In 1978, California passed legislation that Articles of Incorporation would no longer be required  filed with the County Clerk. It also gave discretion to the County Clerk to dispose of all  Articles of Incorporation that had been filed. Lassen County decided to dispose of them. They were destined to the dump, but I was able to intervene. A portion would go to the dump. After all, I did not need a file drawer to Bank America’s Articles and every subsequent amendment.

I sorted through and retained those that were a local nature. Some of the very early ones were never filed with the California Secretary of State. An example was the Gold Run Roadl Company. incorporated in 1866.  It does not appear in any early local history publications, most notably Fairfield’s Pioneer History of Lassen County. This document had an extraordinary attachment. This was a 1866 copy of the Sage Brush newspaper, that featured that company’s legal notice publication. This is the oldest known copy of that newspaper, which later became the Lassen Advocate.

Needless to say there was a treasure trove of documents salvaged that some of the companies I have wrote about such as the  Honey Lake Black Rock Toll Road. that included a hand drawn map of the road.

Tim