Tag Archives: Susanville

History

The Lassen County Seat Question

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Lassen County Courthouse and Hall of Records, 1907. Courtesy of Gil Morrill

This being Election Day, I thought I pass along some local election folklore.  One of which that at one time, Hayden Hill was in contention to become the county seat. Only once was there was some rumbling of moving the county seat  from Susanville. In 1893, after the town’s business district was destroyed by fire, there was some talk to relocate the county seat to Amedee.

In 1864, when the election was held to organize Lassen County,  the county seat question was on the ballot—Janesville or Susanville. That was a tricky election and it took some time to count the ballots. After all, the county had a polling precinct at Fort Crook (Shasta County) and one for all of Surprise Valley (Siskiyou County).  Those votes were finally rejected and Susanville won the county seat by seventy-one votes.

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History

Sacred Heart Church Groundbreaking

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Groudbreaking Ceremony

On Friday afternoon, September 3, 1948 with little fanfare, a simple groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new Sacred Heart Church. Father P.J. Moran had the distinct honor of turning the first shovel of soil. T&M Carpenter Shop had the contract to build the Spanish architecture style church, that would seat 300. The old church could only handle 100. The building contract had a clause the church would be completed in 120 days. So much for good intentions, as the first Mass in the new church was not held until July 9, 1949.

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History

Sacred Heart Church For Sale

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The original Sacred Heart Church.

In 1941, Father P.J. Moran of Susanville’s Sacred Heart Church announced plans to build a new church to replace the wooden one constructed in 1894. The raising of funds would take longer than Father Moran expected. In the spring of 1948, all systems were go so to speak. The first order of business was the disposal of the old church. In June 1948, it was advertised for sale, no specific price, just to the highest bidder. Alas, there were no bidders. Off to Plan B. Taylor & Roberts were awarded the bid to dismantled it, which the intended goal was the middle to July.  It took a little bit longer, but in August, the old church was part of history.

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History

Used millpond for sale

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Fruit Growers Supply Company, 1936

Smith Properties, a Susanville real estate firm, has a for sale sign at the former millpond of Fruit Growers/Sierra Pacific Industries located along Riverside Drive. Even though I do have an inquisitive mind, I have not been able to bring myself to place an inquiry. First of all, I am not even sure what can be done with the property. It should be noted that Fruit Growers purchased the twenty-acre millpond site in 1919 from George and Pearl Bassett for $9,500.

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History

Lilacs

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Susanville Cemetery

It is that time of year when the lilacs are in full bloom. With that in mind, here is a bit of trivia. Lilacs were introduced into the region from colonist from New Englanddc who located at the utopian community of Standish in the late 1890s. During the 1950s, Susanville’s gardening community tossed around the idea to hold a lilac festival, the plant being abundant there.

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History

Time marches on

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BofA columns
Final demolition of the original Bank of America, to make way for a parking lot.

While sorting through materials, I came across notes about the demolition of Susanville’s first Bank of America building. It was in the spring of 1972 when the demolition began. The four stately columns were knocked down on April 9. The building was constructed in 1922 and originally was the home of the Lassen Industrial Bank.

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History

Houses on the move!

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145 South Lassen Street, Susanville, October 1976.

For me, I find it of a particular interest the number of residences that instead of being demolished, were moved to another location.  Take for instance the former home of Dr. J.S. Wren located on the corner of Mill and South Lassen Streets. The property was to be the future home of Western Title Insurance Company. At daylight on October 29, 1976, Jim Music had the task to move the structure to its new location on Cornell Street. All went well until the house reached the intersection of Main and Weatherlow Streets where it took about forty minutes to maneuver the building around the stop lights.

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History

Paiute versus Piute

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A swollen Piute Creek caused  from breached earthen fill trestle, April 1938. Courtesy of Betty B. Deal

I just never know, when someone has a question for me, what it might be. A Susanville resident was confused why a city street known as Paiute Lane, and Piute Creek has two different spellings. The truth be told there are a lot of regional spellings for this Native American tribe. At the time of Anglo settlement, the references to the local band of Indians was spelled as Piute. Fast forward a hundred years later that correct  spelling included the letter “a” hence Paiute  Lane.  Then you have the situation where on November 1, 1859, James Archy claimed “Pyute Valley” near Susanville.

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History

Sierra Pacific closes Susanville mill

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Fruit Growers Supply Company, 1922. Forty-one years later it sold to Eagle Lake Lumber Company.

With little fanfare on May 3, 2004 Sierra Pacific Industries closed its Susanville mill. In a certain way it was a momentous event considering there had always been at least one sawmill in operation since 1857. This particular mill was constructed in 1921 by the Fruit Growers Supply Company to provide wooden boxes for its parent company, best known today as Sunkist. In 1963, Fruit Growers sold the mill to the Eagle Lake Lumber Company which would eventually evolve into Sierra Pacific Industries.

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