Can anyone enlighten me how Pigeon Cliffs, located in the Susan River Canyon, just west of Susanville received its name? A good portion of my childhood during the 1960s was spent exploring the Susan River Canyon. In all my years, I never seen any pigeons there. Some of the rock debris below the cliffs came from when Highway 36 was being constructed into Susanville in 1921, and the contractor pushed the rocks over the cliffs to make the current roadway.
Did you know that there two Madelines? The first town of Madeline was located in Grasshopper Valley and established in 1874 by Merrick Cheney and George Ford. It went out of existence in the 1880s, and later became known as Yorks.
The current town of Madeline came into existence in 1902 when the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad extended its line through the region. On October 9, 1902, the Lassen County Board of Supervisors accepted the Madeline townsite. For the next fifteen years, prosperous times were to be found at Madeline. The advent of World War I and the subsequent depression of the 1930s had a dramatic impact, not only to the town of Madeline, but to the Plains as well, as seventy percent of its population left the area.
What a difference a hundred years make. One of the biggest components in the lumber manufacturing business was box shook. These wooden slats were shipped from the lumber mill, where they would be assembled at a packinghouse in the fruit and vegetable industry. This was prior to cardboard and the majority of produce was shipped in wooden boxes. To understand its impact, take a look at the Depression of the 1930s. Nearly half of all lumber manufactured then went into making box shook.
Cardboard was experimented with during World War I, but it did not prove satisfactory to the growers. Major improvements were made to the cardboard box during World War II, and slowly the grocers accepted the new container. Sunkist was one of the last holdouts in the conversion, and in 1955 discontinued the wooden box for the cardboard box. Continue reading The Wooden Box
The dairy industry played an important role in the region’s history. After all, before grocery stores and transportation, one needed to be self sufficient. In the late 1800s, butter was a major product. For example, A.L. Tunison who resided in Willow Creek Valley wrote in his diary: October 21, 1880 – Started for Oroville with 3200# of butter. Virginia City, Nevada during its boom times was another big market. It was not until the late 1890s,, that saw the development of creameries. Then by the early 1920s, with a huge population increase in Lassen County caused the establishment of the large lumber mills, saw the establishment of numerous dairies to produce milk. In future posts I will be exploring the history of those dairies. Of course, if you happen to have knowledge of any of these, I would like to hear from you, as very little has been documented on this topic.
Today marks the 151st anniversary of the creation of Lassen County. It was the culmination of the Sagebrush War that finally started the process. In the simplest terms the conflict also known as the Boundary War was the result of John C. Fremont’s selection in 1850 of the 120th Meridian for California’s eastern boundary. The problem was no one knew where that was, and assumed it followed the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In the late 1850s, with the settlement of the Honey Lake Valley, officials of both California and Nevada saw the uncollected tax dollars waiting to be had. Tensions escalated wherein an armed conflict on February 15, 1863 from the two states took place at Roop’s Fort, also known as Fort Defiance. In the end a truce was called when both sides agreed to conduct a boundary line survey to locate the 120th Meridian, in which it was determined the majority of the Honey Lake Valley was located in California. Thus, began the process to create a new California county. A detailed account of the Sagebrush War can be found in the Lassen County Almanac.
Well, now that I have included future topics on logging, mining and ranching, I need to add another—railroads. It is hard to imagine in this day and age just how important railroads were for development. In certain ways you could compare it to the internet of the 1800s and for a large part of the 1900s. Railroads were one of the most efficient ways to move goods and people. Without rail transportation, growth was stymied. This was particularly true in Lassen when politics versus common sense bypassed Lassen with the transcontinental railroad. After all which would be cheaper to build and maintain a railroad over Fredonyer Pass/Deer Creek as originally surveyed versus Donner?
Four railroads would build through Lassen—Nevada-California-Oregon, Fernley & Lassen (Southern Pacific), Western Pacific and Great Northern. In addition, Fruit Growers, Lassen Lumber and Red River operated their own logging railroads, so a lot of old iron horsepower was put to work. Stay tuned for more on this topic.
The Red River Lumber Company operated many enterprises and it still as an influence concerning electricity to many residents of the region. From time to time when the Susanville area has a power outage, many times there will be a reference to the Hat Creek line. So you may ponder how did Hat Creek come to be? Continue reading Hat Creek Power
In the spring of 1871, the residents of Willow Creek Valley constructed and operated a private school at the west end of the valley near the Murrer Ranch. Miss Fanny Lovell was employed to teach the first classes. In June 1871, residents petitioned the Lassen County Board of Supervisors for the formation of a school district and that was granted. It was not until 1877, when John Dobler donated the land that the school was built on, with a stipulation that the property would revert back to him or his heirs when it was no longer used for a school. Continue reading Willow Creek School
In 1865, John C. Wright located on the abandoned homestead of Thomas Pearson, who had perished in a snowstorm on New Years Day 1865. Wright as known locally was Coyote Jack, and hence the name of Jacks Valley. In 1869, he left for parts unknown. By 1880, this had become a crossroads for travelers as five different roads converged in the valley. Frank Fluery took advantage of the opportunity provided by this unique junction and established a saloon. In 1884, as one of Fluery’s patrons noted: “. . . for ten cents he will give you enough to make you happy to cause you to forget all your trials, troubles and tribulations for a time.” In 1889, Fluery sold to A. J. Conklin who operated the saloon for a number of years. In 1907, Conklin ventured into the lumber business and built a sawmill that had a daily capacity of 15,000 board feet. In 1920, Conklin sold the sawmill to William Johnson. Johnson operated the mill for three years and then sold to the Red River Lumber Company who immediately closed it. In August 1926, a forest fire ravaged the region that encompassed some 20,000 acres. The following year, the Red River Lumber Company established logging Camp 70 to salvage the burnt timber. This was one of that Company’s earliest truck logging camps. While those enterprises have long since faded into oblivion, a cement water trough remains and is still a recognized feature to travelers. In 1913, Thomas Hill and the County of Lassen constructed the water trough. For early motorists, it was a wonderful blessing, a source of water for overheated automobiles making the trip up Antelope Grade. For the next 80 years it was popular stop to drink the water and take a break, though it appears the water line has been disconnected. The trough is located ten miles north of Susanville on Highway 139. To learn more about other places throughout Lassen County see the Lassen County Almanac.
As many may be aware, Rite Aid plans a 17,400 square foot building on the 1600 block of Susanville. All the buildings on that block are scheduled to a be demolished. I do not have any problem with this, in fact I am favor of the project. My only concern is the bronze plaque at the bank be saved and incorporated in the new enterprise. Anyone who is concerned needs to contact Craig Sanders at the City of Susanville to express your concern. The details of the project can be found here.