While not as remote as Shinn Ranch, Dixie Valley is located in the northwestern section of Lassen County, is none the less on the off beaten path. Like the Tule District of the Honey Lake Valley, this place, too, has its name origin tied to the Civil War.
In the fall of 1869, George W. Long, Carson Wright, John W. Tuttle and Roscoe F. Gates filed land claims to this valley. These men were from Southern states and had pledged their allegiance to the Confederacy, thus they applied Dixie to the new valley they called home. . A story about its early history appeared in the Fall River Tidings of May 12th, 1899: “In the fall of 1870 Cars Wright and George Long, two of the old timers here, were prospecting through the mountains in search of a stock range, and in course of their wanderings they came upon Dixie Valley, at that time uninhabited and unnamed. Concluding that it was just the place they were looking for, they began taking steps to secure a good slice of the newly discovered valley for their own use.
“While there was quite a settlement at Fall River Valley, civilization had not then crossed the ridge and penetrated into Dixie Valley. There were however, about 200 head of cattle in the valley, which were rolling in grass almost as high as their backs, the entire valley being covered with a very heavy growth of grass, which at that time, it being the fall of the year, was getting quite dry. Before leaving the valley it was learned that the cattle belonged to George Small, who was living in Fall River Valley and ranging his cattle over in Dixie. About the first thing that Wright and Long did was to set fire to the grass in order to insure a better crop for the next season.
“From Small’s place in Fall River he beheld the smoke rising above the hills, and taking a man with him he rode over to see what was the matter. When Small discovered that this magnificent cattle range was a mere blackened waste, and saw surveyors at work running lines, and other parties getting out logs to build houses with, he became quite indigent, and there was some fighting talk between himself and the intending settlers. But the matter was settled without bloodshed. Messrs. Wright and Long held the fort and remained in Dixie for several years. After a year or two Mr. Small moved to Silver Lake, where he has since lived and prospered, having become one of the most extensive raisers and exporters of cattle, horses and mules to be found in Southeastern Oregon.”