Its that time of year, graduation season at local schools. In the 1940s, a number of rural one-room schools would cease to exist due to decline in enrollments and consolidation. Willow Creek Valley some twelve miles north of Susanville was one such school.
Established in 1871, it was one of the older school districts in Lassen County. As an example of declining enrollments came from Glenn Streshley. When Glenn started school there in 1915, there were twenty-three students. Seven years later, when he finished his studies there were only ten.
On April 17, 1942, the school house was destroyed by fire, caused a by a defective flue. It was a like a omen of things to come. However, a small building was moved to the school grounds, with little interruption of the school’s activities. In 1943, the school was suspended for a year for a lack of thr minimum five-students necessary.
In the fall of 1944, the school was resurrected. The student body consisted of Roy Gene DeForest, Elwin Murrer, Sally Murrer and Beatrice Walsh. Though one student short of the state mandate, the school may have been granted an emergency status due to the prevailing conditions of World War II.
In June 1946, Elwin Murrer graduated from the eighth grade. The school did not open again that fall for lack of students.. By 1950, it was apparent there was not going to be a surge of youngsters in the Willow Creek Valley and the school was annexed to the Susanville School District.