701 Nevada Street, Susanville, October 7, 1939–H. Frodsham photograph
In 1912, the Great Western Power Company was in the midst of the construction of Nevis Dam to create Lake Almanor. The company hired Dr. Fred J. Davis to provide medical care for the construction workers. In September 1913, Red River Lumber Company hired Dr. Davis to provide medical care to its newly constructed company town of Westwood. Dr. Davis would remain in charge of the Westwood Hospital until 1939. Dr. Davis, along with son, Dr. Fred J. Davis, Jr., moved to Susanville to open their private practice. At 701 Nevada Street, Susanville they had an office constructed. In 1965 Dr. Davis Sr. retired. In 1974, Dr. Fred J. Davis Jr. retired and he sold the office to Dr. Jay Beams. In 2022. Beams closed the office, which now sits vacant.
A view of Westwood with Keddie Ridge in the background, 1955.
Truth be known when Red River put its mill plant and town on the market in the early 1940s, no one wanted it. Some of the factors were an aging mill facility and majority of the tributary timber depleted. There was also the major headache of operating a town. It was not until Red River sweetened the proposition with the Burney Tract that contained an estimated one billion board feet of timber that made it more attractive. Reluctantly, Fruit Growers Supply Company succumbed and made the purchase.
Major changes were on the horizon and the universal adoption of the cardboard box changed the way Fruit Growers business operations in the future. On August 25, 1955 Fruit Growers announced it would shut down the Westwood plant. Since it appeared there was not market for the mill, Fruit Growers sold everything the following year to a liquidator Wershow and Weiz of Los Angeles. For Fruit Growers one of its greatest relief it no longer had the complicated burden of maintaining a town.
Westwood Hospital, February 14, 1938–H. Frodsham photograph
The Westwood Hospital remained opened even after Fruit Growers closed the mill. The new owners Wershow & Weisz did not want to operate the aging facility. They offered to give it to Lassen County along with $5,300, the cost they estimated to make the improvements to the building required to meet fire regulations. Lassen County was not interested. The county stated if the Westwood residents could form a special tax district for the hospital. On June 24, 1958 the few remaining patients were transferred to Chester and Susanville.
Missing in action during the final days of the hospital’s fate was long-time physician Dr. Herman Levin, who was away on vacation in Chicago. Levin,it should be noted, maintained an office in the hospital. M.H. Poster, resident representative of Wershow & Weisz, stated that if Dr. Levin wishes to continue with his office there, it is available to him. If not, Poster stated: “Otherwise the doors will be locked and it will be boarded up.” When Levin returned, he kept is office and it was business as usual in the hospital, except it could only handle emergency care patients until the person could be transferred by ambulance to a neighboring hospital. On April 9, 1972, the community held a retirement party for Dr. Levin.
Westwood Rod & Gun Club building, September 30, 1928–H. Frodsham photograph
On March 13, 1922, the organizational meeting of the Westwood Rod & Gun Club was held. The principal players were George Peltier, Fletcher Walker, Ted Walker, Dr. F.J. Davis, Herb Smith, Rev. R.G. Green, R.H. Browne, Charlie Gardner and Bud Morrison, with Peltier serving as first president. Besides working on formalities of by-laws and such, the first objective was to build a clubhouse at Lake Almanor. At that time, Lake Almanor was only half the size that it is now. This, of course, influenced their decision as to the location. The site chosen was Bunnell’s point, close to the proximity presently known as the tip of the Lake Almanor peninsula. By April construction began on the two-story clubhouse. By September the club boated a membership of 57. In addition, to the clubhouse Dr. Davis, George Peltier and Fletcher Walker had small cabins built next to it. Tents were also provided to the members, along with duck blinds at the lake. The clubhouse which featured an outside dance floor, became a scene of merriment, as numerous social gatherings were held there.
In 1925, the club received word that Great Western Power had plans to heighten the dam at Lake Almanor, doubling its size. A discussion ensued among members about moving the clubhouse. It was finally agreed to move it near Big Springs, thus making is more accessible by being only six miles from Westwood. Of course, before they could do that, they would need permission from the Red River Lumber Company to locate there, since the property in question was company owned. This was not a problem, as Fletcher Walker was Red River’s General Manager of Westwood and active member in the organization and gave his blessing. Equally important, they could use the barge Red River leased from Great Western Power to float over the clubhouse and existing cabins.
