authorized the sale of the building—asking price $50. But no buyers came forward. The school house was destroyed in a August 1926 forest fire that also destroyed the ranches of Arent, Downing and Wagner.
The Red River Lumber Company was unusual in that it did not routinely have commercial films made of its operations, as their competitors did. It was deemed a good business practice to show prospective retail buyers, as well as investors, of one’s operation. In the 1930s, Red River officials debated the issue, particularly as it might be beneficial if forced to sell Westwood. On the other hand Red River’s neighbor the Fruit Growers Supply Company routinely had films made. For them it was important for the citrus growers to see what was involved with their investment.
In the summer of 1928 Caterpillar tractors sent a camera man to Westwood to film Red River Lumber Company’s entire operation–from the falling of trees to finished board. Caterpillar was interested in Red River’s operations. Red River’s skilled machinists were constantly making improvements to Caterpillar tractors. Among old time Red River employees there was the folklore that Red River had more patents on Caterpillar tractors than Caterpillar. Whatever the case may be, in November 1928 the film made its debut at the Westwood Theater.
It would be interesting to know if the film exist in Caterpillar archives. After all, Fruit Growers had a 1925 film of their Lassen Operation in their archives.
Emerson’s Store, Left to Right, Bill Lewis, Jim Mapes, Todd Hemler, 1916. Courtesy of Prentice Holmes
The building was originally a Forester’s Lodge. It was quite common in that era, to construct a two-story building. The second story used as a hall/lodge room, while the first floor was rented out for commercial interests to pay for the building, but maintenance as well. The building soon evolved into the Standish Hall Association.
The Standish store, no date. Courtesy of Camilla Moody.
Susanville merchant Charlie Emerson was quite the entreprenuer. Shortly after the lodge building was constructed, Emerson opened his second general merchandise at this location. In 1928, Bill Lewis took over Emerson’s and renamed it the Standish Supply Company. Lewis was succeeded by Claude Heard. When Heard relocated to Litchfield, Neil Winchell took over the store, and it became Neil’s Mercantile. In one of those moments, its almost hard to believe but Neil’s has been closed for some thirty years now.
The arrastra mill, 1899. Courtesy of Mary Dale Folsom
Readers may recall last month’s post about the Scottini family. Besides a dairy operation they were involved in gold mining. After all, Diamond Mountain being one of the most important mining districts in Lassen County, and only second to Hayden Hill.
As the majority of mining along Diamond Mountain was that of lode bearing quartz, equipment was needed to extract the gold from the quartz. A simple and inexpensive method was with a arrastra mill which would pulverize the rock. The Scottini mill was unique as it was powered by a water wheel, the water of course from Gold Run Creek.
After the Scottini’s left the area, the mill was abandoned, though L.D. McDow, James Branham and Henry Neff acquired the claim. They did not use this mill, and instead built one of their own. In 1965, George McDow stated “The remains of this (Scottini) arrastra lie buried by flood debris with only a few of the side timbers exposed above the ground.”
Walker’s was an iconic Susanville institution for nearly forty years. It first started as a small hamburger and shake stand on the corner of Main and Alexander Avenue. It later expanded into a full-fledged restaurant that was popular with the locals and travelers, too. In the 1970s, the City of Susanville made a realignment to Alexander Avenue, and the gas station was moved next door.
August 6, 2016
For the past several years the building has undergone extensive renovations. There is a lot of speculation what the former Walker’s is going to be reincarnated into. In due time, we will find out one day.
In 1928, the Lassen National Forest Service leased seven acres from Lassen County on Richmond Road for a tree nursery. It was originally named the Susanville Nursery. The name was changed in 1932, when William G. Durbin, the Lassen National Forest Supervisor retired after ten years on the Lassen. C.W. Corson, a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota has hired to be in charge of it. It was their goal to raise 750,000 of pine seedlings over a five year period. In addition, experiments were done with cedar, fir and sequoia.
The first planting was done in 1930 to assist the reforestation of the burn on Antelope Mountain west of Eagle Lake. In addition the nursery provided seedlings to the various national forest service throughout California. It was unique that it was only large Forest Service nursery in California. In 1936, after the establishment of Lassen College’s Forestry program many of those students worked at Durbin Nursery.
Unfortunately, I do not at this time, have a date when the nursery ceased operation, but it appears sometime in the early 1950s. The property is best known today as Diamond View School.
Born Anna Marie Goumaz on July 22, 1839 and was a small minority of German Swiss immigrants to Lassen County. By the 1890s, a second wave arrived, but from the Canton Ticino, better known as Swiss Italians, but that is another story. In 1851, her parents along with nine children migrated to the United States finally locating in Illinois. In 1863, Anna and her two brothers, Philip and Isadore decided to go west and found a new home in the Honey Lake Valley. On March 10, 1864, Anna married rancher Lyman C. Stiles. Continue reading Anna M. Stiles→
A view of Diamond Mountain, from Lassen High School’s agriculture fields, 1916. Courtesy of D.M. Durst Collection
While compiling an article about winter weather for the December issue of the Northern California Traveler, I thought the following would be interest, since Diamond Mountain’s current dusting of snow.
In the local columns of Susanville’s Lassen Advocate of October 22, 1909, the paper reported: “The weather prophets say if the thin coating of snow on the summit of Diamond Mountain lasts any considerable time without melting, we may expect a light snowfall this winter. Some of those weather prophets have been watching this indicator for thirty years or more, and ought to know.” Those prophets were correct in their observation, as it turned out to be a dry cold winter, most of the Honey Lake Valley was fogged in during the month of January.
On April 9, 1939, Father Patrick J. Moran during his Easter Sunday service announced his intention that Sacred Heart Parish needed a new church. It was rather dramatic, since Moran had only been appointed to take care of the spiritual needs of Sacred Heart four months prior.
The old wooden church was built in 1892, and it was originally located on Richmond Road, adjacent to the bridge over Susan River. In 1909, the church was moved to the corner of Union and Nevada Streets. However, the years had taken a toll on the wooden frame structure, and many parishioners complained that it was cold and drafty in the winter months, since the only heating was an ornate wood stove.
Moran, in his address, concluded that a new church would be built on the site of the current one. The following year, Moran received Bishop Robert Armstrong’s blessing. Shortly afterwards Sacramento architect Clarence C. Huff was awarded the contract to design the new church.
Sacred Heart Church,on Richmond Road 1905. Courtesy of Sacred Heart Church
However, Moran’s quest would take nearly ten years for it to come to fruition. More about that in a future post.
Missouri Bend School, 1886. Courtesy of Philip S. Hall
The school district was established on February 3, 1879 from the eastern portions of Janesville and Lake School Districts. Shortly thereafter, the residents built a schoolhouse without a bond measure. On May 31, 1884, Leonard Hicks donated the land for the school. On December 17, 1909, voters approved a $1,500 bond measure to construct a larger school. During the early 1950s, voters throughout the County were routinely asked for consolidation of school districts. In 1954, Missouri Bend merged with Janesville. This schoolhouse remains, and for awhile it was used as a private school, but now sits empty.
