Tag Archives: Fruit Growers Supply Company

History

The Hilke Piler

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In 1925, Fruit Growers Supply Company at its Lassen (Susanville) operation were always looking at innovative ways for efficiency and reduce labor costs at the same time. This year, they installed a Hilke Lumber Piler, the contraption had been invented in 1915 by Seattleite Henry Hilke. The piler was a very efficient means of stacking lumber outdoors. Not only did it reduce the aisle width for stacking of conventional lumber, but the machine allowed to make higher stacks. While a four man crew was involved, the piler could handle up to 10,000 board feet per hour. As one local observer noted: “To those who had never seen the new stacker in action, it is a most interesting and educational sight.”

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History, News

Answers to some questions

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Camp A
Camp A, Fruit Growers Supply Company, located just north of McCoy Flat Reservoir, 1921

There have been some interesting comments posted of late, so I take this opportunity to answer a few.

Seasoned residents may remember a row cabins near Cherry Terrace along Piute Creek, where Al & Joy Robbins is located. There was one large cabin, which was occupied by Dan Marmo. The smaller cabins, came from Fruit Growers Supply Company logging Camp 10, after it closed in 1952. Marmo rented out the cabins, some of those folks less fortunate than others. On occasion even a Lassen College student could be found there. There are still some of these old logging cabins located throughout Susanville.

One of the panels on the LMUD building, part of a forthcoming mural tour. The building depicted iwas the home of the Telephone Company . December 26, 2016

The Telephone Company building, is a reference I had not heard in years.  However, it just so happens I am writing about it. The is the two-story stone building located on the northeast corner of Main and Gay Streets. It was built in 1914 and originally known as the Star Hotel. For a number of decades it housed Susanville’s first telephone company. When Safeway came to Susanville in 1928, it was housed there.

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History

Red River Rails

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Westwood Junction

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.

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History

A Fruit Growers Relic

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The No. 3 courtesy of Tim Steinmeier

Earlier this year, Tim Stienmeier, while at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona sent along this photograph of the Climax No. 3 locomotive that the Fruit Growers Supply Company used at their Hilt Operation. It should be noted that Fruit Growers discontinued railroad logging at Hilt in 1933. For many years the No. 3 was parked along an old freight shed. In 1954, the Southern California Chapter of the Railway Locomotive Society became aware of this relic and inquired about its status. Fruit Growers agreed to donate it to the Society on the condition that organization would have the burden of the costs to move it from Hilt to Los Angeles. Once the mission accomplished the Climax No. 3 once cleaned up was put on permanent display at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, though it kind looks a bit neglected these days.

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History

Tree Growing Clubs

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Fruit Growers tree nursery at Susanville, 1928.

In the early 1900s there was a nation wide movement of forming tree growing clubs to sustain a future supply. Of course, certain regions were in more dire need of trees than others. For a brief movement, there was an attempt to organize the farmers of the Honey Lake Valley for an co-operative effort to do the same. It never went anywhere. Continue reading Tree Growing Clubs →

History

Greater Westwood, Inc.

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The auction was held at Pinetown.

On September 12, 1956, the Fruit Growers Supply Company sold its Westwood operations, i.e., the mill and town to Milton Wershow and David Weiz of Los Angeles for $625,000. The two men operated a liquidation company and it was their original intent to attract other industries to Westwood. When the mill burned down unexpectedly on November 8, 1956 that changed their plans. To handle real estate sales they formed Greater Westwood Inc.  After twenty years, on October 9, 1976 they held an auction to sell of the remainder of their Westwood properties. With several hundred people in attendance they sold 76 residential lots and 28 commerical lots.

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History

The Big Tree – A Follow Up

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The record load of 26,860 board feet being unloaded at the Fruit Growers millpond, Susanville, August 21, 1953. Courtesy of Hank Martinez

Yesterday, it was noted that the massive sugar pine tree felled by the Red River Lumber Company contained 27,570 board feet. To gain a better understanding, the above photograph is a massive truck load of logs being unloaded at Fruit Grower’s Susanville millpond that contained 26,860 board feet!

A question was raised about timber fallers. A good timber faller can determine precisely where the tree will fall. Well, a not so good faller, is another tale. I recall in one instance working in the woods with my Dad. My father gave the faller instruction as to where a particular tree was to land. Needless to say, it did not happen and some one was not happy with the final result.

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News

Lassen Industrial Bank

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Lassen County Clerk, Maude Tombs cancelled check

The banking industry has certainly changed over the years, and in my opinion not for the better. To accommodate and serve customers banks went out of their way to make life a bit easier. Take for instance, Susanville’s Lassen Industrial Bank, in 1914 offered banking by mail, a novel approach for its time. In the 1920s to handle the needs and convenience of the mill workers of Fruit Growers Supply Company and Lassen Lumber & Box Company, the bank arranged special hours for them. On pay-days of the mill workers, the bank was opened in the evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 for regular business.

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History

Old Time Power Saws

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An electric saw powered by a D-2 cat. Courtesy of Fruit Growers Supply Company

In the twentieth century one aspect of logging that was slow to modernize was timber falling. In the mid-1930s, Fruit Growers experimented with a Dow Low Stump Power Saw. It turned out to be too bulky and cumbersome and the fallers returned to falling timber manually. In 1943, Fruit Growers experimented with an electric saw power by a generator attached to a D-2 Caterpillar. To provide for mobility it was equipped with 400 feet of cable.  One of the drawbacks was it took three men to operate it one to operate the tractor and two to run the saw. It was not until the 1950s when a more advance line of lightweight saws were introduced that the traditional hand saws and axes were replaced by the power saw.

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History, News

Hilt Picnic

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Hilt, California, 1972. Courtesy of Fruit Growers Supply Company

If there are any former Fruit Growers Supply Company folks out there, this Sunday, August 5 will be the last Hilt Reunion Picnic to be held in Medford, Oregon. Contact me for details.

For those not familiar with Hilt, it was Fruit Growers Supply Company’s company in Siskiyou County, near the Oregon border. In 1933, Fruit Growers gave serious consideration to close the mills at Hilt and Susanville due to the challenging economic conditions. However, Fruit Growers understood the value of their employees and kept the mills open to retain their workforce. However, there were layoffs. A number of workers from Susanville were transferred to Hilt. There they established a conclave known as “Little Susanville.”

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