Cheney Creek, which old maps referred to as China Creek, is a small tributary of the Susan River, and flows into that stream just below Devils Corral. About midway along the length of Cheney Creek is a small meadow, though Asa Fairfield referred to it as Cheney Valley. Fairfield stated it was named for E.M. Cheney who in October 1860, filed a claim of 58 acres on the south side of the Susan River, near present day Hobo Camp, some five miles away. Not much is known about Cheney’s short tenure in the region, though he did serve on Lassen County’s first Grand Jury.
By the mid-1860s, Susanville had its own Chinatown. The population had its ebb and flow. On June 10, 1871, Quong Wong and 39 other Chinese filed mining claims along this creek which they named it the Yankee Company. Their activity was not ignored.
The Lassen Advocate reported on September 9, 1871: “There are some forty Chinese mining the vicinity of Stockton’s mill on the Susan River, about nine miles from here. They are making, they say from $1.50 to $2.50 per day to the hand. There are unquestionably good mines in that locality, provided water could be secured to them without too much trouble. Parties are anticipating the construction of a ditch to these mines next spring.”
According to mining claim it is a dry gulch. As the newspaper reported it was near Stockton’s, known today as Bunnells. Where Cheney Creek flows into the Susan River, is a rocky bluff, while where Williams Creek flows into the Susan River at Devils Corral, would be conducive for a ditch.
Whatever the case may be, as late as 1958 Metzker’s Atlas of Lassen County designates Cheney (China) Creek.