Local Dollars, Local Sense

October 20, 2022 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

From time to time there is some local banter about Michael Shulman’s book Local Dollars, Local Sense. The gist of it if everyone invested just one percent of their money locally, it would greatly enhance the local economy.

A century ago, that was certainly the case locally. At the same time, this is when chain stores were opening in Susanville. Some held the opinion that these stores were a “menace” since their profits did not remain in the community. It should be noted the town’s two banks, Lassen Industrial Bank and the Bank of Lassen County were local institutions—they had a vested interest in the area’s economic prosperity.

It is also noteworthy how the citizens, raised funds as incentives to have the Lassen Lumber & Box Company and Fruit Growers Supply Company establish their lumber mills in Susanville. For Lassen Lumber the citizen’s offer was a 40-acre mill site, with water rights and $8,000 cash. For Fruit Growers 243 residents pledged a cash bonus of $41,130. Both investments paid off handsomely for the community.

Tim

History

The History of Branham Dam

October 19, 2022 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Branham Dam, Susan River, circa 1910—Keston Ramsey

Susanville’s first electric power plant was located at Bremner Dam on the Susan River, about a mile from town. It was destroyed by fire in 1894. In 1895, James Branham revived the power plant and it was located further downstream. Just below Hobo Camp he built a dam and on the north side of the canyon he built a flume to convey water to the power plant about a half-mile away. The plant operated until 1910, when it was closed and a new plant was built at Bunnell’s.

T.A. “Ab” Ramsey saw the potential in the dam. In 1888, he purchased a 737 acre ranch just south of Susanville, along Richmond Road. Many know by its current owner, Les Allen. Ramsey had an irrigation ditch starting at Branham Dam and extending to his ranch, which is still known today as Ramsey Ditch.

Branham Dam and Ramsey Ditch after the construction of the railroad in 1913–Keston Ramsey

In 1898, the dam caught the attention of civil engineer Albert Halen, who was working for the development of the Standish Colony. The colony had acquired the Susan River Irrigation System. He proposed to heighten the dam and extend the Ramsey Ditch all the way to Bald Mountain. That did not happen. In 1906, the Lassen-Willow Creek Water Company made the same proposal. Ditto, it did not happen.

In February 1928, a lawsuit was filed concerning the water rights to Ramsey Ditch. Several weeks later, unknown parties dynamited Branham Dam leading to its destruction.

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History

1928 Fire Season

October 17, 2022 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

The 1926 Antelope Fire as seen from Willow Creek Valley. Courtesy of Lola L. Tanner

The 1928 fire season was different than most. In July witnessed the largest fire on the Lassen National Forest at Mill Creek near Mineral. It consumed nearly 11,000 acres, most of which was cut over lands of the old Sierra Lumber Company. Most of the other fires on the Lassen were two to ten acres in size. Other areas in California did not fare so well.

This was, however, when the area experienced its first large range fire. A fire broke out near Horse Lake and then extended all the way to Secret Valley consuming some 128,000 acres. While no structures were lost, considerable damage to fences was an issue. The area was used for sheep range by R.T. Jenkins and the Jauregui Brothers.

Tim

History

Prattville Cemetery, Plumas County

October 16, 2022 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

In 1861, James Lee settled on the west side of Big Meadows, not too far from where the original town of Prattville would be established, He died on June 17, 1864 and buried on his property. This, in time, became the Prattville Cemetery.

In 1914, Great Western Power Company transformed a portion of Big Meadows into Lake Almanor. In 1926, Great Western was in the process to heighten its dam, where by Lake Almanor would double in size. Thus, Great Western had to mitigate some of the areas impacted by the increased size of Lake Almanor, such as the construction of the Chester Causeway and the Prattville Cemetery would need to be moved to higher ground.

In October 1926, Great Western hired Greenville resident Kenneth Murray to exhume the bodies, some 101, and move them 300 yards to the west. A.D. Greig of the Susanville Marble Works was in charge of relocating the thirty-five monuments in the cemetery.

On a final Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the successor of Great Western, donated the Prattville Cemetery to the Chester Cemetery District in 1962.

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News

Ask Tim

October 15, 2022 Tim Purdy 2 Comments

The former Stone Ranch, Eagle Lake, circa 1974

On a quarterly basis, I ask you the reader, if there is something you would like to learn more about or maybe its something you heard, but question its validity. So here is an opportunity to participate. I will do my best to answer any questions. It should be noted, it may take awhile for the answer to appear as a post. The primary reason, many of the daily posts are done nearly a month in advance. So by the time you read this I am already working on posts for the middle of November, or at least I should be. Whatever the case may be, I look forward to hearing from you. Of course, it should be noted that paid subscribers requests receive priority. In addition, you can always send a request at any time.

Tim

History

Laird Spring, Smoke Creek Desert

October 14, 2022 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Numerous springs in the Intermountain West are named for wranglers and itinerant sheepman. Laird Springs is one, that has an interesting story, and one of which is still an unsolved murder.

