That was the headline in the Plumas National Bulletin newspaper of Quincy on October 4, 1911. Oroville city trustees raised the alarm that Great Western Power Company’s construction of a dam at Big Meadows to create what we know today as Lake Almanor. Of course, their fears were justified. On September 30, 1911, some 2,500 miles away, a concrete dam of the Bayles Pulp & Paper Company at Allen, Pennsylvania breached, killing more than 800 people. Oroville, located downstream on the Feather River, had always been apprehensive about the dam at Big Meadows, and this episode only heightened their fears.
Great Western’s Vice. President, H.H. Sinclair, issued a statement asserting that Oroville and other valley towns had nothing to fear, as the utmost care in the design of the dam had been exercised. Sinclair stressed that the company had already spent $20,000 just in investigating the site conditions on the river for the foundation. Furthermore, he stated that he hoped construction on the dam would begin on April 1, 1912 with the goal to have it complete by December. However, there would be numerous problems encountered and the dam was not complete until early 1914.
Long before Chester came into existence, and Lake Almanor, too, there was the community of Prattville. In the early 1900s changes were on the horizon when the Great Western Power Company, known today as Pacific Gas & Electric Company, began buying property in the region then known as Big Meadows, for a reservoir site. One of the problematic properties for Great Western Power was the town of Prattville.
In 1909, there was a suspicious fire that wiped out the majority of the town of Prattville, though it still hung on barely, much to the dismay of Great Western Power. Frank Sorsoli lost his brand new two-story hotel, along with a saloon. Despite his severe loss, Sorsoli decided to rebuild his saloon. The only other business in town was Timothy Lucy’s general merchandise store, which also housed the Prattville Post Office. On December 23, 1911 Sorsoli sold his saloon and five town lots to Great Western Power and moved to Susanville and spent the remainder of his life there. Lucy carried on, but with the flooding of Big Meadows to create Lake Almanor in early 1914, he saw the proverbial writing on the wall and closed his store on March 31, 1914, and at that time the Prattville Post Office was discontinued.
Said Valley Reservoir, 1921. Courtesy of Lola L. Tanner
Approximately some 40 miles north of Susanville, along Highway 139, there lies a small, non-descript place known as Said Valley, or when there is water Said Valley Reservoir, the latter is actually good fishing when it retains water.
It was named for Bartlett Said, somewhat of a free spirit in his day. Born 1813 in Kentucky, Said with his family migrated to Placerville, California in 1850. From there they moved to Rich Bar, Plumas County. His wife, Mary, not fond of her husband, disposed of him. Bartlett, then took solace with his daughter’s family Nancy Jones, who operated Summit House in eastern Plumas County.
One of the reasons for Said’s wonderlust was mining. When news circulated about the discovery of gold in northern Lassen County, Said went to check it out. He located in the northern extreme of Grasshopper Valley, that in time became known as Said Valley. After several years, he ventured over to Horse Lake. From there his prospecting adventures took him to Long Valley, in Lassen County, where various relations resided.
Said, like so many others, struggled to make a living at mining. In 1896, the family had placed the elderly patriarch in the Lassen County Hospital, which also served as a poor/old folks home. He died there in 1904, and lies buried in the Susanville Cemetery in an unmarked grave.
One of the most dramatic transformation for Chester came in 1941 with the announcement by the Collins Pine Company that it intend to construct a mill at Chester. This was going to be a radical departure for Chester from its peaceful existence as a summer getaway, and in the fall hunters briefly replaced the summer visitors. Once winter approached, many of Chester’s citizens boarded up their homes and moved to warmer climates, then to return in the spring.
Collins Pine changed all that, providing an industry to stabilize a year-round community. It should be noted Collins Pine was not a stranger to the region. As a matter of fact, in 1902 the company had purchased 18,000 acres of timberland in the region. In 1940, the nearby Red River Lumber Company at Westwood offered to rent their mill. Collins was not interested. However, Collins in 1941 purchased the millsite near Chester and thirteen miles of railroad from Chester to Clear Creek Junction from Red River. It was a slow process for the construction of Collins mill due to World War II and the scarcity of machinery. Even with those adversities, on March 31, 1943 the first board was sawed at the new mill.
