Tag Archives: Fruit Growers Supply Company

Good Financial Cents

September 26, 2026 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

When Fruit Growers Supply Company embarked on the establishment of its Lassen Operation it was a costly affair. It required a four million dollar investment. They did this with a bond measure. When the growers established the operation in 1919, they agreed assessed themselves two-cents per box. In addition, for every 1,000 board feet lumber sold, four dollars was budgeted to pay off the bonds, generating $300,000 annually.. In 1934, Fruit Growers paid off their debt, two years ahead of schedule.

On the other hand Red River created its own financial crisis delaying their bond payments, with the kick can down the road approach. In the early 1930s, there was a day of reckoning with banks and bondholders that forever changed the company.

Tim

History

Conversion from Horse to Tractor Logging

September 20, 2026 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

horse logging — Horse logging with big wheels, at Fruit Growers Camp B, north of McCoy Flat Reservoir.

When Fruit Growers inspected the Collins timber tract west Eagle Lake, they were not only impressed by the timber, but the terrain. It was estimated that 80% of the tract could be horse logged with big wheels versus steam donkeys. Caterpillar tractors were in its infancy stage of development, but would accelerate during World War I. Horse logging had its drawback as it labor intensive. This was due to the fact that they required “swamper.s” Swampers were men hired clear brush and other debris to clear a path to reduce injuries to horses legs. While steam donkeys were used in terrain not suitable for horses had their drawbacks. Sparks from the steam donkeys were a fire hazard. By the late 1920s, both Fruit Growers and Red River converted entirely motorized tractors logging. It would take several decades to convert from railroad to truck logging.

Tim

History

The Camp Harvey Strike

September 10, 2026 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Yesterday’s post when Fletcher Walker criticized Fruit Growers increasing logging camp board, here is another side of the story.

The cookhouse in logging camps operated at significant losses.In 1948, when logging camps of Fruit Growers Harvey line opened, raised the price of a meal to one dollar. Complaints were loud and long. But now, instead of losing thirty-six cents per meal, they only lost eight cents. That’s still substantial. At the end 1948 Fruit Growers’s losses for operating those cookouses was $63,500.

On May 2, 1949, Camps Harvey and Stanford opened for another season. In an effort to further reduce expenses, Fruit Growers leased the cookhouses and commisarries to the H.S. Anderson Company for one dollar. Fruit Growers thought perhaps an outside company could handle the meals more efficiently. They would never find the answer.

Just threes into the logging season all operations on the Harvey line shut down. The cookhouse crews, represented by Local 768 of the Bartenders and Culinary Workers Union, walked off the job in a wage and hour dispute with H.S. Anderson Company. Logging came to a standstill. As the weeks passed with no end of the strike, Fruit Growers abandoned all logging operations on the Harvey line.

Support

History

The Pine Creek Millpond

September 6, 2026 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

In 1919, Fruit Growers Supply Company purchased the Collins Tract west of Eagle Lake the contained an estimated a billion board feet of timber. Lassen National Forest officials suggested a mill site on Pine Creek near Eagle. Lake. Fruit Growers examined two sites, in the region what is known as Spalding Tract. They were informed that Eagle Lake had dropped from 3 to 4 feet during 1917-18. There was also the uncertainty where Leon Bly had obtained water rights to the lake for irrigation in the Honey Lake Valley. It was suggested that Fruit Growers place a dam at the Pine Creek estuary for a millpond and in the worst case scenario drill wells for a water supply. After a short debate Fruit Growers decided to locate the sawmill at Susanville.

Tim

History

Little Susanville

September 2, 2026 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Hilt Company Store and Post Office, 1937.

While it can expected in urban areas to ethic enclaves such as a typical Chinatown a there was a little northern California community that a neighborhood was dubbed Little Susanville. This community was Hilt, Siskiyou County, near the Oregon border. It just happen to be a company townof Fruit Growers Supply Company.

The Great Depression of the 1930s wreaked havoc on the lumber mills and numerous mills along the Pacific Cost region were shut down. The Lassen County mills were somewhat spared, but there were cutbacks in operations and lay offs. Fruit Growers valued its employees.. They understood how valuable a well trained workforce meant for smooth operations. Fruit Growers at its Susanville Operation transferred a small number of its employees and their families to Hilt. Thus origin of Little Susanville by locals at Hilt. By the late 1930s, when lumber activity rebounded, Fruit Growers easily met the demands, as well trained work force was intact. Fruit Growers General Manager A.E. Barnes was very pleased by this decision and that it paid off.