Edward Laird was born in 1862, the eldest of three children, his two siblings Margaret born 1863, and brother Warren in 1864. They were orphaned at an early age and raised in an orphanage in Carson City, Nevada. As young men, Ed and Warren went to work on various ranches in Northeastern California. By the late 1890s, they had settled in the North Warner Valley, Lake County, Oregon. Warren would remain in Lake County for the rest of his life.

In the early 1900s, Edward Laird worked as a ranch hand at Round Hole, Smoke Creek Desert, also known as Bonham Ranch. The owners William and Martha Bonham Ross, were in-laws to Laird’s sister, Margaret Sutcliffe.

Very little is known of Laird’s activities on the Smoke Creek Desert. Sometime after 1910, Laird filed a “squatter’s claim” to eighty acres, three miles north of Round Hole. There was a spring on the claim where he built a cabin. Edward Laird was murdered on or about August 20, 1917. Details of his murder are sketchy. According to newspaper reports, his body was marked with two shot gun wounds and he was found dead in his cabin. On August 29, 1917 the Nevada State Journal had a caption, “Revenge Believed to Have Been the Cause of Killing With Shotgun near Round Hole.” However, the newspaper did not provide any details. A week later area ranchers offered a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the party who murdered Laird. That was basically the end of the case. Cook Laird, Warren’s grandson, told me that Edward was a red head who was known to be hot headed with a mean temper.

Edward Laird was buried 100 yards east of where the spring bears his name.

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Note: In 2004, Laird Spring was included in a BLM tour.

History

Lincoln School Remodel

October 13, 2022 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

At the end of the 1966-67 school year, Lincoln School was closed, being replaced by the newly constructed Diamond View School. For a brief time Lassen College used the facility while its new campus was under construction.

In July 1975, Victor Bullard of Placerville purchased the shuttered Lincoln School. Bullard had the building remodeled. An addition was made to the front of the building, replacing the old exterior staircase. On December 1, 1975 the Eagle Lake District of the Lassen National Forest became the new occupants of the building. Previous to this, the District’s office was located in the former Paul Bunyan Lumber Company office.

Tim

History

Early Day Hunting Licenses

October 12, 2022 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Way back yonder in 1907 was the first year one had to obtain a hunting license in California. To obtain a hunting license one had to fill out an application with the county clerk, or one of the clerk’s deputies scattered around the county. The fee $1.00. The initial license was a small aluminum tag. I am so grateful for my dear colleague Betty Barry Deal who provided me with one.

Tim

History

How Much Water?

October 10, 2022 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

In 1899, the U.S. Department of Agriculture commissioned a study on water problems in the American West. The Honey Lake Basin was one place selected and William Smythe was hired to author the report.

Smythe was well known for his work on reclamation issues in the West. However, Smythe was well versed in the region beginning in 1897 with his Standish Colony and the Honey Lake Valley Colonial Irrigation System. Smythe did provide some unique observations. Concerning Eagle Lake, Smythe noted the importance of the lake for irrigation. Smythe stressed that the lake should only be used during periods of drought, but that the lake was essential in any major reclamation project for the Honey Lake Valley. Smythe became the first person to go on record questioning Eagle Lake’s water supply. It was widely believed that the lake’s water supply was “inexhaustible” due to mysterious springs in the lake’s bottom. Smythe retorted that it that was true, then why had the level of the lake not increased over the years to flood the borderlands, or to eventually overflow the Willow Creek divide? Smythe finally wrote, “It is question which can never be satisfactorily settled until the experiment of the tunnel is actually made.”

Smythe made it a point to stress the problems of California’s vagueness in water right appropriations and that it was a major hindrance in the development of the Honey Lake Valley. He noted one claim of 4,000,000 miner inches of Eagle Lake and Willow Creek water and sarcastically wrote, “Fortunately for those residents of Honey Lake Valley who could not swim, this enterprise was never carried out.” It should be noted that between 1874 to 1897 there were 14,201,400 miner inches of Eagle Lake water claimed!

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History

Before Go Fund Me & Venture Capitalists

October 9, 2022 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Over a century ago, it did not take much to form a corporation. Many of the Articles of Incorporation consisted of two pages. In the Lassen region numerous small companies incorporated and by today’s standards many would be deemed a non-profit. This was the preferred method then to raise money by the sale of stock. Some ventures succeeded, while others did not.

Take for instance in 1899 a group of local leaders formed the Susanville Hall Association. This they thought was needed since there were no public halls. It was their goal to sell $5,000 in stock. They did not succeed and their initial offering only netted $450.

In 1908, the Standish Hall Association was successful. Seasoned residents will know the building as the former Neil’s Mercantile. It is the vacant two-story building on Highway 395 and to the west is the Wayside.

The Standish store, no date. Courtesy of Camilla Moody.

By the 1920s, the practice of forming small corporations was declining. The Susanville Country Club that purchased the Wingfield Estate was successful and then there was the Susanville Hotel Company, i.e., Hotel Mt. Lassen that turned into a messy affair.