I wish every one  good tidings and hopefully you enjoy holiday surroundings with family and/or friends.

I have not encountered any historical Thanksgiving observance of late 1800s in this region. It should be noted that there were a lot of  New Englanders settled in Lassen County. The above photograph of Folsom Ranch, now the Willow Creek Wildlife Refuge just north Susanville was an example. Orman Folsom, the patriarch, settled in Willow Creek in 1871. He was a native of Maine. Ben Leavitt, the father of the Susan River Irrigation System, also hails from Maine. Two other notables from Maine:  John Doyle, an early settler of Long Valley and for whom town Doyle for and Capt. C.A. Merrill the original promotor to tap Eagle Lake for irrigation to reclaim the sagebrush lands of Honey Lake Valley.

For the trivia minded, it was on October 31, 1939, that President Franklin Rosevelt signed a proclamation that designated the fourth Thursday of day of Thanksgiving. Prior to this, each region or states held their observance at different dates.

Tim