There were a number of Hollywood films that used Lassen County locations in a number of movies. Susanville native, Ephie Asher, had a lot of influence as a Hollywood producer, and members of the Asher family are still in that business. One the last films shot here, was released in 1939 and called “The Good Samaritan.” Featured in the film was Antelope Grade and some scenes near Westwood. I have never had the an opportunity to research it further to ascertain about its availability, because it is one of those items that are on to do list, but never seem to get around to.
Red River operated numerous logging camps from 1913 through 1944 when it sold to Fruit Growers. The camps were assigned numbers, though in no particular order. The majority of the camps were short lived and only had a span of one to maybe three years. One of the more interesting camps was Camp 33, but referred to as Town Camp, as it was located less than a mile west of Westwood. What made it unique was that Red River’s company town of Westwood would experience from time to time a housing shortage for its employees.. On occasion, this camp was used to house mill workers instead of loggers.
Today, is the memorial service for Norma Story Stampfli (1932-2026). Norma graduated from Soldier Bridge School at Litchfield. Soldier Bridge was the first school in what would become the Standish District. It was established in March 1865 and the original school was located near Mapes Ranch.
In the early 1920s the school was relocated to Litchfield. On February 25, 1929, a $10,000 bond election was held to build a new schoolhouse at Litchfield. The bond was narrowly approved, 40 for and 37 against. The opponents retained an attorney, Ben V. Curler, to file a protest against the bond measure, the school district, and the County Board of Supervisors, the latter having had the authority to sell the bonds. The opponents argued that there were only 34 students and no prospect of any increase in student enrollment. In addition, they stated, the majority of the voters supporting the bonds were non-taxpayers and while most of the property owners favored a new building, they thought the proposed cost too excessive. On April 10, 1929, the school trustees and the County Board of Supervisors held a joint meeting to seek a solution. They agreed on a smaller school, only $6,500 in bonds was issued to construct the school. In 1951, Soldier Bridge, Standish and Bridgeport Schools were consolidated to form the Shaffer Union Elementary School District.
Dennis Tanner’s residency in Lassen County was brief but a busy one. Upon his arrival in 1871, in Susanville, he installed a skating rink in the first floor of the Masonic Hall. The following year, he purchased the Janesville Hotel, if one could call the crude structure that. It had been built in 1856, before Janesville existed. Tanner dismantled it, and built a two-story 22 room hotel. In 1874 he sold to McClelland and Byers for $3,500. His next venture was a general store at Milford, and then had a brief stint as a innkeeper of the Milford Hotel. In 1878, Tanner relocated to Ukiah where he operated another hotel until his passing in 1898.
Of what was one of the more unusual uses of Eagle Lake water was a proposal to use that resource in the mining operations at Hayden Hill, located some twenty-five miles north of the lake.
During the 1920s and 1930s, both the mining activity and the population at Hayden Hill declined. In 1934, Stratton & Stratton of Spokane, Washington consolidated the mine ownership. They had high hopes to revive the Hill. One of the main drawbacks that Hayden Hill suffered was the lack of water for milling. In 1938, Stratton & Stratton proposed to pipe water from Eagle Lake, at a rate of 2,500 gallons per minute. This scheme never came to fruition.
Camp A, Fruit Growers Supply Company, located just north of McCoy Flat Reservoir, 1921
In the summer of 1920, Fruit Growers started their logging operations near McCoy Flat Reservoir, while their Susanville mill was still under construction. Since logging then, was seasonal in nature, they wanted to make sure they would have a steady supply of logs ready when the new mill would be placed into operation in the spring of 1921.
Camp A was the first of ten railroad logging camps of Fruit Growers Lassen Operation. It opened on July 1, 1920. The operation was comparatively small, only logging 720 acres that season. On April 29, 1921 the first woods crews were dispatched by rail, where they encountered three foot of snow on the ground. The first item of business was to remove the snow from the railroad spurs, so that the timber fallers could start work. Within in a weeks’ time, logs were already being shipped to Susanville. In addition, a second camp, known as Camp B, opened three miles to the north of Camp A. Between the two camps, they housed over 600 men.
The Westwood Auditorium was built in 1920 at a cost of $20,000, was the most expensive Red River public facility to date. It was used for multiple purposes. In 1937, Charlie Munroe leased the building from Red River. It was an oral agreement on day to day basis. He converted the building into a roller skating rink. Through successive ownership of Westwood, that agreement was honored. In the fall of 1976, Greater Westwood, Inc. owners of the property held a public auction, and the roller skating rink was one of them. It sold. After nearly forty years of operation the rink closed and the building dismantled.
Secret Valley, as seen from the lower end of Secret Valley.
In the mid-1920s the U.S. government sought to establish a munitions depot in the west. The two main criteria, that it be a sparsely populated region and have railroad access. In 1927,the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce, along with the Lassen County Board of Supervisors petitioned Congressman Harry Engelbright to consider Secret Valley. It had rail access and only five families lived within thirteen miles of the proposed site. In the end the government selected Hawthorne, Nevada.
The December 1955 floods caused considerable damage to the railroad line between Susanville and Westwood. With the imminent closure of the lumber mill at Westwood, the Southern Pacific Railroad decided to close that segment, rather than spending significant amount of money to repairs, when freight would decrease. Since Southern Pacific did not abandon the line at that time, if a person wanted to ship something by rail from Susanville to Westwood, or vice versa, Southern Pacific could only charge the freight costs between the two points. It was their problem to figure out how to deliver the freight and bear the additional cost. In 1976, Southern Pacific began the formal process to abandon that segment of the line. It is interesting. to note that at the same time discussions were held as to resurrect that segment to convert it to a tourist line.
While many travelers along Highway 395 by Honey Lake have seen this landmark, but had no idea it had a name or what they were actually seeing. Located on the lower southwest side of Honey Lake, near Bird Flat is True Island. When the lake is full it is almost actually a “true island” with water nearly encircling it. But that is not why it is called such.
In 1870, Thaxter True (1824-1904) moved to Milford and opened a blacksmith shop. One of True’s blacksmithing techniques was unique. As Claude Wemple recalled “True used charcoal. True would dig a six foot deep pit and fill it with green pine rails. It was then covered with straw. True would then burn it to smolder and cover it with dirt. The charcoals from one pit would last him about a year.” Anyhow, True later took up a 160-acre homestead on what is known as True Island. He sold the property in 1901 to Sumner Tyler for $500.
