Many, many years ago I received a box of Louise West’s papers. The box was delivered to my mother’s house, and since resurfaced among other things. Louise West taught first grade at Susanville’s Washington School on Cottage Street for three decades spanning the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. If anyone is interested in a particular year let me know, and I will do my best to scan and send along. Please be patience, since I am assorting so many items at the moment.
Seasoned residents of the Susanville region will recall the spring of 1971, when the Bank of America building at Main and North Gay Street was demolished. Many in the community had not recovered from the demolition of another iconic building the original Lassen High School, which was torn down in June 1968 for the current campus buildings.
While the City of Susanville and the County of Lassen debate marijuana issues, lets take a look of some historic accounts from the 1920s. It was not until the late 1920s that marijuana appeared on the scene locally. In November 1928, Sheriff Jim Leavitt conducted a raid on the Brunswick Pool Hall near the Susanville Depot. Leavitt confiscated ten kegs of whiskey and ten pounds of marijuana and arrested Emma and Pete Ovalle on a narcotics charge for the possession of marijuana.
Marijuana was something new to the local residents. The local press described it as a Mexican tobacco that is smoked like a cigarette, and said it has an exhilarating and soothing effect for the smoker and can also make one feel “goofy.” Continue reading A Marijuana Tale
On March 18, 1948, the Trustees of the Susanville School District condemned the Washington School as it would no longer pass certain safety codes. Built in 1900, the two-story brick building was showing its age prematurely. At that time the McKinley School was located on the same campus, and officials considered it just a matter of time that it too, would have the same fate. The state considered it a “distressed district” and provided some funding to rebuild the schools. However, the school district had to pass a $174,000 bond measure, to qualify, and the voters approved it. Washington School remained at its Cottage Street location, while McKinley was relocated to Fourth Street. In 1980, Washington School closed. It later re-opened as Credence High School.
Who knew back in 1917, when Father P.J. O’Reilly announced the Sacred Heart Church would celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, that it would be an enduring tradition now in its 100th year. It is the oldest continuous event in Lassen County, surpassing even the Lassen County Fair. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, March 18 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Monsignor Moran Hall on Weatherlow Street Believe me, as I can attest they serve the best corned beef around. There is always the cake wheel that can be very entertaining.
Father O’Reilly’s first event was nearly an all nighter. As was the custom of the day, entertainment and dancing occupied the first half of the evening. Then at 11 p.m. a supper was served and then the dancing resumed into the “wee hours of the morning.” At the conclusion, Father O’Reilly commented that it was a a very successful affair socially and financially.
Estate Sale: I need to make room for items from my mother’s estate. This a great bargain 50% off, a big deal your cost $12.50 plus shipping. What a deal!
While researching the pre-history of Eagle Lake’s Spaulding Tract, one just never knows what I locate in the search. I thought the following would be an interesting tidbit to share.
In 1940, the school enrollments for elementary (Washington, McKinley, Lincoln and Roosevelt) along with the Lassen High School and the junior college totaled 1,445. In contrast, the population for Susanville was 1,575. Confused? First of all, the Susanville city limit stopped at Weatherlow Street to the east, and to Susan River on the south. The Lincoln and Roosevelt elementary schools, as well as Lassen High School, were located in the county.
Yesterday marks the second anniversary of the daily postings. The first topic I covered was Roosevelt Pool. At that time the pool was being demolished. A lot has happened since then. I asked Jim Chapman to provide us with an account along the way, and he obliged. So without further ado . . .
After almost two years of going thru every imaginable bureaucratic hoop, the JPA board was finally able to award a Design-Build contract to Modern Building Company Inc (MBC) of Chico for the new pool in late 2015. It must be noted that during the first couple of years of the existence of the JPA, considerable time was spent evaluating potential locations for a new pool, along with the demolition of the old Roosevelt Pool, so the process to begin constructing the new pool really didn’t begin until the middle part of 2015.
Resolution 15-07 was adopted on December 3, 2015 authorizing Phase 1 for the design portion, based on months of discussion preceding the action. MBC had 120 days to complete that task. The 120 days ended around the first of April 2016. Based on their initial presentation, another 6 weeks was taken by Jared and his staff to narrow the proposal down to something that fit within the expected budget.
One of the big sticking points that frustrated the JPA board was the fact that MBC in putting together the their design, they based it on communications from city staff, and initially designed the pool to be heated by the city natural gas service and not the geothermal resources that are available. Whether it was intentional or not will probably be debated for years to come. So a part of the delay in April and May was necessitated by the fact that MBC had to modify its construction documents to incorporate how to utilize the city geothermal heating system. To the distress of some of the board members, the on-site low-temperature geothermal well that produces 106˚ warm water is not being utilized in the new pool. The on-site well was the water that not only filled the pool, but it heated the original Roosevelt Pool. From its construction in the late 1930s until around 1985, Roosevelt Pool used the on-site well to fill it and keep it warm. Around 1985 the city shifted the heat source to the new city “hot” geothermal well (aka, Richardson-1) located on South Lassen Street near the Susan River producing 180˚ water. The old pool was served on the back end of the city geothermal system loop to maintain the heat in the pool. It is Richardson-1 well that will be the primary heat source for the new pool, with the natural gas system being considered a back-up heat source. One issue still to be worked out between the JPA board and the city is the cost of the domestic water being provided and then heated by the hot geothermal well. When the city operated the old pool, it was an in-house budget and finance issue. Now that the JPA is an independent agency, the city will be treating the service like they would with any other customer. The JPA will have, at some point, decide if it is more feasible to obtain water and heating from the city or to utilize the JPA-owned on-site geothermal well, which sits about 20 feet from the new pool and the new pool house.
Susanville’s Paul Bunyan Lumber Company was located in the current neighborhood of Wal-Mart. It was built in 1936 and originally referred to the Cedar Mill, as it was operated by the Springfield Cedar Company.
In 1945, during the long dissolution process of the Red River Lumber Company, one family member, Kenneth Walker continued to carry on in the family business and he took over the Cedar Mill. He also retained Red River’s company Paul Bunyan logo, and he named his new enterprise the Paul Bunyan Lumber Company.
However, it was not too long when disaster struck. A little after midnight on May 22, 1946, Charles Bannerman, the night watchman, signaled the fire alarm. By dawn the mill had been completely destroyed. Like the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes, Walker would build a new mill, which was placed into operation on February 16, 1947.
In the 1850s, the Anglo settlers of the Honey Lake Valley routinely petitioned the U.S. Military for aide and protection. Many of those pleas went ignored. The Civil War changed that. In the future we will explore the various encampments, and some non-military sites such as Fort Janesville.
Today, we examine Camp Susan, the nearest appearance of a military encampment the town would experience. In late August 1864, the 1st Nevada Territorial Infantry, a mobile military unit from Fort Churchill, under the command of Malachi R. Hassett, established a base camp near Susanville. Their mission was to scout the territory from Susanville, north to Surprise Valley and east to the Humboldt mines. In October 1864, the unit was ordered back to Fort Churchill. On September 12, 1864, Private Ebenezer Williams died at Camp Susan. Williams, a native of Wales, had just enlisted in February 1864.