In the early 1930s, Red River Lumber Company was going through a refinancial organization process requiring an inventory of all assets and liabilities. Not an easy undertaking, with so much territory to cover. An item of interest to me was the inventory of rails used in its logging operations. It was duly noted that Red River owned 93.7 miles of rail.
However, when it came to the Piute Line, that went from Hog Flat to Susanville, those rails were leased from the Western Pacific Railroad. This, no doubt, added more fuel to the speculation that this particular railroad was destined to be a feeder line for Western Pacific’s nearby Highline. The report noted that the initial 1917 survey of the Piute was to begin north of Westwood Junction near McCoy Flat. However, those plans had to be scrapped when Fruit Growers logging railroad traversed there.