Stacy was a small community in the eastern Honey Lake Valley located between Amedee and the Nevada Stateline. It came into existence when the Fernley & Lassen Railroad was constructed through there in 1912. There were high hopes in the region with the completion of the Standish Water Company’s pumping plant on Honey Lake. It was the company’s intent to irrigate some 4,000 acres for sugar beet production. Its a complicated story.
Stacy Depot. The town was named for Stacy Yoakum Spoon, wife of Grover Franklin Spoon, one of the town’s developers and its first postmaster.
This is another depot, where I have not been able to locate much information. There was a nearby stock corral for loading sheep. In 1940, there was siding that could handle 113 cars.
Paul Bunyan Lumber Company, 1953. Courtesy of Fred Lendman
On May 15, 1967, Kenneth R. Walker, president of the Paul Bunyan Lumber Company announced the pending closure of its Susanville mill. Walker cited the lack of available of timber for the closure. The mill closed in August and the liquidation process began.
In 1945, when Red River Lumber Company was in its initial dissolution process, Kenneth wanted to remain in the business. At that time, Red River owned what was referred to as the “Cedar Mill” in Susanville. Kenneth took over that mill and named his new venture the Paul Bunyan Lumber Company.
In conclusion, Walker provided two interesting facts about the mill. He stated that when the last board is shipped, the mill would have processed 650 million board feet of lumber during its operations. In addition, the company’s total payroll during that time amounted to $20 million.
The 1865 school petition, saved from my dumpster diving expertise.
In 1864, during the creation of Lassen County there were six original school districts, Milford would become seventh the following year. On February 28, 1865, Milford residents petitioned the Lassen County Board of Supervisors for a school district of their own. After all, the Lake School, was some twelve miles to the north and the Long Valley School nearly twenty miles to the south. The board obliged.
The second Milford School—-Milford Community Association
One of the unique traits of Milford, is that its original and replacement school houses still stand—though since converted in private residences, and they are side by side. The first schoolhouse was built in the summer of 1865 by Ezra P. Soule and Henry C. Stockton for $500. As Milford continued to grow, so did its student population. In 1883, the voters there dealt with a contentious issue to pass a special tax for $160 to construct an addition—it narrowly passed. The school population just kept growing and the original school, even with an addition was not enough. Back to the polls. On May 12, 1888, the school district voters approved $1,400 bond measure for a new school house, that served the community for nearly eight decades.
Milford School, 1957. Courtesy of Milford Community Association
While the Milford School experienced many ups and downs, like any institution, times were changing. Long gone were the horse and buggy days, replaced with paved highways and automobiles that resulted in the population decline of rural communities and Milford was of no exception. In 1965, the upper grade students at Milford were transferred to Herlong Elementary. The following year, the school struggled and only taught grades one through three. The following year it closed and was annexed to Janesville Elementary School District.
In 1891, William E. Smythe was involved with the National Irrigation Congress, which opened doors to him. Smythe’s interest was irrigation/reclamation issues of the American West. He then formed the Associated Colonies as a venue to promote his vision. This colony movement was based a lot on the Puritanical beliefs of New England. In 1895, they founded a colony at New Plymouth, Idaho.
Smythe was intrigued with the Honey Lake Valley and its many failed irrigation projects. In 1897, he planned for a colony there to be known as Standish. He was even able to secure Edward Purser’s Susan River Irrigation System, which included the reservoirs of McCoy, Hog and Leavitt. It would be an interesting experiment that we will explore in future installments.
Canyon Dam at Lake Almanor was mostly obliterated during the Dixie Fire of 2021. Like many small enclaves it evolved over the years. Canyon Dam first came into existence in 1910, as headquarters of Great Western Power Company in preparation of constructing a dam to flood Big Meadows and create Lake Almanor. Great Western also referred to it as Nevis, but by the summer of 1914, Plumas County Board of Supervisors adopted the name of Canyon Dam for the locale. The Canyon Dam Post Office was established on May 28, 1940 with Emmett W. Bishop as first postmaster. It was discontinued on September 14, 1944 and re-established on June 16, 1952.
The final part of the Bear Dance ritual at Bass Hill, circa 1900.
The spring ritual of the Mountain Maidu Bear Dance, locally, has been held at a variety of locations. In the earliest times, it would be held near a stream, for water was an important element in the conclusion of the dance.
One of the earliest sites was near Baxter Creek at Bass Hill referred to as the village of Yoskopin, also known as Lone Pine. This would be the late 1890s, early 1900s. There is a citation that the dance was held along Paiute Creek, just north of Susanville, from 1910 into the 1920s. That location was near the present day intersection of Chestnut and Parkdale. What is odd with its close proximity to Susanville, a town. with two newspapers, that they never chronicled it.
Sacramento Bee, June 9, 1975
In the late 1920s, Kitty Joaquin sponsored the event at her place near Janesville. She continued the same until 1953. There are accounts that in the 1940s and early 1950s that it was occasionally held at the Susanville Rancheria. By the late 1950s, it appeared the ceremony was on the brink of being abandoned. However, in 1962 Gladys Mankins sponsored the ceremony at her place on Janesville Grade. In 1975, that event made headline news with the appearance of California Governor Jerry Brown. Mankins continued with the tradition up to 1986. In 1989, it was revived and has been held ever since on forest service property at Willard Creek.
