Traveling across Highway 44, the Pine Creek Valley appears to be a desolate wind swept sagebrush flat, surrounded by pine trees. While in a sense that maybe true today, with a great deal of human activity concentrated at the Bogard Rest Station. By the way the area is named for John Jasper Bogard, a Tehama County stockman, who in the mid-1870s started using the area for summer grazing of sheep. Actually, the region was home to many sheep outfits, such as Champs, McCoy and Stanford, the latter as in Stanford University. These sheep outfits had a huge impact on western Lassen County, and so many of the natural features were named for them. My Lassen County Almanac: An Historical Encyclopedia contains all the details and more.
In 1928, the Fruit Growers Supply Company established their largest and longest operated logging camp, Camp 10, at the northern edge of Pine Creek Valley. During the summer months it became one of the larger communities of Lassen County. More about Camp 10 in future posts.
I love it out there. First memory of Pine Creek was in 1958. I went there with my dad who was working for Julian Mapes. The house and corrals are long since gone, but I remember being there. Now I see Pine Creek about once or twice a year.