Just as there was a movement in the early 1900s to build a new courthouse, the same issue was applied to the Lassen County Hospital. The two-story, twelve-room facility was built in 1883 for $620. It was located next to the Susan River and far enough away from the town proper should a quarantine be necessary.

In essence over time the hospital devolved into a poor folks home. In the campaign to build a new hospital the Lassen Weekly Mail reported the following conditions of the facility in 1914: “The operating room is on the first floor—at least they call it an operating room. It must make a doctor’s hair stand on end every time he enters it. Septicemia stares a surgeon in the face every time he performs even a minor operation. When your mind thinks of a operating room of a hospital the picture presented to the mind is an airy room with tiled floors, enameled walls and ceiling and every facility for cleanliness, but if you have any such picture in your mind when you visit the operating room of the Lassen County Hospital it will be rudely shattered. The room is small, has a wooden floor and the walls are papered the ceiling an ordinary wooden ceiling. The operating table is an improvised one and of course lacks all conveniences which a surgeon should have in order to do good work. The room is kept clean as possible, but you speak of cleanliness in the operating room of a hospital it does not mean the mere absence of dirt visible to the naked eye. It means that every possibility of germs or any foreign matter that could by any possibility infect the patient are removed. In no possible way could the operating room at the Lassen County Hospital be put in condition that a surgeon would even consider safe.” The following year the voters approved a bond measure for a new courthouse and hospital.

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Yesterday, I duly noted the large number of gas/service stations, well there was a large concentration of bars in the uptown district. From Weatherlow Street to Roop Street there was: Manuel’s, Marion’s, Round Up Room, the 802, State, Pioneer, Western Room and the B&B. There was the Bank Club, but that was before my time. Then, if you wanted to be discreet, you could get a drink at the Grand Cafe. Today, there is only one, Lassen Ale Works at the Pioneer.

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Seasoned residents will recall that it seemed like there was a gas station on nearly every corner of Susanville’s Main Street back in the 1950s and 1960s. Actually, the proper term at that time was “service station.” If one approached Susanville from the west, one of the first items they would see, was not one, but two service stations at the intersection of Main and Roop Streets.  At 504 Main Street was a Union 76 Station and kitty-corner and next to Doyle Motors was a Shell Station.

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Three years ago today, I started the daily postings. At that time the hot topic was the Roosevelt Pool that was in the final stages of demolition. Each subsequent March 1, I did a follow up on the status of the replacement pool. The Roosevelt has been reincarnated as the Honey Lake Valley Community Pool. It is a joint effort between the city and county and I will spare the dear reader of the gory details of meetings that finally led to its creation. More importantly the community now has a swimming pool, located adjacent to the site of the old one. When the temperatures starts rising this summer, stop by and check it out.

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In 1864, Joseph I. Steward had a large hotel constructed at the corner of Main and Gay Streets, the location known today as the former Bank of America parking lot. It was the most pretentious in Susanville at that time and it was a signal to the end of the log cabin era. Steward sold the hotel the following year to Miller & Kingsley for $12,911.80. The property changed hands numerous times over the years, but it always retained the Steward House name.

Whatever the case may be, the Steward House was Susanville’s social hub during its existence. On July 18, 1893, the Steward House, as well as the majority of Susanville’s business district, was destroyed by fire.

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This short street along the Susan River was originally known as River Street. For a time it was referred as Slippery Gulch. When the railroad arrived in Susanville in 1913, not only did bring prosperity, but attracted “camp followers,” which was not welcomed with open arms by city officials. These followers established a small encampment at the Richmond Road Bridge with gambling dens and houses of prostitution. Something had to be done and fast. After all first time visitors to Susanville traveling by train would have to pass through this seedy area, before they got to Susanville proper. A solution was found, they moved the encampment further up River Street towards Lassen Street, with the philosophy “out of sight, out of mind.” When prohibition came along, new element was added to the “gulch” bootleg joints.

When the Lassen Townsite was subdivided in 1912, it too, had a River Street. When it was annexed to Susanville, something had to be done to correct the issue of two River Streets. This was purportedly, i.e., not verified, that it was named for Frank Carroll, an Indian agent who lived there in the 1930s.

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