Many of the original Honey Lake settlers had an entrepreneur spirit, while in the throes of an establishing their new found home.  One such individual was Nicholas Clark who located on the west shore of Honey Lake, four miles north of Milford. In 1857, his place was an informal stage stop. Taking advantage of Honey Lake, he advertised having two fine boats, whether for fishing or pleasure, equipped with quality fishing tackle. This was the first of many commercial boating endeavors  on Honey Lake. It should be noted that in 1881, Clark had the only boat on Honey Lake.

Tim

During 1938 and 1939 the Red River Lumber Company experienced a lot of labor strife. Due to a strike in February 1939, Red River closed the mill. A unique thing happened at that time, Westwood would soon have a baseball park. What is that old saying when life give lemons, make lemonade.

The mill workers had an abundant of idle time, Jim Travers came up with the idea that they could use some recreational outlet to dispense with their extra energy. On the property they were using as the wood lot was a partially destroyed house caused by a fire some time ago. Travers and Earl Yaber came up with the idea to transform the property into a baseball park, and the other strikers were supportive of the project. The AFL union asked Red River if they could lease the property for that, and the company consented. In no time at all, the volunteers quickly cleared the property, removing the old building and hauled in 200 loads of decomposed granite from Fredonyer Summit to spread over the baseball field. In short order the property was transformed into a ballpark that could accommodate 600 people, along with parking, drinking fountains, rest rooms, an enclosed press box and seventeen flood lights. Nearly 500 men and women contributed to the cause.

On Sunday, June 12, 1939 the first softball games were held. First up was the Westwood AFL, who lost to Susanville’s Model Laundry by a score of 7 to 8. The next match was between the H.S. Anderson Club and Fruit Growers’ Story Club, which Anderson prevailed in the tight match that went into four extra innings with a score of 14 to 13.

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Some  may find this of interest. This memo from Fletcher Walker, the resident manager of Westwood, the company town of Red River Lumber Company. It was dated May 4, 1916:  “The point that is the most disagreeable about the plant is lack of houses to take care of families of the men who are working for us. The  woman folks not being able to see that a large family in a tent or in a one room woodshed are not considered sufficient to put them up a house where they can have sufficient accommodations to be comfortable. It costs us about $500.00 counting lumber and labor to put up a four room house and ceiled in the inside. The same building without plumbing and ceiling costs about $200.00 less. To put the town in a reasonably comfortable condition would require 50 more houses and get families out of tents would require another 50, but every dozen houses that we build and get occupied gives us that many more of the most urgent cases and relieves the situation very materially, so as soon as we could see our way clear as to do so, we should start building more houses. On an income basis we should consider several factors, rent paid by the tenant, store, laundry, bakery, etc increased revenue and to have our men housed, for without any question a man spending his evenings and nights under cramped and unsatisfactory living conditions is not in as good condition to do  a day’s work as one who is contented, also that the man with families are steadier workers, more loyal and accomplish more than the single men and far less liability of any labor troubles we have.”

Tim

Lassen National Forest Service Supervisor, A. G. Brenneis, penned several different articles about the region.  He wrote whether earthquakes could have effect on lake levels  Today, we focus on an article he wrote about the origin of  Hogs Flat and why it was so named that was published in the California Ranger, August 1938: “Many years ago the residents of Honey Lake Valley joined together to start the Susan River Irrigation District and, as a first step, began the construction of the dams at the present sites of Hog Flat and McCoy Flat Reservoirs. The first winter this country received heavy storms and as a result the dam at Hog Flat was destroyed. The entire meadow, which should have been a lake was covered with a rank growth of vegetation and in order to salvage something from the reservoir, the farmers of the district banded together, placed a huge herd of hogs on the meadow, fattened them, and made some money to repay them for the loss of the dam. Ever since then the reservoir has carried its name of Hog Flat.”

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