Fort Janesville

February 24, 2017 Tim Purdy 2 Comments

During the Pyramid Lake War of 1860, residents of the Honey Lake Valley took precautions and fortified themselves at different places. At Janesville, the residents built a stockade measuring 63’ x 90’ from pine logs that were12 to 14 feet high. After the fears of Indian attacks had subsided, the fort was used as a private school from 1861-1864. In 1865, the school was abandoned and area residents helped themselves to doors, windows and anything else they wanted. Asa M. Fairfield wrote, “The stockade stood for a good many years and fell down a log at a time.”

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News

An Eagle Lake Update

February 23, 2017 Tim Purdy 1 Comment

Pine Creek at the Spalding bridge, February 21, 2017

I am aware that there are a lot of folks anxious to learn about the level of Eagle Lake. When I have more information on the lake level, I will relay that information. In the meantime, though I wanted to share these two photographs taken recently by a friend of mine.

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I will have that water, please!

February 22, 2017 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

The flooded Standish district, with Honey Lake in the background, 1952. Courtesy of Betty B. Deal

A while back, I wrote about Hallett Creek, importing water from one basin to another. Well, a lot of folks have had their eyes on Honey Lake. Ironically, in 1868 and 1911, certain Honey Lake residents suggested that a canal be constructed between Honey and Pyramid Lakes. In those two instances, the level of Honey Lake was so high, that many farms around the lake were flooded and it was their intention to drain the excess water to Pyramid. Continue reading I will have that water, please! →

History

Perspectives

February 20, 2017 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

The menu cover of the Grand Cafe, a cherished Susanville establishment.

Several months ago, while having lunch at the Lassen Ale Works, Margaret, a co-owner, was excited to see me, they had found an old menu, but was not sure whether it was associated with the Pioneer. I assured her it was, and I remembered back in the 1960s. Of course, her staff, thought that something from the 1960s was an ancient relic. Do I dare mention, the first car I ever owned and still own, is a 1964 Triumph?

Then, to the other extreme, take the case of my grandfather, John Tanner. He was born in 1882, near the original Soldier Bridge. At that time, there was no Standish, Litchfield or Wendel. That segment of the Honey Lake Valley was a very rural outpost.

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History

Wild Horses

February 19, 2017 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Wild Gatheres — In 1978, the Sierra Club published The Wild Horse Gatherers. It is an illustrated story of BLM’s wild horse round-up locally.

Note: Margie’s Book Nook has received a couple copies of The Wild Horse Gatherers. First come, first serve. There are some other out of print books that the store has recently received.

A hundred years ago, the wild horse population was kept under control by out of work wranglers. During the winter months, it was not unusual for ranches to let go extra help, especially single men. A number of these men, would take a 160 acre desert homestead to make a home, especially properties with unclaimed springs. To make some extra money, they would catch wild horses and break them. By spring they would sell the horses, and pocket the money. Continue reading Wild Horses →

History

McKissick Cattle Company

February 18, 2017 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Long Valley pioneer, Jacob McKissick created a large ranching empire in Lassen and Washoe counties. It would all come crashing down with his death in 1900. McKissick was a life-long bachelor, so there was a lot of speculation as to who would receive what. The bulk of his estate he left to his nephew, Benjamin Howard McKissick, who had a spent the greater portion of his life working for his uncle. Of course, this did not set well with other family members, and lawsuits were filed to contest the will. In 1903, Benjamin Howard McKissick could no longer handle the stress of these conflicts and committed suicide in a most painful way, by swallowing carbolic acid.

This event, of course, created even more estate litigation. After nearly ten years, issues were resolved and Jacob McKissick’s vast holdings were sold to H.G. Humphrey, W.H. Moffat and J.L. Humphrey. On February 4, 1914, these men incorporated this enterprise as the McKissick Cattle Company. In the future, we will explore more about the McKissick operations, and this family was the catalyst for my research work in the region’s history.

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History

The Eagle Lake Cut

February 17, 2017 Tim Purdy 1 Comment

The first of many of deepening the intake to the Bly Tunnel. — The first of many of deepening the intake channel to the Bly Tunnel.

One of the problems associated with Leon Bly’s tunnel at Eagle Lake concerned the construction. The original plans stated that the tunnel would tap the lake eight to nine feet below the surface. It was not until 1924, that it was revealed that the contractor, Grant Smith & Company had only had a cut three feet below the surface, and in that same year, one of the driest on record, that the water flow through the tunnel was inadequate.

In the fall of 1924, Edward Whaley was hired by the irrigation districts to make a cut five feet below the surface to correct the problem. Whaley, like Grant Smith, would not fulfill his contract either. The problem was blasting through solid rock. Each year the districts took it upon themselves to extend the channel further out into the lake. In 1932 the last work was done, but between the drought and water taken out, the lake had dropped by twenty-four feet.

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History

Golden Eagle Mine – Hayden Hill

February 16, 2017 Tim Purdy 1 Comment

This is an interesting photograph in more ways than one. Alexander Howell, was a photographer. For a brief time in the 1880s, his brother Oscar Howell, was a one-time renter of Papoose Meadows at Eagle Lake.

In 1979, I obtained a copy of the above print from Alexander Howell’s granddaughter. She thought it was tunnel at Eagle Lake. Well, it is obvious that indeed it is a tunnel, just not the original tunnel at Eagle Lake. It is actually, the tunnel entrance of the Golden Eagle Mine at Hayden Hill, the largest and most productive mine there. In the 1990s, Lassen Gold Mining revived operations at Hayden Hill, which most of the place was obliterated. However, as a Lassen County Planning Commissioner, I made an inspection of Hayden Hill, as part of the reclamation process. What caught my attention, probably no one else is aware, amazingly the tunnel entrance is still intact.

There will be a feature article on Hayden Hill in the Northern California Traveler March/April issue.

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History

Westwood’s Opera House

February 15, 2017 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

If there was ever a great misnomer for a building it was one of Red River Lumber Company’s first public buildings in Westwood was dubbed the Opera House. It should be noted that when Westwood was being built in 1912-14, it was remote. There were no highways, and in the winter the only access by train. It was designed this way on purpose to keep undesirable elements, including unions out of the community. However, Red River would need to provide entertainment venues for its employees, if they wanted to recruit and retain. Continue reading Westwood’s Opera House →

History

A Little Love . . .

February 14, 2017 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

It being Valentine’s Day, I thought I share something a bit different. In the way back yonder, how real property was exchanged, was done in a variety of ways. During the late 1890s and through the early 1900s, transactions between spouses carried the clause “in consideration of love and affection,” to deed real property, which in most instances was the title to the family residence, as seen in the illustration above.

There is the case, of property being sold for one-dollar. That signals a red flag to indicate that a mortgage was recorded. For years, deeds and mortgages were recorded in separate volumes. It was not until the 1920s, that the transition began to consolidate all recordings into one volume, that we know today as Official Records.