Janesville Road Crew, 1910. Courtesy of Verna Tanner Haley*
Way before gasoline taxes were introduced as a funding mechanism to maintain roads, there was a $2 a year road tax applied to all males over the age of 21. Sometimes, it was confused with the Poll tax, for often one would pay the tax when one voted.
Janesville Road Crew, 1910. Courtesy of Verna Tanner Haley
However, one could opt of the road tax and provide labor in an exchange. Each county supervisor would appoint a road district overseer, who in turn would perform the work on in their respective districts, usually with the volunteer labor of those who did not pay the tax. Not the best system, especially in a large rural county like Lassen, but nevertheless it got the job done.
*To the far left is Satch Whitten, road overseer. The long time Janesville resident was married to Carrie DeWitt.
Left to Right: Barney Fillingam, Levi Conklin, Elmer Gerking and Shep Thomas—Gladys Scott
Some times the way my mind works is a marvel. The daily posts than really evolve, some quickly and other over months. Initially, I was going to focus on the Blunck homestead, which was yesterday’s featured photograph. Today, just indicates how twisted my mind can function.
Over the years, I have corresponded with a lot of people. One of which was Gladys Goodfellow Scott (1905-2003) who grew up in Willow Creek Valley. In one of those letters, she wrote about various homesteads, and one known as the Shep place. It was so named for Shep Thomas who took over from Blunck circa 1918. Gladys went on to send the picture featured today.
Examining the photograph it appears they are part of a road crew. Back then one could pay a road tax, or volunteer several days of labor. I will go into that tomorrow. I do want to point out, Levi Conklin, featured in the photograph was a long time resident of Dry Valley, between Grasshopper Valley and the Madeline Plains. He is one of the few named known individuals to be buried in the Dry Valley Cemetery.
Blunck Ranch, Willow Creek Valley, 1911–C.R. Caudle Collection
One of the many side-effects of World WarI witnessed the depopulation of certain rural areas. For some who served, they did want to return to the farm, since many had a hardscrabble existence. This especially true like places the eastern Honey Lake Valley and the Madeline Plains. Some were fortunate to find buyer for their homestead. There are still family ranches here, that started small but during the 1920s and 1930s were able to purchase adjoining 160-acre homestead. My own family ranch, Tanner, is a perfect example since it now includes Hartson, Stampfli and Whitehead homesteads. However, the ones who were not so fortunate to find a buyer, simply abandoned their property and later sold for delinquent taxes.
The abandoned Montgomery homestead, eastern Honey Lake Valley, 1983
One has to be cautious about items found on the internet. Even sources that are reputable have their flaws. For some odd reason, I checked out Wikipedia’s entry for Hayden Hill. It states that Hayden Hill, Lassen County’s largest mining community was named for geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden (1829-1887). While most of his work was done in the Rocky Mountains, it is doubtful he ever set foot in California.
In 1870, when news of gold discovery south of Adin, some 500 prospectors descended upon the scene, initially known as Providence. On December 5, 1870 the mining district was named after veteran miner Joseph Warren Hayden, who at the age of 56, was the oldest miner there. Hayden died there on Christmas Day 1884 and was buried in the Hayden Hill Cemetery.
Now, I am prone to err, also. However, I do my utmost to correct my mistakes. One in particular, that I need to update is Hill’s Market, wherein I omitted Mildred (Long) Hill. One item, that I am still working on is problematic, was the management/ownership after Mildred’s passing in 1967.
Many may not be aware that truck and railroad logging worked in tandem. Just like transition from horse logging to motorized tractors would take time, it was the same with trucks to be incorporated into logging operations. One of the benefits was trucks could access terrain to difficult for railroad operations. To get the most mileage for buck was the reload station. Trucks were used to log difficult terrain and then instead of driving all the way to mill, the destination was to the railroad’s reload station. The trucks were unloaded, then the logs reloaded onto railroad flat cars, thus an economical way to move volume of logs from the woods to the mill.
This was the third book I wrote, published in 1993. It was something, I had forgotten about, until this summer when I met Vicki Pardee who was on an adventure in this area back in June. She is not directly related to the Susanville Pardee’s she is still intrigued to say the least. While I would go on to write some twenty books, this is the only with a foreword. I asked Jim Pardee, not only a local attorney, a friend, but also the senior member of the bar. In addition, his grandfather Julien Pardee and father James “Gus” Pardee were also attorneys.
This is what Jim wrote: “We live in age of excess—and on occasion it is good to have these pointed out, directly or indirectly, so that we can endeavor to do better the next time around. I am sure that Mr. Purdy didn’t intend to preach or point the finger. However, when you read his book and are brought to realize that people brought suit to recover $63.65 for a month’s lodging, $51.50 for back wages, and finally a ar bill for 23 drinks at 25 cents a drink for a total of $5.75; we can’t help but reason that inflation in today’s market has gone mad.
”The foregoing preliminary observation is not the main theme of Mr. Purdy’s book. With a broad sweep of his brush, he chronicles the working of the Lassen Justice Court from its inception. He reminds us that the Justice Court was the people’s court; the judges were laymen, and many of the early practitioners had questionable legal backgrounds. However, by and large, justice was done.
”As senior member of the Lassen County Bar and a practitioner in Lassen County for forty-four years, I have observed the court and the personnel change from a laymen Justice of the Peace to a lawyer Justice Court Judge.
