By the mid-1860s, Susanville had its very own Chinatown. It was located in the area of Main and Union Streets. It is interesting to note, where the current Elk’s Lodge is, it was owned by Chinese in 1864. Anyhow, this being Chinese New Year, the following is the earliest account of that event being held in Susanville.

Lassen Advocate – February 13, 1869 – “The celestial portion of our community have had a good time enjoying their New Year feast. It was ushered in by burning three bunches of fire crackers—superior size—at Main Street, much to the annoyance of our peaceable and quiet citizens. Rice, hog, gin, chickens and red paper are in great demand.”

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While I have addressed this topic before, it will be new to others. However, I recently acquired the above photograph and this earliest dated photograph where a street sign appears at the intersection of Lassen and Mill Streets.

By the early 1920s, with a tremendous increase in population, the Susanville Post Office had a lot of work to do. There being no home delivery of mail, the post office would get swamped for people picking up their mail. To institute home mail delivery was not as simple as it seemed.

On April 16, 1923 the Susanville City Council passed an ordinance for the numbering of houses and businesses, too. This was the first step towards residential mail delivery. It was a slow process, that took two years. In November 1925, Postmaster C.D. Mathews ordered street signs to be installed to assist the mail carriers. For many residents it was not only a novelty, but not everyone knew of the name of the street they resided on.

On December 1, 1925, residential mail delivery was instituted with three carriers for the greater Susanville area.

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While working on a self guided mural walking tour, one item that I want to incorporate is to highlight something about the building they adorn. On the west facing side of the building is the ranching mural.

In 1914, O.M.Doyle constructed a two-story brick building on the southeast corner of Main and Roop Streets, to be known as the Del Mar. It was designed by well known Nevada architect F.J. Delongchamps. It should be noted Delongchamps had previously designed the Lassen County Jail in 1911 and at the same time of the Del Mar Building he also designed the St. Francis Hotel and the Star Hotel.  There were several commercial buildings constructed that year, all which had basements. The problem arose what do with all this dirt. Some clever person, we may never know the identity, came with an interesting solution. The area where Piute Creek crossed Main Street was very low, and prone to flooding in the winter. The dirt from the excavated basements used to fill in some of that area.

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Awhile back, I wrote about Susanville’s Auto Row. The building featured in the photograph was known for decades as Deal & Davie. The structure was built in the fall of 1926 for Felix Poulin & Son—a Dodge Dealership.

Tim

Here it is the second day of 2022, and the first Sunday of the New Year. I am bit sluggish so bear with me, while I prod myself to get things up and running.

For those who have the 2022 Private Reserve Calendar, you are no doubt familiar with the above photograph. There is not a lot to indicate when it was taken. My hunch is December 1937, which would be the beginning of one of the wettest winters on record. What intrigues me, it is a postcard that I bought on Ebay last spring. In all my years of research, I had never seen this image before. So I bought it. There were red crayon marks, and I was not delighted. Two days later, another one appeared on Ebay, and it was in much better condition. So that is my story.

Tim