In letter dated on April 13, 1909, to the Lassen County Board of Supervisors stated from the Red River Lumber Company stated::

“The few remarks contained in the printed leaflet which I enclose herewith will show to a degree the effect of high taxation on timber conservation, or rather what the results will be if the present methods of taxation are continued. A new and serious consideration now confronts us and all causes which and to destroy the forest should be dispensed with, is possible. Any plan that will tend to conserve the lumber supply should be adopted and enforced.

“Lower taxation and other holding expenses will not necessarily increase the profits of the manufacturer, except as the additional amount of lumber  can market from the same land by cutting the timber when the market is right to justify its economical cutting. The gain to the manufacturer in this respect is also a gain to the consumer. The consumer would some day understand this and be thankful for it. The fulfillment of any plan which conserves the timber is what is needed and the final results will most assuredly inure principally to the benefit of the consumer.”

Very truly yours, E.G. Scammon

While daily email malfunction problems unfolded. I learned something new and not about technical computing. I had came across an article a seiche that occurred on Lake Erie. It is an interesting phenomenon where the wind action is great enough to force high waves and expose the lake bottom.

This occurred on Honey Lake as well. It was documented in the the Lassen Weekly Mail of April 9, 1915,  “ A party from Honey Island consisting of Henry Baughman, W.F Snare, and Alex Norwood were in Susanville yesterday. They made the passage from the Island to the mainland in a rowboat and report a very stormy passage. The waves were so high that the bottom of the lake was often exposed and the boat left stranded on the bottom. The party had to wait each time until the wave came back and floated the boat.”

Tim

Dry farming had its origins in the Great Plains since many locales receive from eight to eighteen inches of precipitation annually. The movement grew and spread to the Aird regions of the American West. For land promoters Northeastern California provided a lucrative market for exploitation. Eastern Lassen County with abundant public land available to homesteaders, and proposed irrigation project was an ideal setting.

By 1910, the region had exploded with desert homesteaders. An interesting segment of those were Scandinavians. The lure for them that one  could actually own land was irrisitable   Upon arrival there was a rude awakening to see vast sagebrush lands. Going back to the homeland was not an option. At least these hardy homesteaders had a benevolent Mother Nature on their side with way above normal precipitation. Things can quickly change and this was no exception. Two things happen in 1917, was the beginning of a severe drought, but a far greater impact was World War I.  By the mid-1920s, eastern Lassen County had been depopulated.

As late of the mid-1980s numerous deserted homestead cabins were still standing, but that is no longer the case today.

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A week ago, we explored the 100th anniversary of Congressman John Raker’s funeral held in Susanville. Newspapers across California published memorial tributes. Below this what was the San Francisco Call had to say:

“John Raker, Good Bye: In John Raker’s first campaign for election to Congress he stated this creed:

‘My work will to be labor for enactment of laws that will keep this great government  for its 95,000,000 people, and not favored a few-the interests and traits. The people should be permitted to have a full voice in this government of theirs. I stand for progressive legislation, but state and national to that end.’

“No man cay that John Raker did not literally obey the creed of his. He kept his word and was reelected again and again on the basis of his deeds at Washington. .

“Hetch Hetchy is in great measure a monument to him, for which he was the man who introduced the measure that embodied the great Hetch Hetchy is being constructed. Into the Act the wrote provisions to insure Hetch Hechy to the people forever.”

Tim

Health care has come a long since 1900. In 1884, Lassen County built a county hospital along Susan River, near the Susanville Cemetery. The board of supervisors were the de facto operators. The supervisors appointed a county physician whose duties included the management of the hospital. The supervisors hired the hospital staff, which consisted of a married couple whose title was Steward and Stewardess. Their duties were to take care of patients and maintain the facility. The above 1910 application of J.E. and Edna Bass for the county hospital position was typical. If one thinks about their bid $6o month each, that works out to $2.00 per day.

It should be noted that the Lassen County hospital served as a quasi old folks home and often referred then as the poor house for those of indigent means. 

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Here it is, the first day of February 2026 and. It has been over three weeks since the area received precipitation. There have been dry Januarys before. Some might enjoy this editorial that appeared in the Lassen Advocate of January 15, 1926.

“Winter May Come Yet.  While a great deal has been said lately about the lack of water for the State of California there is still plenty of time left for real heavy snowfall.

According to some old residents of Lassen County there have many winters similar to the present one when the entire month of January was void of any storms and in February plenty of snowfall. About seven years ago over five feet fell on January 7th. While with a late snow it will not last as long as the early snow, but will mostly go off with the early spring weather and cause high water in the Sacramento Valley, still it will assure this county of water sufficient for its needs.

“A sudden drop in the barometer yesterday morning presaged the advent of a storm and according to present weather the storm will materialize. A light trace of snow fell yesterday afternoon. Just how severe this storm will be and how long it will last are for conjecture only.

“But regardless, it is too early to worry yet. Other points in California are advertising their sunny days. Lassen County might take a leaf from their book and advertise a mountain county where golf is played in January.. But with good weather that Lassen County has been enjoying has been probably taken and much needed repairs and other work afford on the farm.”

Of note, Susanville received a very wet slushy show near the end of January. Things did not improve in February the two-month total of precipitation was 5.48″

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It is the 100th anniversary of Congressman Raker funeral, who represented the California First District since 1911.

John Edward Raker was born in Illinois in 1863, at the age of 10, came to Lassen County with his parents. In 1885, he passed the bar examine, and moved to Alturas to practice law.  He eventually went into partnership with his father-in-law, E.V. Spencer. Raker went on to being elected Modoc County District Attorney and then Modoc County Superior Court Judge. In 1910 he decided to run for the California’s First  Congressional District seat  and won by a slim margin of 141 votes. Raker continued to serve as Congressman until his death on January 22, 1926 at Washington, D.C..

Raker was buried in the Spencer family plot in Susanville. The services were held on Sunday, January 31, 1926–an impressive. affair. The body arrived by train at noon at Susanville, which also consisted of a number of Congressmen, along with a contingent of forty-seven people from Alturas.

As the Lassen Mail noted: “The procession was an imposing one, as it slowly and solemnly wended its way along the slush covered streets. When the first automobile reached the Methodist Church, the line was still moving at the depot. The line of march was along Richmond Road to Weatherlow, north on Weatherlow to Main, up Main to Lassen and thence to the church.”

The night before the region was hit with a heavy snowstorm, making the roads a big slushy mess. Twenty-five members of McKea Post, American Legion, attended but it took them two and half hours to make the trip from Westwood. Had the weather been more favorable there would have been an even larger turnout.

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