By 1940, changes were on the horizon and the Westwood Rod & Gun Club days would be soon numbered. with the sale of the Red River to the Fruit Growers Supply Company. In1945, the club disbanded, and the clubhouse became the property of Red River. In 1947, Red River began subdividing its lakeshore property at Lake Almanor and one of the first pieces was at Big Springs. There 125 lots that were plotted. In May 1947, W.W. Davis of San Diego purchased the clubhouse. Davis remodeled the building into apartments. It was torn down in October 2010.
Mr. & Mrs. H. Frodsham in front of Bud Coffee’s airplane at Westwood, August 5, 1920–H. Frodsham photograph
Today, Westwood has no airport. It did, however, at one time had two different airports. The first one which really consisted of a crude landing strip. By the late 1910s, the first landing field was located about a mile south of the Goodrich Ranch, or the current bridge that crosses Goodrich Creek. Interest in flying slowly gained momentum. In June 1928 the Westwood Auto Club spent $100 to clear the landing field of brush and fill in holes to make two 2,200 foot runways. Thus, the Westwood Airport was created—a first in Lassen County. By the late 1930s the landing field slowly declined in use, since the Red River Lumber Company was in a transitory period. In 1944, Red River sold its Westwood operation, thus more changes on the horizon. In 1946, Lassen County bought forty-two acres at $2.50 acre from Red River to provide a landing strip to the west of Westwood. It was subsequently closed. In July 1982, the Lassen County Board of Supervisors discussed re-opening the airstrip, but it never got off the ground.
Recently, I have been in receipt of some photographs taken Harold Frodsham (1879-1958). Frodsham came to Westwood in the spring of 1920, while working for General Electric. Red River Lumber Company was retrofitting its powerhouse and building its Hamilton Branch hydro plant. Red River hired Frodsham originally as its efficiency expert, and was later transferred to various management positions, Frodsham did among other things was a lot of photography work for Red River at Westwood.
In the near future, these will be featured along with stories about the scenes in particular such as the Westwood Rod & Gun Club.
While many are aware of when Red River Lumber Company’s mill town of Westwood first came into operation in 1913, it was a true company town. All the housing was owned by company, and about 99 percent of businesses were too. There are exceptions to the rule. There were some tasks the company did not want to undertake, such as the mortuary. Of course, that business needed Red River’s approval to operate. The featured illustration provides another example.
In. 1918, WesleyTaylor advertised in the Westwood Independent his services as insurance agent and notary public. How long he remained in business there is not clear. However, in 1920 with the formation of the Westwood National Bank, that institution provided notary services. It should be noted since Westwood was initially a company town, there is little public documentation of the coming and goings of the town’s residents.
One would not normally associate the sport of golf in a community composed mainly of lumberjacks and sawmill workers like Westwood back in its hey day. However by 1920, the golfing phenomenon swept through Northern California and this lumber town was no exception.
The “divot diggers” as they were affectionaly known then took a little longer to take hold at Westwood. By the early 1920s, Susanville could boast three golf courses, albeit crude by modern day standards. Even Chester, then just a mere hamlet, had a golf course.
As early as 1921, Westwood’s golfing enthusiasts began the debate to establish a golf course. Yet, they just could not generate enough momentum to pull it off. This all changed in 1929 when Westwood’s golfing community organized a club. Those original duffers consisted of Ross Morehouse, Gene Huggins, Bob Pullman, F.W. Koerner, F.M. Jayne, Bill Corbett, Dan Taylor and C.C. Baptie. Continue reading Westwood’s Golf Course→
Red River Lumber Company operated numerous logging camps from 1913 through 1944 when it sold to Fruit Growers. The camps were assigned numbers, though in no particular order. The majority of the camps were short lived and only had a span of one to maybe three years. One of the more interesting camps was Camp 33, but referred to as Town Camp, as it was located less than a mile west of Westwood. What made it unique was that Red River’s company town of Westwood would experience from time to time a housing shortage for its employees. On occasion, this camp was used to house mill workers instead of loggers.
Dynamiting the Westwood millpond, January 27, 1949. Courtesy of Fruit Growers Supply Company
In January 1949, the temperatures plummeted to nearly thirty degrees below zero at Westwood. The millpond there froze. When Red River designed the facility, they placed piping from the powerhouse that forced steam air directly into the millpond near the sawmill. This system was no match for Mother Nature. To keep the mill operating it was necessary to use dynamite to blast loose the logs in the millpond. Continue reading It Was Cold in 1949→
