When traveling the back country around these parts. Google maps and GPS not the best move. Use some common sense. Though it should be noted that AAA maps indicated Shinn Ranch Road was maintained. May be it was back in the 1870s when the Shinns lived there.
There are a handful posts that I repeat each year, and for good reason. With summer weather upon us, it is an ideal time to check out the many wonders that surround the residents of the Lassen Region.
In 1929, the Lassen Advocate published an editorial “Know Your Country.” The gist of it, encouraged residents to get out and see all the various and interesting natural surroundings we have. I am always ready to get out and about to explore. I never know where that might be, but I do have a few obscure historical sites that I want to check out.
Hopefully, this summer we will be spared of fires, heat and smoke.
For those headed out to Eagle Lake for Memorial Day Wekend, don’t forget about Camp Ronald McDonald’s Annual Memorial Day Pancake Breakfast. From 7 to 11 a.m. Saturday May 28, and Sunday May 29, the public can enjoy an all you can eat breakfast; including pancakes, sausage and hot and cold beverages! The camp located at the south shore and adjacent to the Gallatin House.
Smith Hotel, circa 1880. Courtesy of Verna M. Wood
During the late 1800s, Susanville had anywhere between one to four breweries at any given time. In the fall of 1864, German immigrant Jacob “Jake” Smith* opened his first of many breweries in Susanville. When he opened a particular brewery on May 27, 1879, he was met with some resistance. At that time, a group of women formed a “temperance society” to educate the young people of the area the “evils of alcohol.” At this same time, Smith along with his wife Sophia, operated a hotel on Main Street, that was destroyed by fire in 1882.
This a view of Eagle Lake from Dow Butte that is located northwest of Spalding Tract. A forest service lookout was constructed there in 1939. It was removed in 1994, and can viewed at the Eagle Lake Marina.
The relocated Dow Lookout at the Eagle Lake Marina—December 11, 2021
William Dow first settled near present day Spalding Tract in 1875. Shortly, thereafter his nephew, John Spalding also located there. Dow sold out to Albert Gallatin 1886.
There are a handful of subscribers who will recognize this instantly. On the other spectrum there will be others proverbially “scratching their noggin.”
The above photograph appeared in a 1956 Susanville Business Directory. While the quality is not the best, I thought some might appreciate the same. In 2020, work began on what is dubbed the Good Fred Project by Caltrans. It consists of a new bridge over Goodrich Creek and a major highway alignment over Fredonyer. Hopefully, the project will be completed this year.
The region, like most of California is earthquake prone. Actually, on any given week there are small quakes in the region, registering under 3 on the Richter Scale. The tremors are so faint, no one feels them.
However, that was not the case on May 23, 2006, when an earthquake struck the east shore of Lake Almanor at 8:47 p.m. It got everyones attention as it measured 5.7. It was widely felt throughout the region.
In the spring of 1914, a swarm of earthquakes hit the region, a prelude to Lassen Peak’s eruption that May. At the same time, Big Meadows was being flooded to be transformed into Lake Almanor. Many locals believed that was cause of the Lassen Peak eruption.
Notice the information Brown provided for his daughter’s birth.
Back in 1997, I was hired to research a parcel near Pittville on the Lassen-Shasta County line. It became a very convulated affair, and not a pleasant one on my part. However, the early history of the property has an unusual tale.
Delbert Lester Brown (1890-1966) gave this most unusual address of the “Right Hand of God Earthly Father” when his daughter was born in 1924. Brown’s homestead was situated on the bench above Pittville. He located there in 1914, after moving from Lakeview, Oregon. When Brown was digging a well by hand, he reached a point when it was necessary to blast out the rocks with dynamite. Brown set his charges into the well hole and tried to detonate them. Nothing happened, so he crawled into the hole to locate the problem. Brown discovered the charges had become damp. Since there was little light, Brown, with the claw end of a hammer, accidentally struck one of the blasting caps. Luckily, it did not go off. At that moment, Brown decided that the hand of the Lord was on his side and that he must change his ways. After that incident Brown began spreading the gospel and he became widely known as Preacher Brown.
Note: For those interested my broken wrist is improving. Progress is slow but sure, but this year I will not able to do as much cemetery work prior to Memorial Day.
Lake Helen at an elevation of 8,164’ is a popular stopping spot on the loop highway through the park. It was so named for Helen Brodt, the first woman to climb Lassen Peak.
Long before there was any thought given of making Lassen a national park, the area lured summer tourists from the Sacramento Valley to escape that region’s heat. In late August 1864, a camping party consisting of Pierson B. Reading, Kendall Bumpass, S.S. Thomas, and Aurelius and Helen Brodt arrived at Morgan Meadows, to the south of Lassen Peak. On August 28, they made the ascent to the top of the peak. Two weeks later, the Brodts journeyed to Susanville, where Aurelius Brodt wrote to his mother about his journey in the mountains. “Last week Helen and myself climbed and stood upon the very top of Lassen Peak, 11,000 feet above the level of the ocean. It was a thrilling adventure—we walked over ice and snow that had probably been there for centuries—we found a crater in active operation, sending up vast clouds of sulphurous steam making a deafening roar similar to an immense steam engine [Bumpass Hell]. We found a beautiful little lake near the top of the mountain which was named Lake Helen after my wife, she being the first woman that had ever seen it, also her name and date Aug. 28, 1864 is inscribed on the side of a large rock on the very peak, she being the first woman that ever ascended the peak.”
A reader wanted to know if Susanville was ever served by Greyhound Bus Lines. The answer is yes. However, my knowledge of its operations is extremely limited. Greyhound probably began service in the area by the1950s. Some time in the 1980s, it probably ceased. The last location was on North Sacramento Street across from the T&A. The agent then was Nels Wilhelm. If anyone can shed more light on this topic, it would be appreciated.
