The Shinn Ranch in remote eastern Lassen County is not a place one just happens upon. It has been  years since I was last there with a film crew doing an episode of Off Road California.

It was in 1870, when fifty-year old Oliver Shinn located there with his family of five children from Baker, Oregon. He remained there until his sudden death in 1883. According to his obituary, “Mr. Shinn was awakened from a sound sleep at about 10 o’clock Thursday night by coughing and upon getting out of bed, dropped dead on the floor. It seems that he troubled an aneurism of the pulmonary artery and in his efforts to clear his throat this was ruptured, causing instant death.” The following year, his widow, Louisa Shinn sold the 640-acre ranch to George D. Winters for at that time a substantial sum of $6,000. The Winters family had extensive holdings, which included the nearby Smoke Creek Ranch.

One of the interesting features found there was a grove of cottonwood trees that encompassed some fifteen acres. The trees were planted by Winters in 1889 in order to increase his property holdings there. On April 3, 1893, Winters was issued a 160-acre land patent that he filed under a section of the Timber Culture Act “to encourage growth of timber on the Western Prairie.”

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One of the original concepts that the national parks were to be small in size. For Lassen Volcanic National Park it was true to form, and to some extent it still is. When created in 1916,  the total acreage was 80,050 acres.  There is some discrepancy as the Interior Department noted that it was 79, 561 acres and that included 880 acres private inside the park’s boundary. One of most visited spots visited today at Lassen is Manzanita :ale, which was not included  in the initial park.

In 1928, the Lassen Volcanic National Park Association was formed to correct the boundary issue. These were of an assorted geographical features and one historic one–Nobles Emigrant Trail. Lassen National Forest opposed the so-clled “land grab.” Park officials prevailed and on January 19, 1929 25,192 acres was added to the park. It was not until 1931 the Park purchased Manzanita Lake from Pacific Gas & Electric.

While this was good news, there were other obstacles to overcome. Some of major attractions inside the park were privately owned-Devils Kitchen/Drakesbad, Juniper Lake and Supan Sulfur Works. More on that later.

Tim