During the late 1920s, the farmers in the Standish district were frustrated with water woes. Those who hoped to be beneficiary of Bly’s Eagle Lake project were dismayed with an inadequate flow from that body of water. Even those who had water shares with Lassen Irrigation District suffered the same fate due extremely dry conditions. The winter of 1928-29 the area only received 8.38 inches precipitation. In May 1929 the weather was exceedingly warm with temperatures in the 80s and 90s. Irrigation wells were common on the desert east side of the Honey Lake Valley, but not so like Standish that in the past received its water from the Susan River. In June 1929, Standish resident, J.D. Andrews had a well drilled with success. At a depth 210 feet it could provide 300 gallons a minute being pumped for seven hours with a four inch centrifugal pump. Soon others followed suit. On a final note the cost of the Andrews well was $757.

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The Standish Post Office was established on April 21, 1899 with Harriet F. Torrey as the first postmaster. It is one of a handful of Lassen County post offices established prior to 1900 that are still in existence.

The town was named after Myles Standish, of the Plymouth Colony fame. In the 1890s, the Associated Colonies of New York wanted to create utopian communities in the West, and Standish would be their second development. The Standish Colony was designed using the philosophical beliefs of Myles Standish and the economic structure promoted by LDS leader, Brigham Young. For it to succeed it needed a water supply to irrigate the surrounding land. In 1898, the Honey Lake Valley Colonial Irrigation Company was incorporated and purchased Edward Purser’s Susan River Irrigation System. However, it was plagued with litigation over water rights, that led to the demise of the Standish Colony and Associated Colonies in 1901.

On a final note, the first book I intended to write was the history of the Tule and Standish districts. Well, most know that did not happen. A few years back I did survey of over 1,000 people to see if there was still an interest. Only 40 people expressed one, so that is why I never finished the history of Standish.

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Hardin “Finn” Barry was born March 26, 1891 in Susanville. In 1912, after he graduated from Santa Clara College, and he went to play Major League Baseball with the Philadelphia Athletics for one season. In the spring of 1913, he and his college friend Robert Murphy purchased a ranch in the Tule District of the Honey Lake Valley It was a disaster. In 1920 Finn abandoned the ranch and moved to Reno to study law. In 1921, he was admitted to the Nevada Bar and in December opened a law office in the Knoch Building in Susanville which he maintained the rest of his life. Continue reading Finn Barry’s Colony Ranch →

The Standish Jail. There was a similar one at Hayden Hill. There was  one at Bieber but it was replaced with a small cement structure in 1931. Unfortunately, I am unable to furnish information about them. I have never been able to locate any records in the Lassen County archives.

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