This caught my eye of a 1935 illustration with an automobile and an airplane on Honey Lake. I have many tales, when the lake is dry, that certain car enthusiast had roamed on the dry lake bed. Like a mirage, it is not really that dry. There places that appears to dry on the surface. there are soft spots, and many a poor soul has encountered them, got really stuck and stranded on the supposedly dry lake bed.
In the summer of 1931, there were two notable events on the dry Honey Lake bed. On August 23, 1931, Fred McKinley, a pilot and Miss Barbara McGrath, rodeo air queen of Alturas, landed on Honey Lake on a trip to Alturas for the scheduled grand opening celebration of Laird Airport there. McKinley was arrested in Alturas when statements were made while stopped on the lake bed, he attempted assault and rape Miss McGrath. Rumors and stories abound, but McKinley was found not guilty of all charges. The main incident that forced the landing was Miss McGrath’s taking ill from turbulence experienced in the air.
In a related matter of the McGrath incident, law enforcement officials went out on Honey Lake seek evidence of the airplane’s tracks. During their search they discovered a decapitated and armless skeleton. Identification of the body was impossible. It was judged to be a middle-sized man and that the remains had been on the lake bed for at least two years. The skeletal remains, still clothed, contained $22.12, a suitcase, a pocket knife and a corn cob pipe. The remains were interred in the Lassen Cemetery at Susanville, Case closed.
The skeleton is very interesting. If I was going to chop someone’s arms off and decapitate them I would probably want to take the money that was left on him