Juniper Lake is located in the southeastern corner of Lassen Volcanic National Park.  On April 1, 1914, C.P. and Cora Snell purchased 475 acres that included Juniper Lake. They eventually created a 1,500 lot subdivision. It should be noted that Lassen Park was not created until 1916. These inholdings inside the park created numerous problems for park officials.

After some thirty years of wrangling with the Snell’s Juniper Lake Resort and subdivision promotions, Lassen Park officials finally found resolution. While the park negotiated with the Snells, there was another obstacle—they had to negotiate with various owners who owned some 300 lots.

In 1957, park officials made an appeal to those lot owners to sell. This fell on proverbial deaf ears. The only way officials could overcome this impasse was to file condemnation suits. The owners were not pleased and considered it a government land grab. In the spring of 1959, forty owners, who held title to 259 lots at Juniper, were served with Notice of Intent by the park to condemn. The government’s offer was for $16,687.50, or approximately $64 per lot. It should be noted that many of those lots had been purchased for as little as $2.28 per lot at delinquent tax sales.

Ruth Pancera of Susanville was livid when she was served with the notice. She remarked how she had been “harassed” by federal officials for two years to sell her property at an “unreasonably low price.”  The same sentiment was echoed by Dr. Richard Bahme of Berkeley, spokesman for the newly formed Juniper Lake Resort Owners Property Association. Bahme said, “the federal government is now attempting to buy our property at obsolete and unrealistic prices, based on what it might have cost 40. years ago, instead of its value today.” In addition, they felt discriminated against, for the suit did not affect the property owners  with cabins, which numbered only a dozen.

The disgruntled owners fought, and the proceedings dragged on for five years, until the Department of Interior ultimately prevailed. It should be noted that the Dixie Fire, 2021, destroyed some of those existing cabins, and some intend to rebuild.

Subscribe

In 1863, Albert Elijah Ross (1836-1911) located on what would be later named Constantia. In 1884, Ross constructed a 17-room mansion there at a cost of $14,000. This residence and well-known landmark was simply referred to as the White House. In the early 1890s, Ross moved to San Jose to benefit his children’s education and eventually sold the property in 1898.  The ownership of Constantia would change several times until it became a part of the Pyramid Land & Livestock Company. In 1922, that Company filed bankruptcy and the Galeppi family purchased the Constantia Ranch. The Galeppi’s, for various unknown reasons, did not reside in the famed White House. Fred Galeppi stated that during World War II, the house was still in good shape, and even had furniture. During the construction of Sierra Army Depot during this time, Galeppi stated soldiers used the house for recreation, but over the years it slowly began to be vandalized.  In the early 1960s, most recall 1963, the house burned down. The cause of the fire remains unknown, though various residents of the region have their own story.

Never miss a story, click here to subscribe.

In 1916, the Al G. Barnes Circus advertised that his “The Only Real Wild Animal Show on Earth! was coming to Susanville. It was announced that there would be 65 animal acts and exotic animals from around the world. The circus never arrived, as the circus train derailed near Flanigan, Nevada.

Two years later, Barnes’ circus finally did make it to town. On May 8, 1918 crowds lined Main Street for a mile-long parade with exotic animals.  At Halltown tents were set up for the performances. The only problem encountered this time was the typical erratic spring weather witnessed a few snow flurries during the day.

Never miss a story, click here and subscribe.

The American West is littered with lost gold mine stories. The Lassen Peak area was of no exception. In the early 1900s, Tom Ravenscroft had a ranch ten miles east of Susanville, and occasionally took in travelers. On one occasion a stranger stopped in and became ill during his stay. The Ravenscrofts nursed him, but to no avail; he died there. The stranger told Ravenscroft of a gold mine he had discovered in Kings Creek Valley, near Lassen Peak. There he made a dugout on the side of the mountain where he found the gold.  He extracted two or three sacks of ore that he sent to Salt Lake City to be assayed. To his amazement, it yielded nearly $300. When he left Kings Creek, he stored his rifle, cooking utensils and so on in the prospecting hole. He covered it with rock to make it look as natural as possible.

The following summer, Ravenscroft attempted to locate the mine. He stopped at Drakesbad to talk with Alex Sifford about various
localities. For some time Ravenscroft was elusive about what he
sought. He finally told Sifford the story, and Sifford was much more
responsive to Ravenscroft’s questions. Ravenscroft was intimidated by aspects of the region where it would be necessary to search to locate the mine, and he gave up.

In the 1930s came a new breed of prospectors with the establishment of Civilian Conservation Corps Camps. In the summer of 1933, Frank Boghich, who worked at the Halls Flat CCC Camp east of the park, believed in the lost cabin mine legend. It was his contention that somewhere inside the park was a cache of a half million dollars worth of gold nuggets to be found, and he spent his free time in search of it.

Tim