Caribou Lake, and nearby Silver Lake is the upper watershed of the Susan River. The lake is also a jumping off point for the Caribou Wilderness Area. When gold was discovered in British Columbia in 1858, a number of miners, including some Honey Lakers, rushed there.  It was known as the Cariboo. It should be noted that early records spelled lake’s name the same. One of the mining enterprises there was named the Neversweat.

On August 11, 1883, J.H. Slater filed for the water rights to both Caribou and Silver Lakes, along with the right to install dams and gates. In September 1883, Slater hired 12 men working at Caribou Lake to install the first headgate. It should be noted Slater owned what is today the Fleming Unit, of Honey Lake Wildlife Refuge, and was a civil engineer.

As to the Stella Stiles divorce she was married to Harry Cain. While many may not be familiar with the Stiles name, there are several Stiles descendants who subscribe to this site. Where Monsignor Moran Hall is located in Susanville was purchased from the Stiles family. Willard Hill and the Willards are part of the Stiles clan. One of my favorite Stiles descendants was Philip Hall.

Anyhow back to Harry Cain, Stella’s ex. In the summer 1905, Harry Cain, along with James Wallin and Hi Skadan  went on their annual summer excursion to camp and fish at Silver Lake. A couple days out,  things went wrong. On the morning of July 7, Cain went over to fish Caribou Lake. He had a small folding canvass boat. Wallin and Skadan remained at Silver. That evening Wallin began to prepare dinner, but Cain was not there. The two men went over to Caribou, and found Cain’s boat adrift, but no sight of him. Since it was nearly dark, Wallin and Skadan returned to camp. The next morning, they were back to Caribou, where they found Cain’s body at the bottom of the lake, about twenty feet from shore. The body was retrieved taken to Susanville for an Coroner’s Inquest, and later interred in the Susanville Cemetery.

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On June 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Antiquities Act. In its initial conceptual form was to protect to prevent looting of archaeological sites. It was later revised to include historical sites and also landmarks of scientific importance. Once a site designated it became a National Monument.

Louis Barrett of the Lassen National Forest was concerned about two sites within its jurisdiction that could be developed into commercial tourist attractions—Cinder Cone and Lassen Peak. In the spring of 1906, in an effort to ward off future claimants he started a petition to make Cinder Cone and Lassen Peak into a national park. This did not gain the traction Barrett desired.

For Barrett, the passage  of the Antiquities Act came at an opportune moment. It provided him with another way to protect the features of Cinder Cone and Lassen Peak. He surmised the opposition to make them National Monuments would be minimal, for less than 10,000 acres of public land would be withdrawn, versus 100,000 acres for a Lassen Peak National Park.  At the same time, the national monument designation would not interfere with the establishment of a national park at a later date.

In early 1907, Barrett submitted the necessary paperwork for the creation of two national monuments—Cinder Cone and Lassen Peak. U.S. Secretary of Interior James Garfield liked the concept of two smaller national monuments better than a proposed national park. Of course, the maintenance of national monuments would be nominal compared to a national park. With no opposition, proclamations were prepared and submitted to President Roosevelt.  On May 6, 1907, Roosevelt established the Cinder Cone National Monument (5,120 acres) and Lassen Peak National Monument (1,280 acres). They became the six and seventh national monuments established under the Antiquities Act.

The movement, however, to create a Lassen Peak National Park did not fade away. One of the biggest obstacles was it was not well known, even in a regional sense. That all changed on May 30, 1914, when Lassen Peak erupted, and with it nation wide publicity.  On August 9, 1916, Lassen County lost its only national monument, when it was incorporated into the newly created Lassen Volcanic National Park.

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When Lassen Volcanic National Park was created in 1916, its boundaries were much smaller than they are today. In the mid-1920s when the park wanted to extend its boundaries, taking in adjoining national forest land, the Lassen National Forest objected. It was their opinion, they could do a superior job of handling the natural resources that could be best utilized in the public’s interest, than the park.

One proposal in 1913 could have had a significant impact to Butte and Snag Lakes.. Jonathan Stark of the forest service viewed the two lakes as reservoir possibilities. It was his belief, though some scientific work would need to substantiate it, that Butte and Snag Lakes were connected by an underground stream. It was his idea to place a ten-foot dam at the outlet of Butte Lake. The ten-foot rise of the levels of Butte and Snag Lakes could impound a million gallons of water that could be utilized for irrigation downstream.

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The 1928 fire season was different than most. In July witnessed the largest fire on the Lassen National Forest at Mill Creek near Mineral. It consumed nearly 11,000 acres, most of which was cut over lands of the old Sierra Lumber Company. Most of the other fires on the Lassen were two to ten acres in size. Other areas in California did not fare so well.

This was, however, when the area experienced its first large range fire. A fire broke out near Horse Lake and then extended all the way to Secret Valley consuming some 128,000 acres. While no structures were lost, considerable damage to fences was an issue. The area was used for sheep range by R.T. Jenkins and the Jauregui Brothers.

Tim