There are readers from far and near. While the later, is well aware of the Susanville’s St. Francis Hotel came to an end on November 1, 2024 when it was engulfed in flames caused by a suspected arsonist.

My great-great grandmother Franceska Murrer Neuhaus had the original portion of the hotel  built in 1914. It should be noted that she was 74 years old with this business venture. She was a devout Catholic, hence the hotel’s name. It was  also conveniently located near the Sacred Heart Church, which she was instrumental, along with Antone Bantley and Thomas Mulroney that established the parish. When she passed away in 1918, her son Bill Neuhaus inherited the hotel.

In 1925/26 Bill and his wife Flora, had expanded the hotel with a west wing addition.   In 1944, the childless couple sold the hotel due to Bill’s health. It should be noted, in 1901, at Willow Creek Valley, during hay season, Bill’s right leg  was mangled a steam threshing machine and subsequently amputated.

Tim

In 1978, California passed legislation that Articles of Incorporation would no longer be required  filed with the County Clerk. It also gave discretion to the County Clerk to dispose of all  Articles of Incorporation that had been filed. Lassen County decided to dispose of them. They were destined to the dump, but I was able to intervene. A portion would go to the dump. After all, I did not need a file drawer to Bank America’s Articles and every subsequent amendment.

I sorted through and retained those that were a local nature. Some of the very early ones were never filed with the California Secretary of State. An example was the Gold Run Roadl Company. incorporated in 1866.  It does not appear in any early local history publications, most notably Fairfield’s Pioneer History of Lassen County. This document had an extraordinary attachment. This was a 1866 copy of the Sage Brush newspaper, that featured that company’s legal notice publication. This is the oldest known copy of that newspaper, which later became the Lassen Advocate.

Needless to say there was a treasure trove of documents salvaged that some of the companies I have wrote about such as the  Honey Lake Black Rock Toll Road. that included a hand drawn map of the road.

Tim

In 1987, the Lassen County Superintendent of School’s office relocated from the old Roosevelt School in Susanville to the former Eagle Lake Ranger District’s Office of the Lassen National Forest near the Susanville airport. As the case may be, in moving process items are known to get tossed.

Some interesting old photographs and albums were tossed. Among those was an a collection of nearly fifty photographs of rural Lassen County schools. They were taken in 1916, by Prof. D.M. Durst, Principal of Lassen High School. For a number of the schools, this is the only photograph record of the buildings. At this time, the county allowed individuals to salvage at the Bass Hill Landfill. A man approached me with the Durst photographs that he salvaged from the dump. After some negotiations I paid him sixty dollars for them. A couple days later he contacted me again, as he as had some old 1920s photograph albums related to the Susanville Rotary Club. His asking price was too much for my limited means. I learned later that he did find a buyer.

Tim

Today is World Gratitude Day. When I first began my research, I had no idea that it would be a life long journey. There are some folks from my earliest days, that I want to thank posthumously. First. there was Frank Satica (1922-1982) who started it all. I admit when growing up, I was very naive and believed everything. I was told. When Frank told me the tale that the World’s First Champion Cowboy (John Best McKissick) was buried at Secret Valley some thirty miles northeast of Susanville, I did not believe him. One would think that a person of that notoriety would be common knowledge. My journey began as a novice researcher, who knew almost nothing how to locate this type of information. After all this was  pre-internet days. The first person I contacted was Abe Jensen, a former Lassen County Fair Manager and for whom Jensen Hall is named for. Abe knew about the McKissick story and gave me names of other people that were more knowledgeable. One of those folks was Merlyn “Mul” Mulroney who opened my world to other interesting events of the region. If you are wondering, yes it is true about McKissick.  He won the title at the Centennial World Exposition in 1876 that was held in Philadelphia.

Finally, I want to give a shout out to Tandy Bozeman, and Michael, too. Tandy put together my first website and then in 2015, this one. Tandy is aware that I am technology challenged, so he is always there to give a lending hand. Sometimes, its calls for reinforcement and his son-in-law, Michael steps in for the task at hand. Thank you so much.

Tim