Slippery Gulch was one of those colorful Susanville neighborhoods—one that initially was scene of houses of ill repute and later bootleg joints during prohibition. Initially, it was located along the Susan River near the Richmond Road bridge when the railroad arrived in 1912. Civic leaders were not amused, since first time visitors who arrived by train, this would be their first impression of Susanville proper. The inhabitants were moved up the river along Carroll Street in the out of sight out of mind philosophy.

As a general rule the local newspapers rarely mentioned this area by name. However, in 1935, Ash Turner in his This and That column that appeared in the Lassen Mail wrote: “News that should interest residents of Slippery Gulch comes from Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake district, Utah Federation of Women’s Clubs has adopted a resolution endorsing the birth control movement as ‘of utmost importance to all Americans that the population of our country be vigorous and healthy.’”

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After I had completed the above, I came across another interesting editorial piece from the Lassen Mail of December 27, 1929. The paper reported a scuffle of two Indians—Lester Evans and Ruth Gerig—at the Green Lantern in Slippery Gulch. The paper concluded, “Editorially speaking in a news column it would be a good thing for the town if ‘Slippery Gulch’ were cleaned out and kept clean. If the Indians and those who frequent the ‘Gulch’ must have a scene and setting for their carousels there are plenty of wide open spaces away from Susanville and its environs where they may have full play without annoying respectable people with their drunken and noisey coming and going.”

Someone recently wanted to know how the Emerson Hotel, a three-story brick building caught fire. First, a little background. The reason why Susanville came into existence as a municipality, had to do with the lack of fire protection. Its business district had been devastated by fire too many times.

In 1902, the City of Susanville introduced Ordinance No. 17 that structures in the business district be constructed of fire resistant materials, such as brick, native stone and concrete. The roofs of these buildings would use fire resistant material as well.

The Emerson Hotel was built in 1900-01. The one feature the brick building did not possess was a fire resistant roof. At around midnight on August 5, 1915, Emerson’s warehouse located on nearby Cottage Street caught fire. The wooden structure, built in 1873 originally housed the Congregational Church. By the time the fire was discovered, the building was engulfed in flames, with erratic winds sending embers into the air. In no time, the roof of the Emerson Hotel was on fire and containment was impossible, for now the fire had spread to two nearby structures the Hyer House Hotel and the Methodist Church, the latter a brick building. It should be noted the Methodist Church was built at the same time as the Emerson Hotel, and lacked a fire resistant roof.

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During the 1880s and 1890s the residents of Susanville struggled with the issue of a much needed public hall. The Methodist Church was used for many public functions, including the annual community Christmas tree. On Decoration (Memorial) Day of 1898, after special ceremonies were held at the Susanville Cemetery, further presentations were then conducted at the Methodist Church. This time, church could not accommodate all those who attended. It was proposed that the community raise funds to enlarge the church. It gained momentum for awhile. Then on the evening of August 9, 1898 disaster struck when Susanville’s most prominent structure the Masonic Temple (better known today as the Knoch building) caught fire and the building entirely gutted. In the end, the Methodist Church was remodeled in the late fall of 1898, that allowed for extra seating, but the building was not enlarged.

In February 1899, the Susanville Town Hall Association was incorporated. It, too, was derailed by a fire the following year, but that event led to the formation of the City of Susanville.

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