Scott’s was a little known Western Pacific station in Long Valley. It was so named for Charles and Franceska Scott who located there in 1901, from Fish Springs. With the railroad station, they decided to open a general store and even established the Scotts Post Office. The post office only operated from 1912 to 1916. In 1918, they sold their 3,160-acre ranch to Antonio Saralegui.
Once it became known that the Fernley & Lassen Railroad would be constructed through the Honey Lake Valley, it made the region a virtual paradise for real estate promoters. Three towns were plotted out—Leavitt, Litchfield and Stacy, the latter being in the eastern part of Honey Lake Valley between Amedee and the Nevada Stateline.
On April 19, 1913, the Lassen County Board of Supervisors approved the Stacy townsite. The town’s founders, the Spoon Brothers—Frank and Andrew—and Doctor B.B. Bolton envisioned great possibilities, such as the development of a major shipping facility for the region’s start up sugar beet industry. Prior to the railroad development, numerous homesteaders had arrived in part of the dry farming experience, and that of the Standish Water Company’s reclamation plan to use water from Honey Lake to transform the area into a major sugar beet region.
In 1920, voters of the Susanville School District passed a bond measure to build a second school. The trustees indicated, however, that with the accelerated growth another school would be needed. What they had not bargained for was just how quickly the need would arise. On January 14, 1922 the District held another bond election for a new school. The voters approved the $50,000 measure by a vote of 140 to 5. In March, the District purchased a lot on the south side of Main Street at the intersection of Hall Street. In June local contractors Woodward & Grebe were awarded a $35,000 contract to build it. The school was completed and placed in use during the first week of February 1923. The Lincoln School closed at the end of the 1966-67 school year.
An obscure mining term of the early 1860s. To be a Never Sweat was considered to be a non-conformist. In Nevada, for instance, one could hold an interest in a mining claim and not work it. One could wait for others to prove the claim. Should the prospects be favorable, the Never Sweat could recover his interest by paying an advance on the accumulated costs. In 1865, Nevada passed an “Act for the Encouragement of Mining.” That change in laws abolished the practice of a Never Sweat and the term faded into oblivion, with the exception of the bestowment on the Honey Lakers. Continue reading Never Sweats
I could not resist to scan and post this article that appeared in the Lassen Advocate. In the era of cell/smart phones, this seems so quaint with the introduction of push button phones. And to think, a century ago operators were known as “hello girls.”
P.S. – Some may not be aware, but if you click on the image, you will see a larger one.
Construction of the high school began in the fall of 1905 and was ready the following year. The school was constructed by Granite Rock Company for $25,670.
The photograph depicted above was taken in 1908, when the school grounds was fenced, not to keep the students in, but to keep roaming livestock off the school property.
Don’t forget you can still get the complete DVD collection of the Lassen High Yearbooks from 1904 to 2013. However, I only have about fifteen left.
Asa Merrill Fairfield is known to different people for various aspects of his life. When I started my research a long time ago, I interviewed numerous people who knew him. Today, Fairfield is known for Fairfield’s Pioneer History of Lassen County. More on that later. Continue reading Asa M. Fairfield
When the Susanville School District was established in 1864, the town had only one school, located on Cottage Street. This remained the status quo for nearly sixty years.
With the arrival and the lumber mills, the town experienced a huge population surge. In 1920, a second school was needed and it was also constructed on the Cottage Street property. The growing pains of Susanville continued and a third school was built, this time in the Milwood District in 1922. Another three years went by, and yet another school was constructed, this time on Richmond Road.
With four schools in operation the district, decided to give them names, which they honored past United States Presidents. The first school was named Washington; the second McKinley, the third, Lincoln and the fourth school Roosevelt.
In 1967, when it was decided to build a middle school to replace Roosevelt, a more generic name was given–Diamond View.
The establishment of toll roads in the frontier West was difficult and not usually a feasible business venture—unless you were strategically located at a bridge, mountain pass or narrow canyon where possible toll users could not make a detour and thus not pay the toll fee. On several occasions toll road companies were formed for various routes through Lassen County, but were never successful enterprises. Continue reading Toll Roads
In 1968, the Occidental Petroleum Company purchased a large portion of the lands owned by the Rees T. Jenkins Land & Livestock Company. On the west side of the Madeline Plains, they subdivided thousands of acres into 20-acre parcels they named Moon Valley Ranch. The first unit was recorded on July 12, 1968. The Company’s advertising of the region made it too good to be true. “Now you get it all at Moon Valley Ranch: prime recreation land, within 4 miles of a 2,500 acre lake, in Northern California, the next recreational capital of the West and profitable investment property almost certain to appreciate as California’s recreation-hungry population continues to explode . . .And what a price now you can buy 20-acre parcels for less than $199 an acre–$150 down, $29 monthly.” Their portfolio expands on all the nearby wonderful recreational areas, such as skiing and golfing at Westwood, though they did not mention that Westwood was some seventy miles away. Also they did not disclose the fact that the golf course at Westwood was only proposed. The Company was correct in their advertisement that is was “The magnificent, away-from-it-all Moon Valley Ranch” to “land-that-time-forgot.” Moon Valley Ranch is a perfect example why there are disclosure laws in the real estate industry today. Numerous folks still invest in that property, purchasing parcels site unseen, only to realize that they bought a lot on a sagebrush plain or a rocky hillside covered with juniper trees.