In December 2025 a friend of mine attended a stamp collection gathering. He attended in hopes that post card dealers were there. There were a few. He sent me a copy of this postcard, he purchased as it had the Amedee postmark cancel.

While 99.9% could care less about this postcard, for me it was intriguing. There are some that knew Erma Gibson, but not by her maiden name.* She married Clent Haley and they operated the Gibson/Haley ranch near Litchfield for many years. Their daughter, Clara Beth Green taught at Lassen High School. Clent’s brother, Bill, married Verna Tanner, my mother’s first cousin.

The author of the postcard was Tom Ogilivie who was the Lassen County Surveyor for many years. His notation of Norma J. and R.Martin I can explain. Norma Jeanne James, was Tom’s step-daughter and Rita Martin were classmates at Amedee.  It should be noted that Norma’s mother, Gail H.V. James, was the first Purser postmaster, that would later became known as Wendel.

Tim

*Erma’s mother was Clara Litch and her grandfather was Andrew Litch, for whom town of Litchfield is named for.

In letter dated on April 13, 1909, to the Lassen County Board of Supervisors stated from the Red River Lumber Company stated::

“The few remarks contained in the printed leaflet which I enclose herewith will show to a degree the effect of high taxation on timber conservation, or rather what the results will be if the present methods of taxation are continued. A new and serious consideration now confronts us and all causes which and to destroy the forest should be dispensed with, is possible. Any plan that will tend to conserve the lumber supply should be adopted and enforced.

“Lower taxation and other holding expenses will not necessarily increase the profits of the manufacturer, except as the additional amount of lumber  can market from the same land by cutting the timber when the market is right to justify its economical cutting. The gain to the manufacturer in this respect is also a gain to the consumer. The consumer would some day understand this and be thankful for it. The fulfillment of any plan which conserves the timber is what is needed and the final results will most assuredly inure principally to the benefit of the consumer.”

Very truly yours, E.G. Scammon

While daily email malfunction problems unfolded. I learned something new and not about technical computing. I had came across an article a seiche that occurred on Lake Erie. It is an interesting phenomenon where the wind action is great enough to force high waves and expose the lake bottom.

This occurred on Honey Lake as well. It was documented in the the Lassen Weekly Mail of April 9, 1915,  “ A party from Honey Island consisting of Henry Baughman, W.F Snare, and Alex Norwood were in Susanville yesterday. They made the passage from the Island to the mainland in a rowboat and report a very stormy passage. The waves were so high that the bottom of the lake was often exposed and the boat left stranded on the bottom. The party had to wait each time until the wave came back and floated the boat.”

Tim

Dry farming had its origins in the Great Plains since many locales receive from eight to eighteen inches of precipitation annually. The movement grew and spread to the Aird regions of the American West. For land promoters Northeastern California provided a lucrative market for exploitation. Eastern Lassen County with abundant public land available to homesteaders, and proposed irrigation project was an ideal setting.

By 1910, the region had exploded with desert homesteaders. An interesting segment of those were Scandinavians. The lure for them that one  could actually own land was irrisitable   Upon arrival there was a rude awakening to see vast sagebrush lands. Going back to the homeland was not an option. At least these hardy homesteaders had a benevolent Mother Nature on their side with way above normal precipitation. Things can quickly change and this was no exception. Two things happen in 1917, was the beginning of a severe drought, but a far greater impact was World War I.  By the mid-1920s, eastern Lassen County had been depopulated.

As late of the mid-1980s numerous deserted homestead cabins were still standing, but that is no longer the case today.

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A week ago, we explored the 100th anniversary of Congressman John Raker’s funeral held in Susanville. Newspapers across California published memorial tributes. Below this what was the San Francisco Call had to say:

“John Raker, Good Bye: In John Raker’s first campaign for election to Congress he stated this creed:

‘My work will to be labor for enactment of laws that will keep this great government  for its 95,000,000 people, and not favored a few-the interests and traits. The people should be permitted to have a full voice in this government of theirs. I stand for progressive legislation, but state and national to that end.’

“No man cay that John Raker did not literally obey the creed of his. He kept his word and was reelected again and again on the basis of his deeds at Washington. .

“Hetch Hetchy is in great measure a monument to him, for which he was the man who introduced the measure that embodied the great Hetch Hetchy is being constructed. Into the Act the wrote provisions to insure Hetch Hechy to the people forever.”

Tim

Health care has come a long since 1900. In 1884, Lassen County built a county hospital along Susan River, near the Susanville Cemetery. The board of supervisors were the de facto operators. The supervisors appointed a county physician whose duties included the management of the hospital. The supervisors hired the hospital staff, which consisted of a married couple whose title was Steward and Stewardess. Their duties were to take care of patients and maintain the facility. The above 1910 application of J.E. and Edna Bass for the county hospital position was typical. If one thinks about their bid $6o month each, that works out to $2.00 per day.

It should be noted that the Lassen County hospital served as a quasi old folks home and often referred then as the poor house for those of indigent means. 

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