On Sunday, April 20, 1924 the first Easter Sunrise Service were held in Susanville. Preparations began two weeks earlier for the non-demonitial service. Inspiration Point was the selected location. The event was organized by the Ladies Auxiliary of the American Legion. The women were ambitious. They persuaded the Lassen Lumber & Box Company to donate the materials and labor to construct a cross on the point at no cost. They employed the same maneuver with the Lassen Electric Company who adorned the cross with light bulbs. A week prior to service, in the evenings the cross was lit up and seen for miles around.
At five a.m. Easter Sunday some 300 people attended the service under very chilly conditions. The invocations were done by Father McCarthy (Catholic), Rev. Price (Methodist), Rev. Rowe (Baptist) and Captain Diez of the Salvation Army.
In 1951, Lassen Lumber & Box Company (Lassen Lumber) began to liquidate its holdings. On November 3, 1952, its neighbor, Fruit Growers purchased Lassen Lumber for $1,425,00. On the surface it was puzzling why Fruit Growers would purchase another mill. After all, the need for box shook was in decline with the conversion to cardboard boxes. But Lassen Lumber had one item Fruit Growers needed–water rights. If at some time in the future Fruit Growers decided to convert and manufacture cardboard at Susanville, the purchase of Lassen Lumber would give it the necessary water supply.
On February 8, 1953 the last of the decked logs at Lassen Lumber had been processed, and Fruit Growers closed the mill. It was then sold to Goff Machinery Company of Stockton, California, which immediately dismantled it. On March 11, 1953, Fruit Growers sold thirty acres that contained the box factory to the T&M Sash & Door Factory, operated by A.L. Lucero and Walter Wirth for $125,000. The box factory building was destroyed by fire on April 3, 1966. Today, the property is occupied by Lassen Auto Body on Alexander Avenue.
In October 1917, C. Edgar Cotton of Spokane, Washington, R.D.. Baker of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and Charles McGowan of Klamath Falls, Oregon, spent two weeks in the region inspecting Forest Service timberlands. They became acquainted with Susanville businessman, M.O. Folsom. Their initial contact with Folsom was in connection with possible mill sites.
This time around, Susanville was not going to let this be the kind of missed opportunity it had experienced with Red River Lumber Company and the Western Timber Treating Company. On October 26, 1917 a citizen’s meeting was held. with approximately seventy people in attendance. Assemblyman A.J. Mathews presided over the meeting and gave an outline of the situation. McGowan and Cotton had already examined proposed mill sites. The proposed to build a sawmill, box factory and planing mill at Susanville that would initially employee 250 men. This, of course, was contingent on the residents donating the property. The site they desired was the Winchester property, located just east of the Susanville Depot.
In a democratic manner, C.E. Emerson, Jules Alexander, M.O. Folsom, L.R. Cady and Russell Brownell were elected by ballot as the general operating committee. It was proposed to offer the company 40 acres, with water rights and an 8,000 cash bonus.. McGowan and Company, after all, had the option to build its plant in the vicinity of Westwood Junction to reduce the cost of transporting the logs to the mill.
It was not until the first week in March 1918 that the news was released to the community that McGowan and Cotton would establish its mill at Susanville. By the end of the month construction of the mill began.
Lassen Lumber & Box Company’s mill under construction, 1918–Belle Dorsey
This new enterprise incorporated as the Lassen Lumber & Box Company. To protect the interest of the Citizen’s Committee, an agreement between the committee and Lassen Lumber was negotiated. The foremost provision was the company build a sawmill with a daily capacity of 70,000 board feet. In addition, if for some reason for mill should be destroyed fire before January 1, 1921, and the company did not rebuild, the property would revert back to the town.
Alpine Hotel was a dormitory for the employees of the Lassen Lumber & Box Company
Along the same vein as Westwood’s Hotel Saville, in Susanville there was the Alpine Hotel. It was located on the west side of the 700 block on Alexander Avenue, across the street from Lassen Lumber & Box Company. It was built in 1919 to provide dormitory housing for the single men employed at Lassen Lumber.
Lassen Lumber’s glory years were brief and in 1935 the Alpine Hotel found a new life as a dormitory for Lassen College. The college used the building throughout the 1940s. It was by the way, where the forestry students were housed. Other than that, I know very little about the Alpine Hotel. May be one day, I will get lucky and uncover some of its history.
Employee entrance at Red River Lumber Company’s mill, Westwood
Since it is Labor Day, it is only fitting to have a topic about the labor movement. With the events leading up to World War I, demand for lumber soared. It was in the Pacific Northwest that two labor organizations—the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL)—gained momentum in union organizing in the lumber industry.
The IWW had an image problem. It was considered radical in its
thinking for the time. Some considered it a communist organization. It gained notoriety for its strikes that were marred with violence. It
was from these and other factors, and with the emergence of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumberman that hindered its movement.
