Post Camp, was located on the south side of Observation Peak, NW 1/4 Section 9, T. 33 N. R. 16  E. The camp was established in the late 1870s, by George D. Winters of the Smoke Creek Ranch, who would later acquire the Shinn Ranch Located there were large stands of juniper and mountain mahogany used to make fence posts for both the Shinn and Smoke Creek Ranches. The place remained in public domain for a number of years.

In 1894, James “Juniper Jim” Rousell, also spelled as Russell arrived on the Madeline Plains, where he would live the rest of his life. In the late 1890s, he settled at Post Camp. According to folklore has it that he said the only way a person could survive there was to supplement their diet with juniper berries. In 1904, he acquired title to the property and sold it in 1912, to Virgile Galleron.

It should be noted that Rousell was married to Sarah Ellen McMurphy, a well known family of the era in the Honey Lake Valley.  They had six children, but the couple divorced in 1906. It should be noted they are both buried together in the Susanville Cemetery.

Tim