Long after the excitement of the gold rush, people were still lured to California. Numerous reports published back east extolled the health benefits of the golden state’s climate. In the spring of 1874, Iowa resident Sylvester Daniels ventured to the Honey Lake Valley to visit his sister, Polly Parks, and see if the change in climate might be beneficial to him. Like many in that era, Sylvester kept a journal. His journals were different in the sense, as he kept a record of his experiences so he could send them back to his fifteen-year-old daughter, Viroqua. Continue reading Sylvester Daniels→
Parish Register front page with writings by Father P.J. O’Reilly
In the fall of 1911 the Sacramento Diocese created a new parish from the Truckee Parish to be known as Sacred Heart. It would encompass two counties—Lassen and Modoc—a region comprising some 8,500 square miles (equivalent to size of the State of Maryland).
Father Philip J. O’Reilly was the first priest assigned arriving from Marysville. Father O’Reilly first established residence at Alturas, were a parish briefly existed in the 1880s. On December 17, 1911, Father O’Reilly held his first Mass in Susanville, and brought welcomed news that Mass would be held in Susanville on the last Sunday of each month. It should be noted that prior to this, Mass was held maybe once or twice a year, with Father Thomas Horgan riding circuit over a five county area making a 600 mile round trip.
On January 2, 1912, Father O’Reilly chose the date to open the Parish of Sacred Heart. He marked the event when he inscribed it by writing in front of the Baptismal, Marriage and Death Registers. He would later write in each one, that on December 2, 1915, Modoc County became a separate parish, except for Likely, which was added to Modoc exactly a year later.
In my very first post about Adin, it initially starts out concerning the works of photographer Herman Brince. After leaving Adin, Brince toured Modoc County and provides us with a glimpse of what Cedarville looked like then.
Cedarville, 1879
Cedarville’s humble beginnings began in the fall of 1865 when James Townsend built a cabin and commenced operations of a general store. His tenure was brief, for a year later in pursuit of some stolen livestock he was killed in a skirmish with the Indians. The following summer (1867), two enterprising entrepreneurs, John H. Bonner and William T. Cressler established a store there to become very successful businessmen there. They eventually bought Townsend’s cabin for their store. They went one step further and plotted out a town they named Cedarville after Bonner’s home town in Ohio.
Note: This article originally appeared on March 13. I am selecting some early posts, to fill in while I am on the road to recovery. For five dollars by, you can receive a daily email on that day’s topic, and in doing so, help preserve a bit of history.
On May 11, 1896, the Diamond Mountain Creamery was incorporated which consisted of William Brockman, John T. Masten, Charles Lawson and M.W. Hoffman. In their initial stock offering they raised $4,750, far short of their goal of $10,000. However, that did not prevent them from their goal of a creamery for the Honey Lake Valley. Continue reading Diamond Mountain Creamery→