”Mr. Purdy’s endeavors cover only a limited space in time. It leaves the reader asking for more. Hopefully, there will be a sequel reaching well into the Twentieth Century.”
Note: I do have some copies of this slim volume available. It is not enough to warrant a listing on the book feature page. If anyone wants one it is $10 includes shipping. One way to pay is go to the subscribe page and go to donate. Or for those who have an aversion of buying online, just email me your address, and I will send it to you on the honor system.
A portion of an 1892 advertisement for the Eagle Lake Land & Irrigation Company
In 1891, the Eagle Lake Land & Irrigation Company was organized to resurrect Merrill’s Eagle Lake enterprise. They had a two-prong approach. The first was to install a pumping plant at the lake, along with the needed canal system stretching all the way to Amedee in eastern Honey Lake Valley. Once put in place, they would receive revenue from the sale of water that in turn could be used to complete the tunnel construction. Oddly enough, the company would start work on the tunnel from the lake side, whereas Merrill’s tunnel was on the Willow Creek side, but that work did not begin until the fall of 1892, after the pumping plant was installed and in working order.
Eagle Lake Land & Irrigation Company’s inlet channel at Eagle Lake, 1916.
By the spring of 1892, work was well under way. While waiting for their order the machinery of the pumping, there was another essential element ditches needed to distribute the water. Like Merrill’s plan, Willow Creek would provide the main conduit to deliver the water to the Honey Lake Valley. From the pumping plant to Merrill’s tunnel and the headwaters of Willow Creek would require two miles of ditches—there remains some interesting rock work. From Belfast to the other side of Amedee a twenty-one mile ditch was constructed.
In early June 1892, some twenty-one tons of equipment for the pumping plant arrived by rail at Amedee. The company had purchased a Hooker Hydraulic pump. The 80-horsepower boiler had the capacity to move 60,000 gallons of water per-minute.
On September 15, 1892, the moment of truth had arrived when the pump first tested. By October water from Eagle Lake was flowing all the way to Amedee. This was a tremendous achievement and proving to the naysayers it could be done.
Eagle Lake Ditch, near Amedee, February 2018.
Four months later in February, everything would come to a crashing halt with the Financial Panic of 1893. There are some historians who believe that this far worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. Whatever the case may be, it was the beginning of the end of the Eagle Lake Land & Irrigation Company, who would never see if their was project would be successful. Heavily in debt, numerous lawsuits filed by creditors left the company bankrupt. The pumping plant remained idle, and portions were slowly hauled away. The last was a six-ton boiler brought to the Wilson sawmill in Susanville in 1904. However, today the crumbling cement foundations still remain.
When Lassen Volcanic National Park was established in 1916, some of its most notable features—Supan Sulfur Works, Drakesbad and Juniper Lake—were privately owned. It would take nearly four decades to acquire these properties. It made the park rangers job very difficult when those owners did something that went against park policy, yet there was nothing they could do.
In 1923, the Sifford family owners of Drakesbad began charging a twenty-five cent access fee to non-guests who visited the property. After all they owned such features as Boiling Springs Lake and Devils Kitchen. In addition, the park had not developed a road into the park, making Drakesbad one of the easiest places to access Lassen Peak. This generated numerous complaints for the park to contend with. As Roy Sifford later recalled, it was a bargain, since for this nominal amount one could gain access to the park, without having to pay the standard park entrance fee. The admission fee remained in place until 1952, when Sifford’s leased Drakesbad.
The little locomotive on display at the Lassen Museum, August 26, 2021–Jim Chapman
In the spring of 1957, the Susanville Elementary Parent Teacher Association (PTA) announced big plans for that summer’s Carnival to be held in Susanville’s Memorial Park. It was a bold concept and to make a permanent addition to the park—a Kiddie’s Train. Charlie Weston and large group of volunteers were in charge. They built a replica of a New York Central steam engine.
On. Friday evening, July 12, 1957 was the PTA’s Carnival. While there was an assortment of activities such rides on Shetland ponies, the train was the star attraction. Over 1,000 people rode the train. It was a busy night since the train could only carry 16 to 20 passengers at a time.
For the remainder of the summer, rides were offered on the evenings of Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Though on Sunday afternoon’s rides were also offered. The price ten cents a ride.
At this time, I do not know how long it operated, though I would say probably about eight years. If anyone happens to know that answer or has other information they would like to share, it would be greatly appreciated.
Susanville’s founder, Isaac Roop, happened to be the town’s first realtor. In 1861 he began selling town plots, though it was not until 1863, when Roop hired E.R. Nichols survey the initial town.
Roop, as the old saying phrase goes, did a “land office business” as a real estate agent. During his eight years that there are records for, he sold 194 lots for a grand total $34,143.50. A nice tidy sum, especially considering Roop never owned the land.
When a U.S. Government Land Office was opened in Susanville in 1871, it was discovered that Roop had never taken the proper procedures to procure title to the townsite. Thus, owners of town lots were vulnerable to claim jumpers, who could file a patent process with the Government Land Office and become the rightful owner of the town. It literally took an act of the U.S. Congress to rectify the situation and on May 20, 1872, Congress approved a townsite and vested title in all lots to the District Court Judge. The judge then had the task to reissue deeds to the current owners to the town lots.
Fredonyer’s Claim to what would become Susanville, which he filed in 1857 and can be found in Book A. Mining Claims, Lassen County.
