Slippery Gulch was one of those colorful Susanville neighborhoods—one that initially was scene of houses of ill repute and later bootleg joints during prohibition. Initially, it was located along the Susan River near the Richmond Road bridge when the railroad arrived in 1912. Civic leaders were not amused, since first time visitors who arrived by train, this would be their first impression of Susanville proper. The inhabitants were moved up the river along Carroll Street in the out of sight out of mind philosophy.

As a general rule the local newspapers rarely mentioned this area by name. However, in 1935, Ash Turner in his This and That column that appeared in the Lassen Mail wrote: “News that should interest residents of Slippery Gulch comes from Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake district, Utah Federation of Women’s Clubs has adopted a resolution endorsing the birth control movement as ‘of utmost importance to all Americans that the population of our country be vigorous and healthy.’”

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After I had completed the above, I came across another interesting editorial piece from the Lassen Mail of December 27, 1929. The paper reported a scuffle of two Indians—Lester Evans and Ruth Gerig—at the Green Lantern in Slippery Gulch. The paper concluded, “Editorially speaking in a news column it would be a good thing for the town if ‘Slippery Gulch’ were cleaned out and kept clean. If the Indians and those who frequent the ‘Gulch’ must have a scene and setting for their carousels there are plenty of wide open spaces away from Susanville and its environs where they may have full play without annoying respectable people with their drunken and noisey coming and going.”