After World War I the lumber market plummeted. This weakened labor’s leverage to organize unions. Yet, by the early 1920s, Fruit Growers Supply Company and the Lassen Lumber & Box Company established sawmills at Susanville. So these operations combined with Red River Lumber Company at Westwood, the IWW saw a lot of potential in Lassen County. IWW members worked very hard to recruit there, but with little success. It could be perilous duty and arrests and convictions of suspected organizers occurred. Case in point is the story of Charles Griswold, alias Thomas B. Miller. A Red River employee, Griswold worked the green chain at the mill. He was arrested and charged with the violation of the Busick Injunction for recruiting members for the IWW—the Busick Injunction deemed the IWW was a part of a communist syndicate. On March 25, 1925 Griswold was taken to Susanville and a short jury trial was held. The jury deliberated for ten minutes before they came back with a guilty verdict. Griswold was sentenced to six months in the Lassen County Jail. He could consider himself fortunate for many who were charged with the same offense never had a trial and were automatically sent to prison.
The biggest problem IWW faced in Lassen County was that all three
lumber companies paid the prevailing wage, if not above, and provided better housing than found in other regions on the west coast. The employees had few grievances, so there was no incentive to be a part of the labor movement. It was because of these conditions that Lassen County sawmills remained union free during the 1920s.
The area south of Railroad Avenue to Modoc Street was a housing development of the Lassen Lumber & Box Company for its employees. The above photograph I received from someone back East who found the photograph in a book at a garage sale. One never knows where a piece of history will show up.
Shasta Street, Susanville, September 22, 2022
It should be noted that the Lassen Lumber & Box Company designated this particular area as its “Italian Quarters.” Both Lassen Lumber & Fruit Growers Supply Company hired numerous immigrants, at one time there was a large Filipino population.
The loggers of Lasco, the logging camp of the Lassen Lumber & Box Company were an energetic bunch during what limited off time they had. Many worked twelve or more hours a day, six days a week*
However, whenever an opportunity arose for that hardy bunch to recreate, they did so with gusto. Their annual Logger’s Ball in July was legendary. These men, also, enjoyed in partaking in a part of America’s pastime—baseball. They named their team the “Lasco Lumberjacks.” These guys just enjoyed playing ball and they hosted a lot of ball games. One that caught my interest was an interesting and an unusual adversary—Lassen Union High School. It did not matter who won or lost, the bottom line was everyone who played or was a spectator just a had a good time.
*In 1918, Lassen Lumber & Box Company established its sawmill/box factory in Susanville. It differed from its two competitors—Fruit Growers Supply Company and Red River Lumber Company—as its initial sole supply of timber came from the Lassen National Forest.
Lasco was the logging camp of the Lassen Lumber & Box Company during the 1920s. It was located at the northern base of Peg Leg Mountain. During the summer it was home to 250 loggers. They were a social bunch with special events on Saturday nights throughout the summer. One of their annual events was a Logger’s Ball held there on the last Saturday of July. Lasco’s de facto Mayor, Emille Frizzie always made it a point to welcome all visitors. One time he made a public invite to everyone from Chester to Doyle, though he made it clear bootleggers were not welcomed. As was customary then, a midnight meal was served and dancing continued into the wee hours of the morning.
By 1930, the nation’s lumber market had suffered big time not only with the economy teetering but supply flooded the market where there was no demand. In the Lassen region, this was a new experience as everyone had been accustomed to the good times. The big three mills had not only scaled back their labor force, but curtailed production. This fueled the rumor mill, and in December 1930, the rumor on the street that the Red River Lumber Company was to permanently shut down its mill. Company officials had to put out the word, that this was utter non-sense. After all, in December there was the usual slow down with the end of logging season, and soon it would be time for annual maintenance of the mill.
On the other, Lassen Lumber & Box Company was in dire financial straits. They closed down Camp Lasco, their logging camp for good and would rely upon logging contractors for their future needs. The company also went through major refinance of all the other departments.
In the spring of 1952, the Lassen Lumber & Box Company began liquidating its assets. This involved a sawmill, box factory, 100 acres of land along with 9.9 million board feet of timber, 7.7 million board feet of logs and almost a million board feet of box shook.
They found an unlikely suitor in its neighbor, the Fruit Growers Supply Company. Fruit Growers purchased it all for $1,425,000. While researching the history of Fruit Growers this transaction puzzled me. With the need of box shook declining why a need for another mill with a box factory? Fruit Growers was keen in exploring future venues to protect the citrus growers needs. Lassen Lumber & Box Company had one asset that Fruit Growers needed—-water. If at some point, Fruit Growers wanted to manufacture cardboard cartons, the purchase of the Lassen Lumber & Box Company gave them the water supply needed to convert their Susanville mill into a paper/pulp plant.