Long before Lake Almanor was conceived Big Springs and Hamilton Branch were popular camping/fishing spots at the then Big Meadows. A portion of that would change in the early 1900s when Great Western Power Company began land acquisition there. The company issued a statement that all camping and/or recreational activities were prohibited on their land, though initially permits could be obtained That is a story for another time.
When the first phase of the construction of Lake Almanor was completed in 1914, a great deal of the activity was logging by the Red River Lumber Company who had a contract to remove the standing timber from the reservoir. One of Red River’s earliest and best known logging camps, was Camp 14 located near Hamilton Branch.
In 1923, J.N. Boshoff contacted Red River officials about converting a portion of abandoned Camp 32 at Hamilton Branch into a little resort. Red River agreed, seeing it as an opportunity to provide recreational opportunities for its employees and their families. Boshoff then converted some of the cabins at Camp 32 into bath houses for changing and others into overnight sleeping accommodations. He dubbed his new enterprise Hamilton Park. Boshoff leased the property from Red River for the next fourteen years. Hamilton Park eventually became known as Lassen View Resort.
Camp 38, Red River Lumber Company at Lake Almanor circa 1925—Hank Martinez
One of California Department Fish & Game’s concerns with the creation of Lake Almanor was the lack of a fish ladder at the dam. While the issue was being debated in the summer of 1916 occurred a massive fish kill at Lake Almanor. Deputy Fish & Game Warden Frank Cady went to the lake to collect some samples to be analyzed. The fish, it was discovered, did not possess any disease. The problem was with the. lake itself and water quality. There was a tremendous amount of vegetative matter decomposing in the lake from logs, brush and such from the initial flooding. It had all the characteristics of millpond, and coupled with warm summer temperatures was the problem of the fish kill. Once fall arrived with cooler temperatures, along with the rains, the water quality improved, and so did the health of the fish.
Many may not be aware but the dam at Lake Almanor was constructed in the three phases. The first was the initial dam completed in 1914. That dam had to be scaled back due to financial issues. The second phase was competed in 1926.
In the fall of 1961, PG&E disclosed that it intended to raise the dam by sixteen feet and increase the storage capacity by sixty percent. The $6.7 million project began in the spring of 1962—the job was awarded to construction giant Morrison-Knudsen. As the cost indicated, this was a substantial project, as the entire dam needed to be retrofitted. A portion of this was due that there was a seepage problem since the dam was first constructed. To rectify that problem over the years, several dikes were built in front of the dam, along with other alterations. To reinforce the dam required moving of some 800,000 cubic yards of earth; 275,000 tons of rock fill, and 90,000 square feet of gunite to prevent water seepage from the increased water pressure. Work on the new improved Lake Almanor dam was completed in the fall of 1963.
Indian Valley Railroad. Courtesy of the Plumas County Museum
One of the biggest issues T.B. Walker had against the Red River Lumber Company’s location at Westwood, was it lacked a railroad link directly to California. For a time there was a glimmer hope with the Indian Valley Railroad.
On June 30, 1916, the Indian Valley Railroad (IVR) was incorporated to build a line from Paxton on the Western Pacific Railroad to the Engel Copper Mine near Taylorsville–a distance of 21 miles. Sixteen months later the rail line was completed. It should be noted, that it was originally proposed as a narrow gauge line, but Willis Walker of the Red River Lumber Company objected. After all, Walker was keen enough to see the possibilities for a link to Westwood, and with that would force the Southern Pacific Railroad to be more competitive in their rates.
