Tag Archives: Janesville

History

Buntingville, Lassen County

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The Buntingville Post Office operated from 1883 to 1920

Today, Buntingville, a few miles south of Janesville, is just a mere wide spot in the road. Yet, back in the day it was strategically located at the intersection of the Alturas and Reno Stage Road. Today, it is part of the focal point of the cut-off of Highway 395 from Buntingville to Standish, i.e. County A-3, for those traveling north or vice versa.

In the early 1870s, Alexander J. Bunting (1836-1903) located there and operated a stage station to accommodate travelers. Bunting only had a squatters claim to the land that he occupied. In 1883, Bunting moved to Lake County, Oregon, where he spent the remainder of his life.  In 1878, Edward A.Weed, editor of the Lassen Advocate, while visiting Buntingville, humorously suggested that the name be changed to Catville, “There being more cats and kittens to the square rod than any other place we visited.”  In the late 1870s and early 1880s Buntingville flourished, and gave serious competition to its rival Janesville.  Serious debate was held as to where to build a new flour mill for the region—Buntingville or Janesville? In 1882, Janesville became the victor. While Buntingville lost out on the flourmill proposal, it continued to thrive for some time.  In 1900, the small community could boast of its own newspaper, the Buntingville Breeze.  The paper was short-lived, for after two months, its editor and publisher, Mike Phillips, who also operated the town’s general store, moved his enterprises to Standish. 

 Buntingville’s claim to fame, that it was the headquarters for the Honey Lake Valley’s first telephone company.  On July 10, 1911, the Honey Lake Valley Mutual Telephone Association incorporated as a co-operative.  In 1924, the group had over 200 subscribers from Standish, Janesville, Milford, and Richmond.  Plagued with financial problems, it was taken over by the Lassen Telephone Company on July 21, 1924. 

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History

Janesville School Sold

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Janesville School, circa 1911.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s witnessed numerous changes with the Lassen County schools. Not only there were numerous consolidation of school districts, but a lot of new schools were constructed then.  In 1948, the voters of the Janesville School District approved a bond measure for a new school and it was approved. On November 3, 1951, Al Row, with his high bid of $380, purchased the old schoolhouse and he moved it to his property.  However, the school trustees donated the old bronze bell that adorned the schoolhouse to the Janesville Fire Department.

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History

Elysian Valley, Lassen County

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Elysian Valley, circa 1906. Courtesy of Mark Reed

In May 1857, Reuben F. Mastin purchased this valley from L.N. Breed and George Lathrop for $150. That was a bargain, even back then. It was Mastin who named this beautiful valley, Elysian, located a short distance from Janesville. Later that year, or to be precise, on November 19, Mastin sold out to Richard D. Bass for $1,000 and Bass would reside there for the next forty-six years. A portion of the original family ranch remained in the Bass family ownership until 1981.

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History

The Lassen County Seat Question

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Lassen County Courthouse and Hall of Records, 1907. Courtesy of Gil Morrill

This being Election Day, I thought I pass along some local election folklore.  One of which that at one time, Hayden Hill was in contention to become the county seat. Only once was there was some rumbling of moving the county seat  from Susanville. In 1893, after the town’s business district was destroyed by fire, there was some talk to relocate the county seat to Amedee.

In 1864, when the election was held to organize Lassen County,  the county seat question was on the ballot—Janesville or Susanville. That was a tricky election and it took some time to count the ballots. After all, the county had a polling precinct at Fort Crook (Shasta County) and one for all of Surprise Valley (Siskiyou County).  Those votes were finally rejected and Susanville won the county seat by seventy-one votes.

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History

All That Volcanic Ash

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Lassen Peak eruption, June 14, 1914. Courtesy of Dolores Gasperoni

With Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano in the news, I thought we take a look back during Lassen Peak’s numerous eruptions that spewed ash everywhere.  On May 22, 1915, when Lassen had its most historic eruption that sent a mushroom like cloud four miles into the atmosphere. The prevailing winds carried volcanic ash all the way to Winnemucca, Nevada. Susanville resident, an avid fisherman, Med Arnold, was at Eagle Lake that day and reported that the area was covered in like a fine alkali dust, and that enough fell from the sky to muddy the water of the lake. The eruptions continued for several years, and with the west to east prevailing winds, Susanville and the Honey Lake Valley experienced sporadic falls of volcanic ash. In 1917, Janesville resident, Gordon Rice commented, Lassen Peak is good to Lassen County, volcanic ash is a splendid fertilizer.