Ephraim Van Buren Spencer (1836 -1904) was a staunch advocate to have Susanville serviced by a railroad. Without one, the town in his opinion would be just another “Sleepy Hollow.”
The first glimmer of hope came in 1880 with the establishment of the Nevada & Oregon Railroad at Reno. The fledging railroad struggled in its early years. A dramatic change occurred in 1884 when the railroad was acquired by the Moran Brothers—New York bankers. The following year the railroad went through a name change first as the Nevada & California and eventually the Nevada-California-Oregon.
With Morans at the helm, Spencer saw hope and the residents of Susanville raised $500 to send Spencer to New York to meet with the Morans. The meeting went well, but the Morans stated they had no funds to extend the line. Spencer felt confident that the Morans would eventually build north to Susanville,
In March 1887, Spencer and the community of Susanville were blindsided when the railroad announced it would build a 47 mile extension from Junction (Hallelujah) House to Brubeck’s on the east shore of Honey Lake. Spencer hastily arranged a meeting with Daniel Moran and Edgar Heriot, the latter the railroad’s general manager. Spencer urged them to reconsider, and a route through Susanville would be more profitable. One of the railroad’s concerns was a route out of Susanville to the north. In June concerned Susanville residents met to come up with a plan to convince the railroad to change its mind. Not only did they offer to survey the route, but obtain the necessary rights-of-way, a donation of a depot site in Susanville and more. It was all in vain, due to an unusual circumstance. The NCO fired Heriot, and was replaced a temperamental Erasmus Gest. Gest could care less about the Susanville proposal. He was determined to build the railroad line with the most direct route to Oregon, thus the railroad built on the east side of Honey Lake.
Not be undaunted, Spencer would make one last final attempt with the railroad. In 1899, when the NCO extended its line northward, as construction was stalled during the 1890s, Spencer proposed a feeder line from Hot Springs Station (Wendel) to Susanville. When he contacted the Morans the answer was no. However, Susanville residents could construct the feeder line at an estimated cost of $100,000. That was not going to happen, since community could not even raise $450 to build a public hall.
Nearly eight years after Spencer’s death in 1913, the Fernley & Lassen Railroad arrived in Susanville. The town went through a major transformation and it was no longer a Sleepy Hollow.
Some people know I have a special affinity for New Zealand. Of course there are a variety of Lassen connections with the land of the kiwis. One of the best photographers of the Lassen region of the 1870s, Herman Brince died in Auckland in 1881. Then there is case of Dr. J.G. Leonard, hardly a household name here or there. It should be noted that in 1884 Leonard had constructed one of Susanville’s most iconic buildings, known today as the Elk’s Lodge. Leonard’s descendants reside in New Zealand. The Asher family were among the prominent Jewish families of Susanville, though they later left that town to help establish Hollywood and Asher descendants, too, reside in New Zealand. In addition, even a Shinn descendant is a New Zealand resident.
So what does this bizarre topic with Cows with Guns have to do with New Zealand. Not only do I read the New Zealand Herald, but I listen to a New Zealand radio station. Recently, that station played a medley by Dana Lyons entitled Cows with Guns. It is on youtube and click here to listen. The lyrics with the puns are great, and I am sure Lassen County’s ranching community will enjoy. With that in mind, enjoy your Labor Day..
The old English proverb necessity is the mother invention was widely adopted locally. For years Fruit Growers searched for an effective way to reduce grass around its millsite for fire protection. During the 1920s, Fruit Growers planted potatoes. In 1937, someone came up with the brilliant idea to bring in a band sheep to graze the mill property. Problem solved and they called the new addition to their workforce “Lassen Lawnmowers.”
The cover page of the coroner’s inquest of Boody& Wales
On the night of June 6, 1864, Lassen County’s first homicide, and its oldest unsolved murder, that resulted in the deaths of Jacob Boody and Philip Wales near Milford occurred. A strange case indeed.*
The two men were neighbors, who resided halfway between Janesville and Milford. In April 1864, Boody took a wagon to be repaired by Wales. A dispute arose, as Wales would not allow Boody to pick up the wagon until he was paid. The matter eventually resolved and the two were amicable.
At around 9 p.m. on June 6, Wales and his wife, Elizabeth, had gone to bed. Shortly thereafter, Wales heard noises coming from the barn and went to investigate. As soon as he got to the front gate of his house, he was shot in chest and collapsed. His wife, alerted their twelve year old son, George, and they brought Philip’s body into the house, and he died. George went to the neighbors, going through the grain field, but found no one on the first attempt.
When the neighbors did arrive around 11 p.m. they found Jacob Boody’s body in the road, not far from the Wales’ home. He had been shot several times in the back, and once in the leg. A Colt revolver was found several feet from Boody’s body.
The next morning seven men were impaneled to serve as a jury in the Coroner’s Inquest. Eight people testified. The jury came back with a verdict that the two men died from wounds inflicted by pistol and gun shots in the hands of unknown parties.
*There had been other murders prior to this, but this was the first one that fell over jurisdiction of the newly created Lassen County.
