As this is Memorial Day, I thought I share with you about the history of Lassen Cemetery. Before my fall from grace in April and subsequent upheaval that followed, I had been sorting through documents of the proceeding papers of the Lassen County Board of Supervisors of the 1910s. There were stack of documents  that I intended use for future posts, but alas I have not located that box, so far.

Several of those documents pertain to what we now know as the Lassen Cemetery. However, the original proposal was for a new cemetery and hospital adjoining Richmond Road. Instead that property would become the future home Roosevelt Elementary School. Then there was a lengthy letter from Lassen County Supervisor L.R. Cady about the urgent need of a new cemetery, as the existing Susanville Cemetery no longer have plots available. In a mad scramble work started on cemetery on Chestnut Street. In February 1919, Isaac Coulthurst became the first person buried there. Not only was he among first settlers of the Honey Lake Valley, in 1857 he married Mary Jane Duval, the first couple to do so. He was a very colorful character in the annals of local history. The truth be known, I had begun work on a Lassen Cemetery tour, his grave would be the first stop.

Tim

On November 12, 2025, the Governing Board of the Lassen College Trustees voted to terminate its gunsmithing program, the oldest in the nation. Thus, with this graduation today, will be last of the gunsmithing graduates as this program will cease to exist at the end of academic year. A successful program, but there were those who finally succeeded in a ten-year period to abolish it. Enough said on my part.

Tim

For those that plan an extended stay to Eagle Lake with the opening fishing season there, you might want to plan an excursion to the west of the lake and wander around Pine Creek Valley.

From the late1800s to the 1950s there was a lot of activity there. First there were cattle and sheep outfits who utilized the region for summer grazing. Many of the natural topographical features bare their names like Campbell and Logan.

In the 1920s, the Fruit Growers Supply Company made their presence with railroad logging in the region. In 1929, the company established Camp 10 on the northeastern edge of the valley. Not only was this substantial logging camp home to over 200 people, for a time being it even boasted its own voting precinct.

Normally, logging camps were short lived, once the available timber cut, the camps moved on. Not so with Camp 10, it remained in operation at the same location until 1952, when Fruit Growers discontinued railroad logging. Remnants of the camp can still be found.

Tim

Granville Pullen (1838-1926) had developed an interest of collecting relics from the past at an early age. Since 1870 he was a frequent visitor to the Honey Lake Valley to see his sister, Susan Goumaz. In 1901, he moved near Janesville and  bought a ranch. In 1914, at the age of 76, he retired from ranching and bought a house in Janesville.

Not to be idle in retirement,  he opened a small museum in Janesville to display his collection of curios. People fascinated by his collection began donating items to him. In 1920, Granville and his wife Mary, moved to Susanville and bought a home on South Roop Street. Next to his new home, he had a small concrete building built next to his for a museum. On June 18, 1921, he opened the museum to the public.  When he passed away in 1926, and his wife kept the museum open for awhile, but she did not have the same passion as her husband. Over the years, she donated a portion of the collection to Lassen County. The items were displayed for a number of years in the Veteran’s building, and over time the collection slowly disappeared.

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