The Lassen Lumber & Box Company (Lassen Lumber) was the smallest of the big three lumber companies, the other two being Fruit Growers Supply Company and Red River Lumber Company. It was also different than the other two, as their source of supply for timber was the Lassen National Forest.
This time the citizens of Susanville were eager to court this new company, having lost out to the Red River Lumber Company and the smaller Western Timber Treating Company. As an incentive they offered the company 40 acres, with water rights and $8,000 cash. They accepted. Construction began on the sawmill and box factory in the spring of 1918 and on July 27, 1918 the first logs arrived at the mill.
For Susanville the payoff was big, during the summer season Lassen Lumber employed upwards to 450 men with a monthly payroll of $65,000. The mill would operate until 1953 when it was closed. More about the history of the company will appear in future posts.
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I have a smaller cigarette lighter with “Lassen Lumber & Box Co “ embossed on the top and “ California Pine Lumber “ on the bottom.
Not sure when or where I got it.
Must have been a former employee’s.
Interesting.