Yesterday, I made reference to the town of Richmond where the local Masonic lodge was organized. After all, for many people they are just aware of a road and school of the same name.
Richmond came into prominence with gold being discovered along the base of Diamond Mountain. By 1859, a nucelus of a town was in earnest with a hotel as well as houses built. The following year the region’s first newspaper, the Richmond Times, made its debut. In 1861, the townsite was surveyed and plotted, a first in the Honey Lake Valley. In 1862, things were rather bleak and the town nearly abandoned. Years later, E.R. Dodge wrote, “Richmond had gone up like a rocket and came down like a stick and Susanville had been left to glory over her rival.”
In a 1878 traveler on his way to visit Lassen’s Monument, described what was left of the abandoned town: “This was formerly a populous town with its stores, saloons and busy life, now nothing is left but a dilapidated hotel to mark the spot; and this with its windows gone, its sides warped and uncouth, is fast giving way to time’s relentless hand. A schoolhouse has been erected since the demise of the town, and Mr. Bantley and family are now the only inhabitants of this once busy place.”
On a final note, the abandoned hotel was converted into barn and on March 24, 1908, it fell down during a windstorm.
