It was a very wet and snowy January 1914 in the Lassen region. There was so much snow on the ground, the ground hog, could not even make it to the surface, even if it wanted to see his shadow or not.

In January 1914 Susanville had received nine inches of rain, along with 93 inches of snow. The total precipitation for the month was 18.27 inches.

This is a good day as any to showcase these photographs of the construction of the Fernley & Lassen Railroad between Susanville and Westwood during that time. The snow depths in early February 1914,  ranged from 8 to 10 feet.

In February 2012, a classified ad appeared in the Lassen County Times that a person had a small trunk of old photographs of the region. I called the number and it took several attempts. An elderly gentleman answered and said the trunk was found in an old barn in Richmond, Contra Costa County. It took several months before the trunk was shipped to me. It was twice the size, I was told, and when I examined the contents, which were photographs of the B.R. Zimmerman family, long time Susanville residents, I was thrilled. I did end up paying about $70 for the cost of sipping and it was worth every penny.

Tim