Spanish Springs is a locale in the southwestern corner of the Madeline Plains. Folklore has it that it was named for a Spaniard who was the first person to locate there, but subsequently abandoned his claim.  On April 5, 1875, J. O. Conard filed the first claim to the springs. In the mid-1880s, August Penning located on Conard’s abandoned claim and operated a stage station there during the late 1800s through the early 1900s.  In 1893, Penning was granted a liquor license to operate a saloon with one provisin no more than one quart of distilled spirits to any person. On November 17, 1941, the Pennig family sold their Spanish Springs Ranch to John Sugadi for $11,000.

It was in 1989. when R.C. Roberts established the Spanish Springs Guest Ranch, that for a time put the area on the map. They offered spring and fall cattle drives for their guests to take part, though to partake was not cheap. The facilities and accommodations  were not shabby either. My last dining experience there was in June 2004, with Franklin Dill (Lassen High Class of 1933). It was another year or two when the 3,500 acre ranch was auctioned off, but the guest ranch portion was never resurrected.

This is one of those instances where I have been derelict in duties to chronicle the history of Robert’s enterprise. However, those who had business dealings with Roberts, it was not always a pleasant affair. In 2000, I felt the ire, when the Roberts Estate wanted to hire me to do  extensive water right research, but I had to decline for his advisory the John J. Casey Estate had already retained my services. Enough said, but the Casey Estate was prompt on payments for my services.

Tim

This is a kind of strange, short tale., especially since the records are somewhat sketchy. Lassen County records indicate that plots were sold in the Madeline Cemetery on May 3, 1909. Yet it was not until passing of one year old Bobbie MacDonald, on May 11, 1911 who would become the first person buried there. On January 11, 1917 John Bigford donated the land to the county, but it does appear he even owned the property. It was accepted by the county, and which a cemetery map was prepared in 1918. The cemetery received very little use there being only fourteen graves. As far as I know the last person buried there was Chris Laras in 1962.

Tim

When the NCO Railroad arrived on the Madeline Plains 1899/00, it gathered a great deal of media attention. The area witnessed some prosperous times, which peaked around 1915-16. World War I saw the drafting of the young men of the Madeline Plains, who after the war did not return because there were a lot of opportunities elsewhere than making a hardscrabble existence at their former home.

By the 1920s and into the 1930s, it was not all doom and gloom. Take for instance the Bailey Creek Sawmill to the west of Termo, that was a major boost to the economy. Of course, the Southern Pacific Railroad, which had taken over the former NCO provided jobs as well.

Of course, passer by travelers also was part of the economic fabric. For one Jim Lechuga, his visit to Ravendale was memorable. On April 28, 1930 he was arrested there with a suitcase that contained  360 tobacco tins full of marijuana. He told authorities it was for medicinal purposes. Roy D. Jones, State Narcotics Office, said that was hogwash, that marijuana had no medicinal value. On May 7, 1930, a jury trial was held in the Lassen County Superior Court. Lechuga was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison at San Quentin.

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Dry farming was slow to make its appearance around these parts. It slowly began in the early 1900s and timing could not have been better. The area was in a very wet cycle that lasted through 1916. The following is a 1911 account of dry farming in Lassen County.

”While much of the farming of the county is done dry, which is to say without irrigation, there is very little scientific dry farming. Indeed, it is all but unknown. However, a beginning has been made, in a few small farms in Honey Lake Valley, and in the Madeline Plains, where may be seen the most substantial evidence that it is profitable. Those who are interested in this form of farming may learn something to their profit by communicating  with Mr. Isaac Metcalf, whose address is Termo, Lassen County. Two years ago, Mr. Metcalf lost his all by fire. Coming then to the Madeline Plains without even a team of horses, he began dry farming on 160 acres, practicing the Campbell system. The first year, he cut from forty acres of barley 761 sacks averaging 110 pounds each; and from eight acres of rye ninety-six sacks averaging 130 pounds each. The same year, he turned five sows and their pigs, thirty-nine in all, upon a piece. of alfalfa a little less than two acres in size, upon which they made their living until winter. Then he fed them about one hundred sacks of barley, following which he killed thirty-one of them, these bringing him 3,800 pounds of cured meat. Mr. Metcalf now has a comfortable and pretty residence, a fine barn and other appurtenances, and a small but thriving young orchard of apples, pears, plums prunes, quince and a few grapes. He has no land to sell, but those who. see his place will agree with him that a fair valuation of his possessions is $5,000, all of it accumulated by two years dry farming.”

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This idyllic alpine lake photograph is dubbed as Eagle Lake, located near Termo. It is the featured photograph to the many wonders of the region, specifically, as the the seller points out to entice a buyer of a 20-acre ranch on the Madeline Plains. Asking price for the parcel is $18,000. The seller will even owner finance at 9% interest. So many interesting real estate offers to be found on the internet.

A number of years ago, while doing research in the Lassen County Assessor’s an interesting, yet not uncommon episode occurred. A man walked into the office, having flown all the way from London, England, to examine a parcel of land his uncle bequeathed him. Thus, the gentleman suffered from illusions of grandeur, for surely, California property must be worth gold! The staff at the Assessor’s Office attempted to explain that he inherited a twenty acre parcel on the Madeline Plains. Let’s just say the poor Brit spent more on making the overseas trip than what the property was worth.

Tim