One would not normally associate the sport of golf in a community composed mainly of lumberjacks and sawmill workers like Westwood. However by 1920, the golfing phenomenon swept through Northern California and this lumber town was no exception.

The “divot diggers” as they were affectionaly known then took a little longer to take hold at Westwood. By the early 1920s, Susanville could boast three golf courses, albeit crude by modern day standards. Even Chester, then just a mere hamlet, had a golf course.

As early as 1921, Westwood’s golfing enthusiasts began the debate to establish a golf course. Yet, they just could not generate enough momentum to pull it off. This all changed in 1929 when Westwood’s golfing community organized a club. Those original duffers consisted of Ross Morehouse, Gene Huggins, Bob Pullman, F.W. Koerner, F.M. Jayne, Bill Corbett, Dan Taylor and C.C. Baptie. Continue reading The Westwood Golf Course →

In 1913, when the Red River Lumber Company was building its company town, the Great Western Power was in the midst constructing its Big Meadows dam to create nearby Lake Almanor. Great Western Power did  have a resident physician, namely Dr. Fred J. Davis to provide medical care. Red River routinely sought his services. By the fall of 1913, Dr. Davis accepted employment with Red River and remained with the company until 1939 when he moved to Susanville and opened a private practice. Continue reading Westwood Hospital →

The Red River Lumber Company was headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With its westward expansion to California and the establishment of its company town there, required extensive communications back and forth. For a historian, it was wonderful due to the paper trail. What is truly amazing is how much has been preserved at the Minnesota Historical Society.

The various members of the Walker family, the owners of Red River, were prolific letter writers.  Fletcher Walker, who was the resident manager at Westwood had to write in great detail about the conditions in California, since everything operated so differently than in Minnesota.

The letters, of course, also contained happenings around Westwood. Whether it was the political scene, or what their competitors were doing. With that in mind, I share a letter that Fletcher wrote to his father, T.B. Walker, exactly one hundred years to the date. You will note the letter is addressed to T.B. Walker in New York and not Minnesota. T.B. Walker then was spending a lot of time in New York wheeling and dealing as part of a re-finance bond sale for the Westwood operations.

Fletcher Walker’s Letter

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From time to time, someone will approach me about buried treasures.  Some stories have been embellished over the years, especially that of Harry Gordier’s gold and the Holden Dick Mine.

Then there are the lesser known tales, which are actually true,and not folklore. In the book Untold Stories, I relate the story of Chauncey Smith, since only a portion of his hidden cache of money was ever found.  There is, of course, the great Westwood bank robbery, that to this day the money has never been recovered. In August, 1926 a portion of Red River’s monthly payroll shipment consisting of $45,000 never made it Westwood from the Reno bank. One theory was the money was stashed along the mountainside between Doyle and Milford. In June 1927, Red River thought they had found thief, in one A.A. Bruce who formerly worked for the railway express offices in Reno and Westwood. Bruce was arrested and his Reno home searched. However, when a preliminary hearing was held in Susanville, Bruce was released from custody as there was insufficient evidence to charge him with the crime. No one was ever charged, and the money never found.

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