Early on the IVR had its sights on Westwood. In 1918 a survey to extend the line to Westwood was conducted, There was speculation that the IVR would extend its line to Westwood, and in 1918 the IVR did survey a line to that place. With Red River’s main branch railroad logging extending along the east shore of Lake Almanor to Canyon Dam, there was not much territory separating the two lines. In 1927 a request was sent to the Interstate Commerce Commission to put in this proposed line to be known as the Northern California Railroad. It was rejected. However, in the works was the Western Pacific and Great Northern Railroads to connect their respective lines with a new railroad from Keddie, Plumas County to Klamath Falls, Oregon. This was approved in 1930, and Red River Lumber Company would finally have a second railroad connection it had always sought.
In 1882, Julius M. Howells, a civil engineer for Agassiz & Shaw, was hired to study the geological features of the Feather River country. The region left a lasting impression on him. First, there was the abundant watershed found at Big Meadows (now Lake Almanor). Then there was the dramatic elevation once the Feather River left that basin, descending some 4,350 feet in a distance of some seventy miles. Two years later, Howells left the region to work on other projects.
In the 1890s hydroelectric power was coming to the forefront. In 1895 his brother-in-law, J.J. Seymour, was a co-founder of the San Joaquin Electric Company in Fresno. In 1899 Howells accepted the position of consulting engineer for that power company to construct the Crane Valley Dam.
In 1901, in Los Angeles, Howells affiliated himself with noted engineer James Dix Schuyler. In November, Howells returned to Big Meadows to compile facts and figures for the potential development of a hydroelectric system utilizing the Feather River. Upon his return, with data in hand, Schuyler arranged a meeting between Howells and Edwin T. Earl—the latter had done very well in the citrus packing industry and was branching out into other endeavors.
Earl consulted with his brother, Guy C. Earl, an Oakland attorney. They concluded that Howells’ venture was worth pursuing. It was deemed that secrecy was the order of the day, so as not to alert the competition, as Plumas County resident George Cornell had a similar proposition in the works, but lacked financial capital.
Nevis Dam under construction, that was later abandoned, and the dam moved upstream to today’s current location.
Fast forward to the spring of 1913, after numerous hurdles and one failed dam attempt, Julius Howells went to work for the Earl Brothers who had formed the Great Western Power Company. By the summer of 1913 work was in full progress and the newly constructed reservoir known as Lake Almanor was completed in the summer of 1914.
Due to financial issues the original proposed dam was scaled back by half. In December 1924, Great Western Power announced its intention to raise the dam by forty-five feet. Julius Howells was brought back as consulting engineer.
In December 1926, the raising of the dam was complete. On April 22, 1927, Julius Meriam Howells passed away in San Francisco.
Longville Hotel, circa 1915. Courtesy of Plumas County Museum
Longville was one of many Plumas County mining communities, some of which have connections over the mountain in Lassen County. One of those forgotten places was Longville located in Humbug Valley. This valley is located a bit south and west of Lake Almanor. It is a picturesque meadow surrounding by pine trees.
The settlement began there in 1855, when B.K. Ervine and William B. Long used the valley for stock-range. Two years later, gold was discovered and set off a flurry of mining operations. Long and his father-in-law, Allen Wood, built a hotel, and a sawmill mill, too, and thus the town of Longville came into existence. In 1862, Long came to Susanville and purchased William Weatherlow’s ranch, known today as Susanville Ranch Park.
Longville—Plumas County Museum
In 1856, Andrew Miller made a permanent home at Humbug Valley, He did stray on occasions. In 1863, he ventured over to Susanville for awhile and with Rufus Kingsley constructed the first native-stone building, the site being the current location of Margie’s Book Nook. After his brief stay in Susanville he returned back to Humbug. However, in 1874, he was appointed Receiver of the Government Land Office in Susanville, and remained in that position until 1886. The Government Land Office was the only federal office in Lassen County, and today is known as the Bureau of Land Management. Miller once again returned to Humbug where he remained until his passing in 1903 and is buried in Susanville.
Longville, like so many rural communities, suffered from the effects of World War I, and it quickly depopulated. Its post office, which Andrew Miller established in 1861, closed in 1918.
It should be noted that Long and Miller descendants still reside in the Susanville. It was Miller’s grandson, Claude Heard, who established Heard’s Market, a focal point for decades in Litchfield, but now closed.
