This was a unique 1953 publication put together by Harold Gilliam, and most of material originally appeared in This World segment of the San Francisco Chronicle. Gilliam later became one of the earliest environmental journalist and had a lengthy career with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Gilliam’s prose and unique perpspective differs from a lot of promotional material. From time to time excerpts will be featured. The following are the opening paragraphs:

“Susanville comes as a surprise. You drive for hours through the Northern Sierra—up deep gorges, along roaring streams, through high mountain forests, beneath jagged peaks sheathed in ice this time of year—and suddenly there below you at the head of a wide valley is an attractive city, with homes, businesses, railroads and factories.

“This mountain city is the capital of the region that is legally part of California but in most ways is as different from the rest of the State as was James Hilton’s mythical Valley of the Blue Moon from the region which surrounded it.

“Here in this isolated valley men once fought a frontier war to maintain their independence from California. Here in 1952, serenely indifferent to threats of civilization’s atomic destruction, men work confidently on a project which will have no practical results for 150 years.”

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Susanville, the Lassen County seat, is beautifully located at the base of a mountain range where the timber line meets the great expanse of Honey Lake Valley. The Susan River flows down its canyon from the west and through Susanville. Highways enter from four directions and the Southern Pacific railway runs east and west through the town and up the Susan River canyon. The population is 5,000.

The big lumber mills of the Lassen Lumber & Box Company and Fruit Growers Supply Company are located in Susanville employing 2,000 men between them and giving the community a big payroll. Several other smaller industries flourish. The farmers of the Honey Lake Valley and surrounding valleys bring their products to Susanville for sale or shipment and buy their merchandise.

The town has two miles of paved streets and other improvements that would be a credit to communities three times the size. There is an electric light system furnishing cheap power and the water system takes it water from a large spring several miles from Susanville in the mountains. A modern sewage disposal plant as just been built by the city to replace the old method of draining into the river.

Susanville has an excellent high school, three grammar schools, county library, five churches and several active fraternal groups and societies.

The above material was from a Lassen County Chamber of Commerce brochure.

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My how times have changed. Take for instance this 1923 advertisement for Susanville’s Model Laundry:

“Men do all the washing at this Laundry. No woman could do the job. We would not let them. They’d break down in a hurry. The work is too hard—too heavy—too continuous—too tiresome. Sheets, bed spreads, pillow cases, so on, that weigh only a couple of pounds when dry come out of the tub ten times heavier and it takes a pretty husky woman to pull loads like this back and forth. Let Men and Machines do the RUBBING and SCRUBBING.”

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Prior to 1922, there was no snow removal in Susanville. There were several factors at play. One most people were not dependent on an automobile for transportation, there were still an abundant of horse drawn sleighs to navigate any deep snow. On the other hand, Susanville had experienced a major transformation with paved streets, curbs, gutters and sidewalks. This was paid for with a special tax assessment with the property owners, many of whom were not happy with the situation. The citizens demanded some form of snow removal.

The city had a slight problem to comply with the request of its inhabitants—they had no equipment. Luckily, the county road department came to the city’s aid and plowed Main Street pushing the snow to the center of the street. In 1933, the city turned over Main Street to the State Highway Department, who continues with the same snow plowing practices.

On January 5, 2005, Susanville’s uptown district lost one of its iconic buildings from fire. For seasoned residents, they will know the place as Spalding Drug—where many recall having their first “cherry coke” at the store’s soda fountain. What many people do not know, is that six months prior to the fire, I resided on the second floor of that building. Had I not moved, a large portion of my historical photographic archives would have been destroyed among other priceless documents. Among things in the basement, not being able to retrieve anything is my cross country skis for a future archaeologist to discover.

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This is just one of those random thoughts to invade my mind during my recovery. It has to do with when a town plat for Susanville that was made in 1863. Roop and Weatherlow Streets need to be reversed. This has to do with logic. Captain William Weatherlow lived at what became the end of North Roop Street. On the other hand, Isaac Roop who laid out the town originally resided on what became North Weatherlow Street.

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