Category Archives: History

History

Alexander Howell, Photographer

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Golden Eagle Mine,Hayden Hill circa 1891. Courtesy of Donna Howell

Photographers, of course, is a favorite topic of mine. After all, thanks to their work we have a visual record of our past. It has been important to document the photographers of the late 1800s, so as to know the time frames when they chronicled the events. Due to a small population many photographers only remained a year or two, and even then they rode the “circuit” traveling, and in Howell’s case meant trips to Modoc and Plumas counties to drum up business.

Alexander Howell came to Susanville from Oregon where he learned the photography trade. On April 15, 1891 he opened his Susanville studio. The following year he was lured to Amedee, with the prospects afforded by this boomtown. After a two-year stint, he traveled throughout Northern California and finally settled permanently at Auburn, California. Very few of his Lassen County works remain, but there is one of the Golden Eagle Mine at Hayden Hill, which his granddaughter Donna Howell provided me with a print.

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History

Gallatin Beach, 1920s

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Gallatin Beach, 1922
Gallatin Beach, 1922. Courtesy of Lydia Odette

Gallatin Beach has certainly evolved over the years. During the 1910s, the beach did not exist, due to the high water levels of Eagle Lake. By 1917, Eagle Lake reached its peak high water mark, and on the south shore, considerable timber was flooded, killing trees some hundreds of years old.  In the 1920s, the water level of lake began to recede, in part by Bly’s Tunnel and equally important the region was in the midst of a 20-year drought.

The result was what some referred to as a stub forest of dead trees that  were now a part of the beach’s landscape. Visitors to the area used them for photo ops.

In 1915, Professor S.T. Harding began studies of the water variations at Eagle Lake. Harding examined the stub forest to obtain data on the lake’s elevation.  Harding studied the tree rings and the elevation  of a number of trees. That provided him information concerning the levels of the lake dating back to 1420! By taking the lowest submerged trees (the oldest one was found to be a 245-year old stump at the elevation of 5,116, that was submerged in 1895), he determined the lake level had to be at 5,115 feet or less from 1650 until the time it was submerged. Another stump examined placed its initial growth between 1420 and 1520, and during that time period the lake had to be at an elevation below 5,099 continuously  from 1420 to 1520. In addition, Harding also examined trees at the 5,126 foot elevation that were found to be over 400 years old that substantiated the fact that the 1917 level of 5,125.2 was the lake’s highest level.

Pine Creek, April 28, 2023

As of May 1, 2023 the lake’s elevation was at 5093.62. At the time of that reading, Pine Creek was a raging torrent, so lake should see significant rise during the month of May.

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History

Big Meadows Dam Worries Oroville

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Oroville, circa 1922

That was the headline in the Plumas National Bulletin newspaper of Quincy on October 4, 1911. Oroville city trustees raised the alarm that Great Western Power Company’s construction of a dam at Big Meadows to create what we know today as Lake Almanor. Of course, their fears were justified. On September 30, 1911, some 2,500 miles away, a concrete dam of the Bayles Pulp & Paper Company at Allen, Pennsylvania breached, killing more than 800 people. Oroville, located downstream on the Feather River, had always been apprehensive about the dam at Big Meadows, and this episode only heightened their fears.

Great Western’s Vice. President, H.H. Sinclair, issued a statement asserting that Oroville and other valley towns had nothing to fear, as the utmost care in the design of the dam had been exercised. Sinclair stressed that the company had already spent $20,000 just in investigating the site conditions on the river for the foundation. Furthermore, he stated that he hoped construction on the dam would begin on April 1, 1912 with the goal to have it complete by December. However, there would be numerous problems encountered and the dam was not complete until early 1914.

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History

The Fictitious Rooptown

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Roop’s Trading Post later dubbed as Roop’s Fort. Courtesy of Keston Ramsey

Recently, I received an invite to be one of the guest speakers for the upcoming “Rooptown Podcasts.” I declined. It has nothing to do with the people behind the podcast. I just detest “Rooptown.” It never existed, except in those who in their mindset considered Isaac Roop, a saint—which he was not—more on that for another time. Just in case, if you are new to this site, or the area, Roop founded the town of Susanville, named for his daughter, but Susan River was named for someone else prior Roop’s arrival. For the record the SusanvillePost Office was established on March 17, 1859.

Asa Fairfield in his Pioneer History of Lassen County infers that Susanville was briefly known as Rooptown in 1858. However, Fairfield is vague about any kind of documentation. In my years of research I have never found any reference in that era of Rooptown. Early newspaper correspondents gave a dateline of Honey Lake Valley. It had bothered Fairfield so much that nothing was named for him, hence the possibility of a brief existence of a Roptown.

When Fairfield writes about Roop’s death in 1869, about his disdain of Peter Lassen: “Governor Roop received very little gratitude from the people in this section. Almost everything was named in honor of Peter Lassen, who was not a pioneer settler of the county, who lived here four years and never did anything  particular in the country.”  Ouch. Lassen visited the Honey Lake Valley in 1850, before Roop set foot in California and in 1855 built the second cabin in the valley.

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History

Lassen Wallops Reno, 1907

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Lasssen High’s 1907 Track Team. Top Row: Barney Kingsbury, Harry Pearce, Ivor Clark and Fred. Kelley. Second Row: Ralph Taylor, Med Arnold, Finn Barry and Tro Emerson. Bottom Row: Roy Ramsey, Percy Holmes and Will Hall—-Courtesy of Betty Barry Deal

While Lassen County High School had been in existence for only a few years it had a remarkable track team from its inception. In the spring of 1907 Lassen High invited Reno High for a track competition. It was rescheduled twice and finally held at Lassen High on May 10, 1907. Lassen more than excelled beating Reno 100 to 17.