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History

Janesville versus Lassen

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Main Street, Janesville, 1911. Courtesy of Betty Barry Deal

With the pending arrival of the Fernley & Lassen Railroad there was a movement to change many names of communities in the Honey Lake Valley.  It was deemed there were too many towns ending with “ville.” Some thought the suffix carried a stigma of a small village. While the movement to change the name of Susanville failed, Janesville did not fare so well. On July 2, 1914, the post office there was renamed Lassen. This did not set well with many of the town’s residents. A petition was sent to the Postmaster General to restore the name, but it was denied. It led to confusion since the town was known as Janesville, but its mail designation was Lassen . In 1923, the residents once again petition the postal authorities to restore the name.  It was granted and on September 22, 1923, the Lassen postal designation was dropped.

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The Naming of Janesville

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The Janesville Hotel when it was owned by Justus R. Bailey, circa 1880.

Recently,  Ken Doran of Wisconsin inquired as to whether Janesville, Wisconsin and Janesville, California were named for the same person. Doran stated that Janesville, Wisconsin was named for Henry Janes who settled there in 1836. A local legend in Wisconsin is that when Henry Janes came West that he founded other Janesvilles. A 1905 publication credits the naming of Janesville, Lassen County to Henry Janes.

Alas, that is not the case. Janesville, California was named for Jane Bankhead, wife of Malcom Bankhead, who was the town’s first postmaster when the post office was established there on December 19, 1861.

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History

Fort Sage School District

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The Calneva Branch of the Lassen County Free Library, 1920.

In January 1915, the residents of Calneva, a Western Pacific Railroad station in eastern Honey Lake Valley desired the break away from the Fairview School District and form their own. In their petition, they stated nineteen scholars resided in the proposed district. Their request was granted on February 2, 1915 by the Lassen County Board of Supervisors. The new district was named Fort Sage. The school was located in a small one-room building on the Harry Hill homestead. It was later moved to the Aldrich House, a larger building, located in the center of the district. In the summer of 1918, the school was on the verge of being suspended, as enrollment declined to four. The trustees persuaded County Superintendent of Schools, Julia A. Norwood, to keep the school open, as they promised an additional four students would attend in September. The request was granted. The school’s existence was brief and it was closed in 1924. In 1926, the furniture from the school was purchased by the Janesville School District.

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History

Earthquakes – Still Shaking

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Main Street, Susanville, 1885. Courtesy of Betty Barry Deal
While searching for information on Dry Valley, Nevada, I came across my earthquake file, while looking for my East Lassen file. Anyhow, I came across this article from the Susanville correspondent to the Reno Evening Gazette, dateline February 6, 1885.

“Real estate in Honey Lake Valley for the past week has been decidedly shaky, and when things are to get settled down to a firm and reliable basis it is hard to determine. Since last Friday night there have been no doubt at least 50 shocks of earthquakes felt in the valley. Today something like a dozen have been felt here in town. One at seven o’clock this morning was quite lively. The shocks seem to be more frequent and harder around Janesville. It is a well established fact that below Buntingville, crossing the Epley Ranch, is a place that “sounds hollow” when being crossed and at intervals rumbling sounds are heard traveling along this place. The sounds seem to come from the mountains to the west and travel toward the lake. Horses when plowing over this place have become frightened at the sounds beneath their feet. This has been repeated for years. The occurrence of so many earthquakes in this locality seems remarkable and how ad when they will cease seems to be a hard conundrum to answer just now.

“Not the earthquakes alone but the weather is phenomenal. Yesterday the thermometer reached 68 degrees in the shade, while for a week or more there has been no frosts at night. Last night and today we had quite heavy showers of rain and the snow is fast disappearing from the mountains.”

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History

The Two M’s

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Janesvlle Methodist Church, 1911. Courtesy of Marge Foster
From the early 1860s up until World War II the two dominant social institutions locally were the Masons and the Methodist, which were hand in hand. The majority of the Masons were Methodist, and vice versa. By the early 1900s the Methodist were so predominant in the Honey Lake Valley that they had churches at Janesville, Johnstonville, Standish and of course Susanville. The Masons on the other hand had lodges at Janesville and Susanville, which have since been combined.

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