It is nice to be able to report that after burning more than 100 days the Dixie Fire is 100% contained. The fire burned over some 963,309 acres. There is, however, a lot of work to be done, but at least one phase is finally over with.
Tim
Susan River Dam Proposals
During the late 1880s during the dam building frenzy throughout the region, I thought it was always rather peculiar that a dam was never built in the Susan River Canyon. There was one proposal to place a dam just below Devils Corral, but nothing materialized.
In Lassen County’s 1968 General Plan it proposed to dam the Susan River at Devils Corral. It was the county’s belief that not only would be beneficial for irrigation, but for recreational purposes as well. The same report also proposed a dam on Willow Creek, just below Petes Creek. Of course, neither of those two propositions transpired.
In 1987, a proposal was made to dam the Susan River near Crazy Harry Gulch, about eight miles west of Susanville, for hydroelectric power. Tudor Engineering of San Francisco , proposed a 170 foot high dam, at a cost of $30 million. This, too, never materialized.
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A Different kind of Log Reload Station
One of the challenges that Great Western Power Company encountered building the dam that created Lake Almanor was the removal of pine timber. They estimated between Almanor and other other reservoir site of Butt Valley that there was 200 million board feet of timber. In 1911, Great Western contacted the Red River Lumber Company who at that time still had not decided where they would construct its first mill. In July 1913, after much wrangling the two reached an agreement. Great Western would pay RedRiver one dollar per thousand board feet of pine timber removed—approximately $200,000. Red River estimated the cost at $500,000.
With the agreement, and time being of the essence as the dam would be complete and the flooding to create Lake Almanor would begin by the spring of 1914. That fall Red River put its loggers at a frantic pace to fall some 80 million board feet of timber, which would be subjected to initial flooding.
In the spring of 1914, Red River using a gasoline launch boat, would float the timber to the east side of the newly created lake by Big Springs. From there the logs were reloaded onto railroad cars and shipped to Westwood for milling. They would repeat a similar procedure in 1924 at Butt Valley and again in 1926 when Lake Almanor was enlarged.
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Camp A – Fruit Growers Supply Company
In the summer of 1920, Fruit Growers started their logging operations near McCoy Flat Reservoir, while their Susanville mill was still under construction. Since logging then, was seasonal in nature, they wanted to make sure they would have a steady supply of logs ready when the new mill would be placed into operation in the spring of 1921.
Camp A was the first of ten railroad logging camps of Fruit Growers Lassen Operation. It opened on July 1, 1920. The operation was comparatively small, only logging 720 acres that season. On April 29, 1921 the first woods crews were dispatched by rail, where they encountered three foot of snow on the ground. The first item of business was to remove the snow from the railroad spurs, so that the timber fallers could start work. Within in a weeks’ time, logs were already being shipped to Susanville. In addition, a second camp, known as Camp B, opened three miles to the north of Camp A. Between the two camps, they housed over 600 men.
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Yikes, the 1926 DeForestation of Lassen National Forest
In April 1926 a conference of forest service foresters was held in Susanville. It was district forester S.B. Show whose statements caused alarm. Show had been doing extensive studies for a number of years of the nation’s timber resources.
Show noted that the timber resources of the southern states were rapidly being depleted and that, in turn, would put more pressure on the forests on the west coast. When Show was asked how long the forests of Lassen will last, he replied that at the present rate cutting from 25 to 30 years. Show continued that practically nothing is being done to reforest the lands that are being denuded by the timber operations and unless some constructive plan is worked out it is only a question of only a few years when the mountainsides of Lassen County will be bare and the only great natural resources within our boundaries will be depleted.
Show was not all doom and gloom. He stressed the importance of reforestation. He also noted the current tax assessments on timber provide the owners of such lands with little or no incentive to preserve timber for the future. It is interesting to note that later in the year the Lassen County Board of Supervisors reduced the timber assessment tax rate by twenty-five percent.
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The Prison Debate Continues
Earlier this year, the State of California announced plans to close the California Correctional Center at Susanville by June 30, 2022.