The pole vault competition was an interesting one, and Lassen could have conceded. This was due to their rude equipment of fence rails and pine limbs used as the pole. However, Reno did bring the proper equipment. Like most of the day’s competition Lassen walloped Reno in the pole vault with Barney Kingsbury; first Tro Emerson, second and Reno’s Chester Patterson coming third.

Tim

History

Photograph Search

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Dow Wells, near Eagle Lake, October 8, 2020

Since this falls under the category it does not hurt to ask, I am looking for some photographs. Does any one happen to have photograph of the original shoe tree along Highway 395 at Mud Flat? This relates to something I am working on the Secret Valley CCC camp. Along those same lines, if anyone is venturing out on Smoke Creek Road, I could use a photograph of a stretch of that “boulevard.” Depending on how far someone travels down that road, if you happen to go by Bull Flat, Rush Creek and Robbers Roost, photographs of those landmarks would be appreciated.

Of course, while any one is out exploring this summer or fall, and you come across an interesting landmark, I am always looking for potential calendar cover photograph, like the one above.

Tim

History, News

Summer in Lassen County, 1970

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A portion of a brochure cover of the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce

Normally, at this time of year, I publish my annual Go Exploring post. This time, I deviate and provide a different angle—though the emphasis remains the same. On the front cover of this Lassen County Chamber of Commerce states:

”May is the Annual Cattlemen’s Jr. Rodeo. July 4th is Westwood’s Old Timers—Newcomers Picnic. With August comes  full  five days of Lassen County Fair typical of the old county fairs with rodeo, log rolling and all the usual western events. Each year an annual Three day Trail Ride of fun packed time of barbecue and campfires under star filled skies.”

Times have changed. The Junior Rodeo is no more. The Lassen County Fair is now in July and has almost no resemblance of the prior August venue. The trail rides was a brief annual event.

Anyhow, there is always something interesting to see or do, so enjoy.

Tim

 

 

History

Providence School, Lassen County

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Providence School, 1916. D.M. Durst Collection

In 1871, the residents of Big Valley on the Lassen County side, petitioned the Lassen County Board of Supervisors for a school district there. While there was a public school in Adin, that was under the jurisdiction of Siskiyou County, as Modoc County had not yet been created. The Big Valley residents were included the Willow Creek Valley School District and that school house was nearly forty miles away. With that thought in mind, the petition stated, “It is frequently impossible for their children to attend school on account of high water, deep snows muddy roads, etc.” The petition was signed by seventeen residents and combined they had twenty children eligible for school. The Board obliged and created the Providence School District on November 10, 1871. A school house was built two miles south of Adin.

Courtesy of Beth Walls

One person is under the impression that sometime, possibly in 1920s, that the school was moved to its current location. However, I am unable to locate any information on that event. If anyone cn shed some light on this, it would be appreciated

In 1953, the school was annexed to the Adin Joint Unified District. The school house then became the property of the Providence Farm Bureau and the farm bureau still owned it in 2002, but I do not know its current status.

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History

Those Pesky Deed Covenants

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Willow Creek School, 1921
Willow Creek School, 1921

One of the most common deed restrictions years ago included a clause prohibiting race and alcohol. In 1914, when John Spalding subdivided his property on the west shore of Eagle Lake. The deed stated no person of African or Mongolian descent would be allowed to occupy, own rent or lease the premises and that no type of alcoholic beverages would be allowed on the premises with an exception for medicinal purposes. Should the owner not abide by these regulations, the property would revert back to Spalding. It was not much of an issue, since Spalding sold only one lot.

Another type was a reversion clause. On August 11, 1877, John Dobler donated the land that the Willow Creek School, was built on  with the provision that when no longer used for a school, the property would revert back to him or his heirs. In 1950, when the Willow Creek School District was dissolved, the provision was ignored. The same thing happened with the Lake School, since the property was donated by Epley family with the revision clause that was ignored. This case was a bit unusual since the Janesville School District annexed the Lake School deemed it surplus property. However, the school trustees deeded the school property to the Bailey family, because they assumed the family donated it in the first place.

In 1864, when Isaac Roop sold a Susanville city block to Lassen County for a courthouse, it included a reversion clause. This caused quite a stir back in the late 1970s when the county purchased property on North Mesa Street for a possible new courthouse complex. That is an interesting tale in itself, but as many know it never transpired.

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History

Susanville’s Special Census

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A 1937 promotional feature of the Lassen Mail newspaper.

When Susanville incorporated as a city in 1900, its eastern boundary was Weatherlow Street. In 1920, annexation of Halltown and the East Addition was discussed, but no action was taken. With continued growth east of the city limits annexation efforts failed. In 1947 that finally changed when voters approved an annexation. The City’s Main Street now extended from Weatherlow to Fairfield, and additional eleven blocks.

Everyone had guessed what the Greater Susanville population was, but no one knew exactly. After the approval of the annexation, the City requested the U.S. Census to conduct an official count. This was important, for the City needed that information to provide it to federal and state authorities for allocation of tax funds based on population. A census was conducted on April 30, 1948, and it showed there were 5,358 inhabitants.

In 2023, the population was 11,593.

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