In 1875, Benjamin H. Leavitt constructed the first reservoir on the Susan River watershed, which was named after him Leavitt Lake. Leavitt, of course, had dream of much larger irrigation system, however he was stymied by the lack of financial capital.
In the late 1880s, numerous reclamation projects of the Honey Lake Valley had been proposed. This, of course, attracted a lot of attention. In 1888, Clinton Hutchinson arrived in Lassen County from Kansas with money to invest. Hutchinson and Leavitt formed a partnership and a Susan River irrigation system became a reality. In 1889, they built two reservoirs in the mountains west of Susanville, known today as Hogs Flat and McCoy Flat. In addition, they enlarged the capacity of Leavitt Lake. For the next sixteen years, this system would go through numerous owners until in 1905 it was reincarnated as the Lassen Irrigation District.