This being Easter Sunday, I thought some might enjoy a nice serene photograph of Eagle Lake.
Tim
Category Archives: History
Black Rock Toll Road Company
Early toll roads were just not feasible around these parts. One could easily make a short detour to avoid paying fees. Where attempts to put one in, the road network was already in use by the public. This did not stop Lassen County resident, H.C. Stockton to propose a Honey Lake/Black Rock Toll Road. His one page description of his road was quite vague to say the least. A portion of the route consisted of the Nobles Emigrant Trail. He did propose a new section of road starting at Wall Spring, and instead of following the old road and going around the base of the Granite Mountains, much like today’s road, he dreamed up some route over these rugged mountains. It should be noted he filed his claim and that was recorded in Humboldt County, Nevada on March 2, 1866. Nothing ever materialized.
Stockton dabbled in many things in the Honey Lake Valley. In 1865 he built the first Milford Schoolhouse, which still stands, as a converted residence. He operated a sawmill, as well as a flour mill. Seasoned residents may have known two of his great grandsons—Abe Jensen and Jud Jensen.
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Lassen’s So Called Mobile Home Culture
This post has nothing to do with manufactured homes. This, being Holy Week, my intent was to write the 1909 story of moving Sacred Heart Church to a different location, i.e. making it “mobile.” Numerous structures, locally, and mainly residential were moved from one location to another. This practice to this day, goes on nation wide.
How it works today. A property owner has an old house, which is in the way of a planned development. Instead of a paying costs for demolition, offers the house for sale, usually one dollar. Of course, there is a catch. To buy the house at that price, one has to pay the cost to move the structure to a new location.
Happy Easter to my friends, Hannah who lives in a 1920s mobile home and my friend Scott, with his architectural expertise, has to deal with my definition—eye roll please. Not intentional, but it may torment Scott, since I send a occasional message with a photograph of such structures.
Tim
A Short-Lived Knights of Columbus Council
Any one who has ever been involved with a organization, whether community oriented or fraternal, knows full well that they have a tendency to have peaks and valleys. However, there times when the organization reaches a low point and never recovers.
This was the case with Mount Lassen Council #2549 of the Knights of Columbus—Susanville’s first catholic organization. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of records about this particular organization. Its initial membership was 70, with men recruited from Susanville, Westwood, Quincy and Portola. Delegates from Chico, Los Angeles and Reno were on hand with the formation of Mount Lassen Council #2549 of the Knights of Columbus. It was instituted on March 26, 1924. After Mass was celebrated, the members paraded up Main Street from the Sacred Heart Church to the Elks Lodge to have their photograph taken. From there they went to the Knoch Hall were various degrees were conducted, and to organize the new council. The day was topped off with a banquet at the St. Francis Hotel.
Initially meetings were rotated between Susanville and Westwood. However, by 1930 interest in the organization had waned, and on the eve of its tenth anniversary of formation the chapter was dissolved.
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Lassen National Park—Thinking Outside the Box
When Lassen Volcanic National Park was established in 1916, Congress only approved an annual budget of $5,000. This meager funding was a far cry from what was needed for basic improvements in a park that had none.
Yet, Lassen Park advocates were a persistent bunch and they explored a variety of avenues. Whatever the case may be, their lobbying tactics, however, were unsuccessful..One of the park’s boosters came up with an interesting idea upon the passing of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt who died in 1919, It was suggested to rename the park after Roosevelt. Not only would it be a memorial in his honor, but it was considered a venue to overcome its financial dilemma with Congress. An interesting thought that went no where.
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Tuesday Tidbit – T&A Update
Note: I did come across this picture of the T&A, so I wanted to share.
Some one wanted to know about the history of Susanville’s T&A Lounge located on the corner of Main and Sacramento Streets. In 1939, my grandparents, Ira and Margaret Purdy bought the Main
Street frontage between Sacramento and Spring Streets. My grandfather had a gas station and garage on the corner of Main and Spring Streets. Ira sold the vacant lot on the corner of Main and Sacramento to Tony Tonin and Al Surian—hence the name T&A. It was a short lived partnership, but Surian’s son, Gino, still owns the establishment.
Tim
Those Late March Snowfalls
Late spring snowfalls are not unusual. Just like their counterparts of early fall snowfalls, they share a common trait—the snow melts quickly.
On March 25,1924 the Susanville area received anywhere between 18 inches to two feet of snowfall. Within twenty-four hours there was not a trace of snow. The local farmers rejoiced over their short-lived bounty, it being the driest winter on record to date. Spring rains were practically non-existent. It was a prelude of thigs to come. California would experience its worst forest fire to season to date.An interesting tidbit, the region did receive any measureable precipitation until September 15.
Tim
The Richmond Hotel
Richmond was a very short-lived mining community of the late 1850s and early1860s south of Susanville. Today, its best known for the Richmond Elementary School and the Diamond Mountain Golf Course.
In 1859, Frank Drake built a story and half log structure used as a store and hotel. The following year, with business booming, he built a two-story frame structure 30’x60’. The good times did not last long. By the end of 1862 with diminished gold from Hill and Lassen Creeks, along with the mining discoveries on the Humboldt and Comstock decimated the town. The hotel found a new life as a hay barn. On March 24, 1908 it was toppled over by a windstorm.
Tim
Gone, But Not Forgotten
There was a time, not so long ago, that an expedition exploring the desert, one could examine old homesteads. Many of these structures were of modest means. But, while people attempted to reclaim the sagebrush plains, they eventually failed. Nature in the meantime, reclaimed the abandoned properties.
Today, there is hardly a trace of these by gone homesteads. Sometimes remnant remains in the form of a smoke tree, a hardy plant that requires no care. In fact, the Bonham ranch house site in Smoke Creek Desert is now covered with smoke trees.
Tim
A Westwood Independent Business
While many are aware of when Red River Lumber Company’s mill town of Westwood first came into operation in 1913, it was a true company town. All the housing was owned by company, and about 99 percent of businesses were too. There are exceptions to the rule. There were some tasks the company did not want to undertake, such as the mortuary. Of course, that business needed Red River’s approval to operate. The featured illustration provides another example.
In. 1918, WesleyTaylor advertised in the Westwood Independent his services as insurance agent and notary public. How long he remained in business there is not clear. However, in 1920 with the formation of the Westwood National Bank, that institution provided notary services. It should be noted since Westwood was initially a company town, there is little public documentation of the coming and goings of the town’s residents.
Tim
Ad from Westwood Independent April 2, 1918