Smith Properties, a Susanville real estate firm, has a for sale sign at the former millpond of Fruit Growers/Sierra Pacific Industries located along Riverside Drive. Even though I do have an inquisitive mind, I have not been able to bring myself to place an inquiry. First of all, I am not even sure what can be done with the property. It should be noted that Fruit Growers purchased the twenty-acre millpond site in 1919 from George and Pearl Bassett for $9,500.
It is that time of year when the lilacs are in full bloom. With that in mind, here is a bit of trivia. Lilacs were introduced into the region from colonist from New Englanddc who located at the utopian community of Standish in the late 1890s. During the 1950s, Susanville’s gardening community tossed around the idea to hold a lilac festival, the plant being abundant there.
Located near Peter Lassen’s Monument, the place was originally known as Hidden Meadows. The name was changed in 1951, when a group of Susanville residents purchased it from Bill Williams and established the Lost Meadows Golf Course. That golf course remained in operation until 1967, when the City of Susanville opened the nearby Emerson Lake Golf Course.
While sorting through materials, I came across notes about the demolition of Susanville’s first Bank of America building. It was in the spring of 1972 when the demolition began. The four stately columns were knocked down on April 9. The building was constructed in 1922 and originally was the home of the Lassen Industrial Bank.
Eighty years ago today witnessed the failure of the dam at Said Valley. The earthen dam was constructed in 1885, just north of Grasshopper Valley. In 1929, the Department of Water Resources cited the spillway was not in compliance. After the collapse of the dam, the state did an investigation as to why it failed. It turned out that burrowing rodents over the years had weakened the dam.
For me, I find it of a particular interest the number of residences that instead of being demolished, were moved to another location. Take for instance the former home of Dr. J.S. Wren located on the corner of Mill and South Lassen Streets. The property was to be the future home of Western Title Insurance Company. At daylight on October 29, 1976, Jim Music had the task to move the structure to its new location on Cornell Street. All went well until the house reached the intersection of Main and Weatherlow Streets where it took about forty minutes to maneuver the building around the stop lights.
There is really not much left of the former railroad community of Flanigan. It is, however, not void of activity. As you can see from the photograph there are lots of railroad cars parked there. They happen to be full of railroad ties. Near the former intersection of the two railroad lines, is now chipper to grind the old ties.
The Milne store was the heart and soul of Flanigan, a small railroad community located in the eastern portion of the Honey Lake Valley on the Nevada side. In 1934, William and Gertrude Milne took over the Flanigan store for Orlando Gasperoni, who had moved to Wendel. At the same time, William became the town’s postmaster. Four years later, the Milne’s purchased the store from Gasperoni. It should be noted, all during this time, Gertrude was the teacher at Bonham School at Flanigan.
Of course, there would a lot of changes over time at the Milne Store. First was the passing of William in 1945, and Gertrude continued with the store, post office as well as her teaching duties . The 1950s, saw a decline in trade at the store, and in 1957, Gertrude retired from her teaching duties. On March 31, 1961, the Flanigan Post Office. Not discouraged, Gertrude continued to stay at Flanigan. On January 2, 1969, while Gertrude was visiting at Fish Springs Ranch, her combination, store, post office and home was destroyed by fire.
I just never know, when someone has a question for me, what it might be. A Susanville resident was confused why a city street known as Paiute Lane, and Piute Creek has two different spellings. The truth be told there are a lot of regional spellings for this Native American tribe. At the time of Anglo settlement, the references to the local band of Indians was spelled as Piute. Fast forward a hundred years later that correct spelling included the letter “a” hence Paiute Lane. Then you have the situation where on November 1, 1859, James Archy claimed “Pyute Valley” near Susanville.
With little fanfare on May 3, 2004 Sierra Pacific Industries closed its Susanville mill. In a certain way it was a momentous event considering there had always been at least one sawmill in operation since 1857. This particular mill was constructed in 1921 by the Fruit Growers Supply Company to provide wooden boxes for its parent company, best known today as Sunkist. In 1963, Fruit Growers sold the mill to the Eagle Lake Lumber Company which would eventually evolve into Sierra Pacific Industries.