In the early 1880s, California’s mountain counties lobbied the California Legislature for the implementation of a migratory sheep license tax. It was their contention that seasonal movement caused damage to the roads, thus the counties should be compensated for the road maintenance. Of course the sheep industry fought hard against. Even when legistation was passed to implement the tax, it was challenged in court, but lost. In 1910, Lassen County assessed a tax at three cents per head. One of the largesgt sheep operaters in Lassen County at that time was Stanford University that grazed 11,000 head of sheep just west of Eagle Lake. In the 1920s, the sheep industry collapsed, but with other factors in play the sheep license was repealed.