Timber fallers, Lake Almanor, 1927. Courtesy of Roy Rea
Once upon a time, this program established in 1908, had a major impactof funding for local governments where national forests were located. Initially, twenty-five percent of timber sales were distributed to counties where government timber was sold. These funds were earmarked for roads and schools. For many decades in Lassen County it was a huge deal. For example in 1926 Lassen County received $33,886.28–the third highest amount in California. While that figure may seem small by today’s standards, that sum represented one-quarter of Lassen County’s budget.
Brochure of the Mt. Lassen Transit Company, Red Bluff, circa 1920. Courtesy of Margaret A. Purdy
The Mt. Lassen Motor Transit Company, located in Red Bluff, has been in operation for over 100 years. When Lassen Volcanic National Park was established, it coincided with the construction of State Highway 36. This placed the company in advantage to provide trips to Lassen Park, since the southern portion of the park was easily accessible. Whether they used Packards, I do not know.
Pumpkin Center is one of those great mysteries to me. For those not familiar It is a small district just southeast of Bieber. I have had asked a lot of knowledgeable people of Big Valley and it seems as no one knows.
Herlong High yearbooks do exist and the school maintains a collection. As to the the murder of Hiram Patridge and Sylvester Coburn at Deep Hole Station, in the Smoke Creek Desert will appear as a separate post.
Eagle Lake Summit, 1923. Courtesy of Dick & Helen Harrison
The citizens of Susanville in August 1926, while hosting the California American Legion Convention, did everything they could to make it a memorable event. One of the many events they hosted was a barbecue at Eagle Lake. This was no small feat. It was a logistical nightmare to transport some 2,700 people to the south shore of lake. In addition, to bring all the food and related items to go with it had to been a daunting task. To feed a crowd of that size was more than they were prepared for. Long lines were endured for a serving of steak and beans. Most of the attendees took it in stride. “Happy” Wintz from the El Segundo delegation composed a little ditty he sang the next day at the parade in Susanville, a variation of the local legion’s slogan, “Eagle Lake, Eagle Lake, on the rocks and rills, of California hills. Eagle Lake, Eagle Lake, that’s where we got the belly ache.”
The Wingfield property as it appeared in the 1950s.
In the spring of 1942, Susanville residents were astir when the news broke that a famous western movie star purchased the old George Wingfield, south of Susanville, known today as Mountain Meadows Ranch. That star was none other than Buck Jones, who delighted movie goers since the 1920s. It was his desire to raise horses at the ranch. However, his dream was short lived. In November 1942, Buck Jones was killed in the horrific fire of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston that claimed 492 lives.
A Fruit Growers Supply Company logging train near Halls Flat, 1947
Poison Lake in western Lassen County was in essence the last frontier for railroad logging in the region. By 1940, the Red River Lumber Company had nearly exhausted its tributary timber around Westwood. It was also a critical time for Red River, not only dealing with a dwindling timber supply, but a younger generation of the Walkers having more influence in the operations. With the nation already gearing up for the effort, demand for lumber increase, which in turn commanded higher prices.
While Red River was in crossroads about the future of Westwood, they were able to agree on item. With demand for lumber at an all time, and profits, too, it was best to carry on, with the hopes of finding a likely buyer during the good times.
The next destination to log was Red River’s Black/Harvey Mountains tracts some thirty miles north of Westwood. As an extra enticement, Lassen National Forest nine million board feet at Poison Lake. In 1941, Red River established Camp Bunyan at Halls Flat and started logging east towards Blacks Mountain. In 1944, they built railroad logging spurs around Poison Lake. While traveling along Highway 44 west of Poison Lake and looking on the south side of the highway these old railroad grades are still visible.
Inside the Pine Creek Fish Trapping Facility, April 6, 1961. Courtesy of Department of Fish & Game
The Eagle Lake trout nearly faced extinction, but fortunately now it is a success story. Between the drought and the Bly tunnel, not only did the lake drop to record low levels, but the Pine Creek estuary became so silted the trout could not go up that stream to spawn. By saving grace, the winter of 1937-38 witnessed tremendous precipitation, that allowed for substantial spring run-off that cleared the Pine Creek channel.
In 1948, the California Fish & Game came forward to save the trout. In 1950, Harry Chandler, a biologist was successful in setting up a trap to catch spawners. One adult spawner happened to yield 2,000 eggs. Those eggs were taken to the Crystal Lake Hatchery were they hatched and reared. While that was a good start more needed to be done. In 1958, the Wildlife Conservation Board allocated $38,810 to construct a fishing trap/egg collection station at the mouth of Pine Creek, and also the Crystal Lake Hatchery with an additional four more rearing pounds. It was money well spent as the following year sixteen adult spawners were caught. Thus, a very successful start and we know the rest.
This is an excellent time to visit the facility, especially for those who have never been there.
The Susanville plant, 1921. Courtesy of Ed Standard
In this era of being bombarded with the term “fake news” the City of Susanville deserves a gold medal award to distort the record to accomodate someone’s warped mind. It should be noted, after all, I have spent the majority of my life researching the region’s history to provide an accurate record versus false statements, which is different from folklore. For instance, when my Eagle Lake book was published in 1988, Bob Amesbury congratulated me, since he had written a book on the lake, too. Bob went onto say that he had all the bullshit and I had all the facts.
