History, News

Fruit Growers’ Hilke Piler

Leave a comment
The Hilke Piler, 1925.

Note: The hilke piler is the featured photograph for May 2026 Calendar. For those that might be interested, my 2027 calendar work file survived the move and it is my desk file drawer waiting for my attention.

In 1925, Fruit Growers Supply Company at its Lassen (Susanville) operation were always looking at innovative ways for efficiency and reduce labor costs at the same time. That year, they installed a Hilke Lumber Piler, the contraption had been invented in 1915 by Seattleite Henry Hilke. The piler was a very efficient means of stacking lumber outdoors. Not only did it reduce the aisle width for stacking of conventional lumber, but the machine allowed to make higher stacks. While a four man crew was involved, the piler could handle up to 10,000 board feet per hour. As one local observer noted: “To those who had never seen the new stacker in action, it is a most interesting and educational sight.”

Fruit Growers Supply Company lumberyard, 1935.

Subscribe

History

Susanville’s Hazardous Entry

Leave a comment
An overturn oil tanker at S. Pine & Cottage Street, Susanville, 1944

In 1920, Susanville city officials had the daunting task of the selection of the Highway 36 west entrance. The State and city officials did agree on one matter–to abandon the old route of Prattville Road and North Pine Street.  The new approach to connect the highway to South Pine Street was a different matter. To complicate matters,  the City was responsible for the final approach costs inside. the city limits. Initially, it was propose to loop around to connect with existing road next to the cemetery. One property owner asked for a “king’s ransom” for an easement. Instead, a cut was made near the water tanks and the highway connected to Quarry Street and a short distance to South Pine Street. This created two sharp turns that proved hazardous.

A view of the water tanks, August 1936—C.H. Benneet Collection

As to the feature photograph I do not have the details of the 1944  wreck. Years after the fact, “Mul” Mulroney told me there could have been a worse case scenario. The spilled oil flowed down gutter of the south side Main Street. Mul stated it was nothing short of a miracle that no one did not discard a lit match from lighting a cigarette or discard a lit cigarette into the gutter.

Subscribe

History

A Sad College Graduation Indeed

3 Comments
Lassen College Yearbook, 1973-Courtesy of Jim Chapman

On November 12, 2025, the Governing Board of the Lassen College Trustees voted to terminate its gunsmithing program, the oldest in the nation. Thus, with this graduation today, will be last of the gunsmithing graduates as this program will cease to exist at the end of academic year. A successful program, but there were those who finally succeeded in a ten-year period to abolish it. Enough said on my part.

Tim

History

Lassen County’s Livestock Brand

Leave a comment

Lassen Co. Brand456

Lassen County had its own livestock brand, even though they did not intentionally plan to be in the business of raising livestock. It was all accidental. Way back in the day, and especially prior to the age of automobile, there were problems with stray livestock. Routinely the county found itself taking care of various animals, in hopes eventually the owners would come forth to claim. After a period of time elapsed the animals became property of the county. Before the county could sale the livestock, they had to be branded for identification purposes. There were other instances were the county was forced to impound animals, whether for collection fees, etc.

Never miss a story, click here.

 

History

Pine Creek Valley, Lassen County

Leave a comment
Pine Creek Valley, June 2015

For those that plan an extended stay to Eagle Lake with the opening fishing season there, you might want to plan an excursion to the west of the lake and wander around Pine Creek Valley.

From the late1800s to the 1950s there was a lot of activity there. First there were cattle and sheep outfits who utilized the region for summer grazing. Many of the natural topographical features bare their names like Campbell and Logan.

Camp 10 Fruit Growers Supply Company
Camp 10, Fruit Growers Supply Company, 1932

In the 1920s, the Fruit Growers Supply Company made their presence with railroad logging in the region. In 1929, the company established Camp 10 on the northeastern edge of the valley. Not only was this substantial logging camp home to over 200 people, for a time being it even boasted its own voting precinct.

Camp 10, Cookhouse

Normally, logging camps were short lived, once the available timber cut, the camps moved on. Not so with Camp 10, it remained in operation at the same location until 1952, when Fruit Growers discontinued railroad logging. Remnants of the camp can still be found.

Tim

History

The Pullen Museum

1 Comment
Pullen Museum
The Pullen Museum, May 3, 2015

Granville Pullen (1838-1926) had developed an interest of collecting relics from the past at an early age. Since 1870 he was a frequent visitor to the Honey Lake Valley to see his sister, Susan Goumaz. In 1901, he moved near Janesville and  bought a ranch. In 1914, at the age of 76, he retired from ranching and bought a house in Janesville.

