This is an excerpt of Harold Gilliam’s small booklet Sierra Shangri-La. This is a quite unique observation that one does not normally see in print. Gilliam noted that there was some anxiety/hostility towards the new residents of Herlong when the Depot was established in 1942.
“One Lassen controversy which for a time threatened to erupt into an intra-county feud has to a large extent been resolved by diligent effort on the part of community leaders.
“Out beyond Honey Lake in the southeastern corner of the county are long rows of concrete ‘igloos’ stretching for miles across the gently rolling plain—storage places for the big Sierra Ordnance Depot. In the nearby government housing which comprises the war-born town of Herlong live depot employees and their families, some 4000-5000 people altogether.
“Herlong is a complete community in itself, second only to Susanville in population, with 40 business establishments, churches, clubs, schools, a library, a weekly newspaper, a well-equipped hospital and a movie theater. The depot has storage facilities for all types of ordnance equipment, including anything from cotter pins to complete vehicles and from .22 ammunition to blockblusters.
“The sudden mushrooming of a town of such size in a county less than 20,000 could not avoid having considerable impact. The big political question which arose was whether or Herlong’s people, living on a government reservation and paying no county taxes, were to be considered an integral part of the county, with the right to vote and participate in county affairs.
“Legal authorities ultimately ruled that Herlong people could vote in the county and considerable heat was generated in the 1950 election, in which Herlong’s candidate was chosen as one of the County Supervisors.
“Since that time, due partly to an astute public relations program carried on by the depot’s former commanding officer, Colonel H.E. Hopping, the dispute has subsided and the people are no longer regarded as ‘foreigners’ by most Lassenites.”