Fast forward to the summer of 2018, when at the City’s urging I met with with two officials, Mr. McCourt and Ms. Schuster, concerning the history of Riverside Park. It was an exercise in futility, for this dynamic duo, could care less about the history of site, and were bound and determined to change the name of Riverside Park to Fruit Growers Park, regardless of the facts, which ultimately they were successful, using a deceptive survey, that the general public was excluded.
Fruit Growers Supply Company, 1936
Oh, dear reader, it gets worse. To support their claim they lied on the record at a city council meeting at the September 5, 2018, and that information then appears in the local newspaper only to get perpetuated. One of Schuster’s first comments that the city gave Fruit Growers the millsite property consisting of 256 acres, which it should be noted was larger than the city itself, and was located over a mile away from the city limits. Just the twenty acre parcel where the park is located, Fruit Growers purchased that from George and Pearl Bassett for $9,500. In all, Fruit Growers spent more than $60,000 for the millsite property and water rights. It just gets worse. Schuster noted that Fruit Growers sold the mill to Eagle Lake Lumber Company in 1944. Fact, Fruit Growers sold to Eagle Lake Lumber in 1963 for $875,000. Later on it was mentioned that Fruit Growers donated the park property. Excuse me. The city purchased it in 1976 for $23,000 from Sierra Pacific Industries, and it was not the city’s first choice. The city was trying to buy Vallejo Meadows along Piute Creek, north of Willow Street, and west of Parkdale, as part of a greenbelt program, but that deal fell through.
In closing then, with the City’s current thinking, Riverside Hospital where I was born and lots of others could not have existed under that name, as it must have been Fruit Growers Hospital.
A town is born, Litchfield. Courtesy of John M. Gibson
Today, a graveside service is being held at the Lassen Cemetery for Clara Beth Haley Green, a great-granddaughter of Andrew Litch. When the family relayed the news of Clara Beth’s passing, they were bewildered by the fact the entry in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, states that the town of Litchfield is named for Thomas Litch. Of course, this is false. While there is a ton of information to be found on the internet, it does not mean that it is accurate. Even commercial sites are not immune from providing paying customers with erroneus material.
In 1912, with the construction of the Fernley & Lassen Railroad was surveyed to go through ranch of B.F. Gibson and its location in that part of the Honey Lake Valley made it an ideal place for a combination townsite and railroad shipping point.
As Standish was less than three miles away, Gibson offered residents of that community free lots for those willing to relocate, which he dubbed his enterprise, New Standish. However, his offer was not well received, so Gibson named is his new town, Litchfield, in honor of pioneer settler and his father-in-law, Andrew Litch. By the way, the Thomas Litch referenced in Wikipedia, was Andrew’s son.
A little background for those not familiar with the topic, that I wrote about in the spring of 2015. Granville Pullen first came to Lassen County in 1870. He moved around, and in 1901 he bought a ranch near Janesville. In 1914, at the age 76, he retired from the ranch and bought a home in Janesville. It should be noted that Pullen had been collecting various artifacts and curious for forty years. Upon his retirement he opened a small museum to display his collection. People were fascinated and donated items to him.
In 1920, Granville and his wife, Mary, bought a home on South Roop Street in Susanville. Next to his new home, he had a small concrete building constructed to house his museum and it opened to the public on June 18, 1921.
When Pullen passed away in 1926, his wife did not share her late husband’s possession for his artifacts. In early 1927, Mary donated the bulk of the collection to Lassen County and many items were put on display in the new Veteran’s Memorial Building. At the December 5, 1927 meeting of the Lassen County Board of Supervisors a discussion was held regarding the Pullen Museum. Mary Pullen offered the museum building on Roop Street to county on the condition it would be moved to another location. County Purchasing Agent E.F. Koken informed the board that it would be too difficult to move the building and the county declined the offer.
Diamond Mountain, circa 1940. Courtesy of Margaret A. Purdy
It is interesting to note that before the Red River Lumber Company and the Fruit Growers Supply Company harvested a single tree, the two companies stated with their sustained harvesting practices they would operated into perpetuity. While both companies no longer operate sawmills, they own large swaths of timberland, which is routinely harvested. However, large swaths of territory the companies would log contained a great deal of volcanic rock, not the best soils for second growth trees. In addition, when they did a tremendous amount of logging in these areas, it coincided during a twenty year drought cycle from 1917-37, that until this time the region had never experienced since the Anglo settlement of the 1850s. On the other hand, they had a positive outlook. Take for instance during the dedication ceremony of Fruit Growers sawmill in Susanville in 1921. Charles Emerson, a well known merchant and rancher was one of many dignitaries to speak. Emerson told the crowd of his own reforestation locally. Emerson recalled that as a child [he was born in Susanville in 1868], forty years ago, he helped plant a tract of pine trees on the family ranch just south of Susanville on Diamond Mountain. Those seedlings, he said, had become a fine stand of pine timber, many of which were 22 to 24 inches in diameter.