Granville Pullen-Courtesy Philip S. Hall

Not to be idle in retirement,  he opened a small museum in Janesville to display his collection of curios. People fascinated by his collection began donating items to him. In 1920, Granville and his wife Mary, moved to Susanville and bought a home on South Roop Street. Next to his new home, he had a small concrete building built next to his for a museum. On June 18, 1921, he opened the museum to the public.  When he passed away in 1926, and his wife kept the museum open for awhile, but she did not have the same passion as her husband. Over the years, she donated a portion of the collection to Lassen County. The items were displayed for a number of years in the Veteran’s building, and over time the collection slowly disappeared.

Support this site and Subscribe today!
History

Standish School

2 Comments
Standish School, 1911. Courtesy of Esther McClelland

Standish was a planned utopian community, laid out in 1897.  As many know, the best plans do not always come to fruition. This was the case in Standish, and the school district was not created until  1906.  While the formation of the school was slow to start, that was not the case for the residents to build a schoolhouse. That summer the Wilbur Brothers were hired to construct a $1,300 school facility.

It should be noted the Wilbur Brothers also built the Honey Lake and Missouri Bend schools, and all three structures are similar in design. Honey Lake school has been converted into a residence and no longer recognizable. Missouri Bend is still intact, and for awhile it has been used as a private school.*

Missouri Bend School, circa 1912—M.E.Mulroney

After World War II, rural schools faced many challenges. Thus, unification was the term of the day. On July 1, 1951, the residents of the Bridgeport, Soldier Bridge and Standish School Districts agreed to consolidate and form the Shaffer Union School District.

*The abandoned Standish School was torn down in the 1960s.

Never miss a story, click here.

History, News

One Observation

4 Comments
Sticker, Cornwall, England, circa 1911-Ecla smith Penfold

The sorting through loose documents and photographs is a challenge for me, but it has to be done. After all, some items, such as today’s featured photograph would mean little to anyone, but with a little narrative brings another perspective.

The old Smith homestead, also known as the Brubeck field. November 19, 2015

My great grandmother, Jane Smith Tanner was born there in 1846. In 1869, with her brother, John P.M. Smith and her mother, Mary, settled in the Honey Lake Valley, near the present day of Fleming Unit, of the Honey Lake Wildlife Refuge.  Shortly thereafter, she married William Martin Tanner. After nineteen years of marriage, she was widowed, with four children ranging in age from four to eleven. She remarried to Charles Adams, who not only she endured his physical beatings, but then he sold the Tanner property, absconded with funds, leaving Jane destitute. She died in 1899, a ward at the County hospital and is buried in the Susanville Cemetery.*

Fast forward, in 1998, I made the journey to Cornwall to visit, Orin Smith, her nephew, my grandfather’s first cousin, who was named for Orin Dewitt of the Honey Lake Valley.

Tim

*Her three sons, Bill, John and Charlie sought refuge with the Ravenscroft family. While that name not be familiar to a lot. a Ravenscroft descendant was in the national news of late. His name, Spider Sabich, a former Olympian skier, was murdered by Claudine Longet, who recently passed away. Sabich was also a member of the Galeppi family. Bonus tidbit for the seasoned residents, Jack VanDorn’s mother was a Galeppi. So much useless information stored in my head. On the other hand, to use a old phrase “I do know where the bodies are buried”

History

Michigan Big Wheels

Leave a comment
Red River Lumber Company, with Big Wheels and a McGiffert loader in the background. Courtesy of Hank Martinez
Red River Lumber Company, with Big Wheels and a McGiffert loader in the background. Courtesy of Hank Martinez

Logging operations of the early 1900s was extremely labor intensive. Motorized equipment was still in the experimental stages. One of the best advancements was the development of the Michigan Big Wheels, which everyone just called them big wheels. The wheels were a simple but efficient way to transport fallen logs to a landing, wherein they were then loaded onto railroad cars. The big wheels in time would become a key component in revolutionizing logging methods.

Horses provided the power to operate the big wheels. The name big wheels stems from their size ten to twelve feet in diameter. It was necessary for that size, in order to straddle a log and navigate moderate terrain. The logs were attached to a twelve foot tongue and with a lever, the driver could not only elevate a portion of a log in the front thereby making it easier to drag, but could loosen or tighten the cable, for braking purposes. One big drawback of big wheels was that it required a great deal of labor. Most big wheel logging camps employed as many as of 150 men. Two thirds of them worked as “swampers.” It was their job to remove brush, tree saplings, rocks and other debris that could injure a horse’s leg.

By the late 1920s, both Fruit Growers Supply Company and the Red River Lumber Company had replaced the big wheels with motorized Caterpillar “cats” Tractors.

Never miss a story, click here.

 
Exploring Lassen County's Past