History

Coyote Corral

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Coyote Corral, June 15, 2019

These stock corrals with their loading chutes are becoming relics of a by gone era. According to a 1971 Lassen National Forest Service has the corral featured as Coyote Corral about two miles north of McCoy Flat Reservoir. It was built in the 1960s by DeBragas and Roney.

Large portions of western Lassen County was the summer range for ranchers of the Sacramento Valley, with those from Tehama County who were predominate. Many of the geographical features there are named for them: Bogard, McCoy, Logan, Cone, Campbell, and Willard to name a few.

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History

Janesville Electrified

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Janesville Oddfellows Hall—Courtesyof Howard & Gladys Scott

For whatever unknown reason the residents of Janesville were reluctant to embrace electricity, unlike their Standish neighbors. In the fall of 1929 there were a handful of Janesville residents who campaigned the citizens to sign up for electricity so a power line could be constructed from Standish. By November 1929, sixteen people had signed up, but to make the project a reality required twenty sign ups. The organizers were stymied by the reluctance of the Janesville Masonic and Oddfellow Halls to sign up. After all, it was thought these two buildings held many public functions, and they would be better served with electricity. In 1930, a power line was extended to Janesville for the initial subscribers.

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History

Brubeck Spring – Lassen County

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Approaching Brubeck Spring, Septrember 23, 1979

Located on the north side of Skedaddle Mountain, it was so named for Lewis Brubeck (1852-1925), who in 1881 established a ranch on the east shore of Honey Lake, that would later become the railroad town of Amedee. In 1888, Brubeck purchased the property that the this spring is located on from Robert Elwood for $200. On February 8, 1899 Brubeck sold the property that consisted of 441 acres to Nevada sheepmen Flanigan & Dunn for $1,500. By the way, depending upon your age or your musical taste,  Brubeck’s grandson was the acclaimed jazz musician, Dave Brubeck.

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News

Ask Tim

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Lassen Union High School Basketball Team, 1922. — B.R. Zimmerman Collection

On a quarterly basis, I ask you the reader, if there is something you would like to learn more about or maybe its something you heard, but question its validity. So here is an opportunity to participate. I will do my best to answer any questions. It should be noted, it may take awhile for the answer to appear as a post. The primary reason, many of the daily posts are done nearly a month in advance. So by the time you read this I am already working on posts for the middle of February, or at least I should be. Whatever the case may be, I look forward to hearing from you. Of course, it should be noted that paid subscribers requests receive priority. In addition, you can always send a request at any time.

History

Pacific Gas & Electric Railroad

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Pit One under construction, 1921 — Courtesy of Lola L. Tanner

In 1919, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) announced they were going to spend $100 million building five dams and power plants along the Pit River in eastern Shasta County. PG&E contracted with the McCloud River Railroad to construct and operate the line starting from Bartle. Work began in 1920 connect with Pit One, near Fall River Mills. Pit 3 is probably the best known dam for its creation of Lake Britton—named after PG&E General Manager, John Britton. With the completion of Pit 4, activity of the line greatly diminished since its sole purpose was for construction of the dams to haul equipment and material. By 1929, the line was suspended and in 1934, the rails were removed.

Construction near Pit One, 1921—Courtesy of Lola L. Tanner

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History

Susanville’s Main Street snow berms

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Main Street, Susanville, 1922.

Prior to 1922, there was no snow removal in Susanville. There were several factors at play. One most people were not dependent on an automobile for transportation, there were still an abundant of horse drawn sleighs to navigate any deep snow. On the other hand, Susanville had experienced a major transformation with paved streets, curbs, gutters and sidewalks. This was paid for with a special tax assessment with the property owners, many of whom were not happy with the situation. The citizens demanded some form of snow removal.

The city had a slight problem to comply with the request of its inhabitants—they had no equipment. Luckily, the county road department came to the city’s aid and plowed Main Street pushing the snow to the center of the street. In 1933, the city turned over Main Street to the State Highway Department, who continues with the same snow plowing practices.

Main Street, Susanville, 1952.

History

The Good Times of 1922

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Susanville Main Street, 1924.

Lassen County was in the midst of prosperous times during the 1920s, and 1922 was a prime example. For instance, over 300,000,000 board feet of lumber was cut that year, making Lassen County the biggest producer of lumber in California. This had a ripple effect in the agricultural community. The lumber mills purchased $2,000,000 worth of local farm products to feed their employees.

The railroads flourished too. For the Southern Pacific over 1600 carloads of lumber were shipped by rail on any given month. Passenger train traffic was up going from three to six cars and even included a dining car.

Among other things to celebrate was the Lassen National Forest moved its headquarters from Red Bluff to Susanville. A county fair was held, the first time in fifteen years. The Bly Tunnel project was approaching completion that would be a major boost to the agricultural community. To assist that group the Lassen County Farm Bureau was formed.

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History

Our Finicky Winter Weather

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Main Street, Susanville, January, 1907

January is usually the month that the largest snowfalls occur, but not always. Last year the month was a dud, but February and March made up for it. On Wednesday, January 11, 1899 Susanville had received thirty-three inches of snowfall since the first of the month. Nothing too remarkable, until a look back at the previous winter that was more than the entire snowfall for that winter. So we will have to just wait and see what Mother Nature has in store for us.

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History

The creation of the Lassen County Free Library

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The Lassen County Library bookplate used several local iconic features representing the pioneer era.

In 1915, when the Lassen County Board of Supervisors agreed to create a County Free Library it was a new territory for them to undertake. On September 7, 1915 they entered into a contract with the County of Sacramento to organize the Lassen County Free Library system. It was a one year contract at $960. One of the first stipulations was Sacramento would hire a librarian for Lassen County at a salary of $80 per month. When the contract expired on October 31, 1916, the Lassen County Free Library was fully functional.

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History

Lassen National Forest Ranger Stations

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Butte Lake Ranger Station

Just as one-room schools could be found every where in another era, the same held true for ranger stations. Records for schools can be found through county archives. One of the problems researching activities on the Lassen National Forest is the lack of archives. A portion of this can be attributed to the fact that its headquarters has moved so many times. During such moves, there is a tendency to discard documents, at the time that seemed no longer relevant.

Fortunately, documents such as Harvey Abbey’s diary as a Forest Ranger from 1905-1920 sheds an interesting glimpse of the early years on Lassen. This, plus records in my files, should make for an interesting series.

If you happen or know someone who has information on this topic, I would appreciate hearing from you.

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Exploring Lassen County's Past