In the early 1950s discussions were being held among the progressives in the community that the lumber industry, that had such a profound economic impact, was now fading. The big question was what to replace with it. A state prison sounded like a worthy option that would also be stable. On October 13, 1953, the first public hearing was held in Susanville to discuss the merits. Earlier in the year, California Lt. Governor Goodwin Knight, toured the region and thought that Susanville was a favorable site for a future state prison. Not everyone was in agreement. There were some in the community who gave it tremendous support, while an equal number who were dead set against. As is customary, there was also a large segment in the community that had no opinion. Ten years later, a dedication ceremony was held for the nine million dollar California Correctional Center.
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Mineral Lodge
The illustration of a brochure for the Mineral Lodge caught my attention depicting a type of atomic bomb eruption emanating from Lassen Peak. Definitely a Cold War scene from the 1950s. Of course, the room rates depict that, too. The Summer Season Rates for 1961 a Single for the Day $5.50 and $33.00 for the Week. A Double for the Day $7.00 and $35.00 for the Week. For those not familiar with Mineral Lodge, it is a located in the town of Mineral near the southern entrance of Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Tim
Your Questions
Two interesting questions were posed, which I will address in separate posts. The first is Fruit Growers Supply Company’s “Sunkist Lodge” on the south shore of Eagle Lake. It just happens to be for sale.
As to the military of the 1860s, is an interesting topic. I already have two posts scheduled. The military encampment at Smoke Creek served two purposes. An interesting facet of that operation was to prevent gold bullion from leaving the State of California, on the suspicion that it might be used aid the Confederacy. Of course, there is some interesting political drama with these military encampments. Stay tuned.
Tim
P.S. I just realized I had done a lot of research on Camp McGarry, located at Summit Lake and Soldier Meadows in far northwestern Nevada.
Southern California’s Westwood
Since someone asked, there is a Westwood in Southern California, but not an actual community per se. In the 1920s a subdivision known as Westwood Village was created in Los Angeles. Over time the neighborhood was referred to as simply Westwood. This would be the same equivalent as the Milwood Tract of eastern Susanville. Now, for some, you may know how Milwood Florist was so named.
Now back to the other Westwood. It would become home of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and that of UCLA’s Medical Center. There have been times when it creates confusion. From time to time, the Lassen County Recorder will receive a request for death certificate of a person who died at the UCLA Medical Center, Westwood. Since there is no official designation for that Westwood, the only official Westwood is the one Lassen County. The Lassen County Recorder then explains the situation to the applicant and instructs the person to contact the Los Angeles County Recorder.
Tim
Westwood Forest Fire Films
Some readers may recall awhile back when I wrote about the 1913 Suppression/Control Burns at Clear Creek. Forest officials who attended documented that event, whether those records exist is not known, discussion about that a little bit later.
The other day, while reviewing the Lassen Mail, one of two Susanville newspapers, in the Westwood section contained a very short piece concerning news reels doing an educational piece about forest fires, one in particular filmed at Westwood. For those of a younger generation or two, newsreels, which were short educational/documentary pieces previewed in movie theaters and schools. They would eventually go by the wayside with the advent of television.
Anyhow, the Lassen Mail reported on April 30, 1926 12;3 – Fire Pictures for News Reels—One of the news reel companies have a company in Westwood this week making pictures of methods of fire fighting used in the timber industry. A fire was set in order on Wednesday and the fire train rushed to the scene, pictures of various operations being secured.
Do the films exist, is an interesting question. I am aware of numerous movies filmed in the region during the 1920s and 30s, but each of those film’s existence has been problematic to locate. Then again, I am aware those who filmed the Westwood Strikes of the 1930s, and offered to share them, but that never panned out. Another instance, Leslie “Les” Mastolier, for seasoned residents founder of Susanville’s Leslie’s Jewelry, was an avid photographer, but also cinematographer. Les filmed everything from skiing down Diamond Mountain in the 1930s, to numerous wildlife studies and interesting community events for decades. His son, Gary, a Alaska resident, contacted me that he had his father’s collection of films and offered the films. That never materialized, so who knows the fate of those films. The bottom line is you just never when and where some interesting archives will surface.