These cliffs are located just west of Susanville and Highway 36 passes right over it, so the casual road traveller would not even be aware of it. There was a time one could pull off the highway and look over, but the highway department put up a barrier to discourage visitors. For those walking the Bizz Johnson Trail and look up at the cliffs, one will notice a tremendous amount of rock debris below the cliffs nearly all the way to river. That was not Mother Nature’s doing. In the summer of 1916 a state prison camp was established on the site occupied today by the California Division of Forestry. A tremendous amount of rock blasting had to be done between there and the city limits, which would be the new entrance into Susanville. All that blasted rock debris was pushed over the cliffs.

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If you have any tales on this topic, that you might want to contribute, just let me know.

Tim

While Lassen Volcanic National Park is known for its many hydrothermal features, and of course, Lassen Peak as a volcano. Many visitors and area residents are not aware that inside the park, there is not only the Lassen Peak volcano, but more. What is unique is there are four different types of volcanoes in the park. To me that is amazing to have such in a small area.

We begin with Prospect Peak, shield volcano, a broad dome with sloping sides. Next is Brokeoff Mountain, which is unique in the fact it is a remnant of ancient Mount Tehama. This is what is known as a composite volcano—conical shape buildup of many layers of lava and ash. Cinder Cone derives its name as a cinder cone volcano that was formed when a single vent violently shoots gas charged lava into the air and falls back as cinder rock. Last but not least, is Lassen Peak. It is one of the largest plug dome volcanoes in the world. Its formed by slow moving lava and bulbous formation.

There is your geology lesson for the day, enjoy your surroundings!

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First of all, some readers might have missed this post from last month, due to technical issues. You can read that post here. In summation, the mountain was named for the Shaffer Brothers—Peter J.and Uriah. When they departed the Honey Lake Valley in 1868 there whereabouts were unknown. It should be duly noted, in many instances, then and even today, former residents passing are chronicled in the local press. That was not the case with the Shaffers. Thanks to David Zoller he did some sleuthing and found that the two men by 1880 became fruit growers in Los Angeles County where they both died in the early 1900s.

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Long Lake is just to the west of Highway 44, northwest of McCoy Flat Reservoir. The lake is a natural sink, it has no inlet or outlet. Early maps and surveys referred to it as Anna Lake. In time it became known as Long, probably for George Best Long (1868-1925), well known Susanville stagecoach operator, who owned property adjacent to the lake.

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Horseshoe Lake is located in the southeast portion of Lassen Volcanic National Park. It is approximately a mile and a half northwest of Juniper Lake. It was originally known as Grassy Lake, but no doubt after the creation of the park, someone wanted to give it a more colorful name. In the1890s Adolph and Anna Olson had a squatter’s claim and for nearly twenty years used the area for summer livestock grazing. Jakey Lake located northeast of Juniper Lake was named for their son, Jakey Olson who died at the age of seventeen.

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