This is what some referred to as a “ghost” school. The circumstances are rather odd. In January/February 1911 W. Mylar, who had three school aged children circulated a petition to establish the Purser School District. It met all the criteria. In the proposed district boundary there were 22 children. They were also more than five miles from the nearest school. For reasons unknown Lassen County Board of Supervisors did not approve it. Three years later, a new petition, known as Caloreta School District, which was identical to Purser, was approved.

Purser would later become known as the railroad community of Wendel. That locale had many names in its early years. It was named after Edward T. Purser, a major player in irrigation projects of the Honey Lake Valley in the 1890s.  I have large size professional photograph negative of him  but not a print, but once with a positive scan I will write about him.  A person has offered to scan negatives like this, but I have experienced issues on my part that have have stalled the hand off of such. Hopefully soon, another project to be completed during the forthcoming Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Tim