Tim

History

Nataqua Mercantile Company

August 30, 2026 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

The commotion about Fruit Growers commissary did not end smoothly. The disgruntled merchants also had a complaint with the Nataqua Mercantile Company that opened its door on February 14,1921 in the Milwood district. The fact that the principle investors in the mercantile company were Fruit Growers employees aroused the suspicion of some local merchants, even the the three, J.W. Schooner, Henry Neunaber and J.C.Pery, invested solely as individuals.

Facts, however, did not stop the rumors, many of them started by the “peeved merchants,” who even went so far as to hire a phony investigator to stir up matters. With the mill nearing completion, these rumors, even though false, could have profound effect.

Fruit Growers hired their own private investigator to find out exactly how the community felt. W.A. Mundell (aka Jules Gamage) posed as an investor. interested in opening a summer resort at Eagle Lake. So good was his disguise that he was invited to join a poker game (during which he lost) at the Pioneer Saloon with a group of the town’s most influential citizens. The week-long investigation uncovered no animosity between the residents of Susanville and Fruit Growers. If anything the citizens were glad for the competition.

Tim

History

A Lonely Job

August 14, 2026 Tim Purdy 1 Comment

George Moore digging out a speeder at Camp 10, January 10, 1952.

Fruit Growers Supply Company’s Camp 10, located in Pine Creek Valley, west of Eagle Lake was a lively outpost from spring through fall, where over 200 people called it home. For a time it could even boast its own voting precinct. Yet, when the logging season ended, Camp 10 was de-populated, except for one lone soul. A caretaker was hired to keep an eye on everything. In the winter of 1951-52, George Moore was Camp 10 sole resident. The position would soon be eliminated as at the end of the 1952 logging season Camp 10 closed for good.

Tim

History

A Snippet – Lassen Dairy

August 9, 2026 Tim Purdy 2 Comments

In 1919, the Fruit GrowersSupply Company purchased the Long Ranch just north of Susanville for a sawmill site. Things dramatically changed and Fruit Growers considered using it a winter horse pasture and dairy. Ultimately, the property was leased to Frank O’Kelly who founded Lassen Dairy. The property is now Susanville Ranch Park.

While I do not know the complete history of Lassen Dairy,, while searching through Fruit Growers archives I did find this memo dated: December12, 1934:

“For some time there had been considered a revision of the lease under which the Lassen ranch is operated by Frank O’Kelly. Due to reduced income from dairy products he has been unable to meet the annual $2400.00 annual rental and the Company accepted for 1933, $1800.00 which at least offset taxes and expenses. The Operating Committee had approved the Manager’s recommendation, that rental charged for 1934 be $1600.00, and that a new lease be made with Mr. O’Kelly for five years at an annual rate of $1600.00, such rental to be increased to $1800.00 annually should the retail .price of milk advance to 10 cents a quart.”

Tim

History

That Is A Lot of Scrap Iron

August 7, 2026 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Fruit Growers log train, Pine Creek Valley, 1940.

In the fall of 1952 when the logging season ended for the Fruit Growers Supply Company’s Susanville operation something peculiar happened. Normally, the locomotives used in its logging operations would be stored for the winter at is Susanville plant to undergo routine service. Not this time, and they were stored at Camp 10. With timber supplies widely scattered, truck logging was more economical, thus it was the end of line for its railroad logging.

Loading logs with a McGiffert, at McCoy Flat, 1952.

In June 1953 Fruit Growers sold its locomotives, three McGiffert loaders and forty-eights miles of railroad iron to United Engineering of San Francisco, best known to naval shipbuilding yard in Alameda during World War II. Fruit Growers did not reveal a price. but the rail removal was a slow process and not completed until October 1954.

Subscribe!

History

The Demise of Camp 10

August 5, 2026 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Camp 10, 1950. The family cabins can be barely seen in the background.

The dismantling of Fruit Growers railroad logging Camp10 near Pine Creek was a slow process. It was problematic too. Camp 10 was situated on lands owned by Fruit Growers, but Lassen National Forest, too. As Fruit Growers was winding down its long term Pinc Creek Unit timber sale, there was a provision of the Hazard Reduction Plan. Even though Camp 10 was shuttered at the end of the 1952 logging season, and 1953 it was still intact. Fruit Growers sold the majority of cabins that eventually ended up in Susanville as people used them for storage and rentals.

It was not until the spring of 1954 that Fruit Growers and the forest service reached an agreement as to the demolition of Camp 10. In August Fruit Growers burned all the existing structures but the cookhouse was excluded. According to Fruit Growers’ archives the cookhouse was sold for $500, but the records failed to disclose the buyer.

Tim