You will be receiving a private email shortly with more details about our exclusive tour, including the June date, etc for this most interesting and first of its kind tour in Lassen County. It should be noted that in 1992 a small international gathering occurred there—representing Australia, Europe and South America.
In addition, still working out some technical issues, but hopefully in the near future everyone will receive daily updates, or opt into a digest form.
Tim
Part news and part history. On April 28, the first hurdle was made for the construction of a 17,400 square foot Rite Aid store. The store, along with the parking lot will encompass the entire 1600 block of Main Street. Of course, this site was the former home of Potter’s Maternity Home on the corner of Main and Park. In 1966, United California Bank took over this location and constructed their bank, which held an open house of February 27, 1967. It has housed a number of financial institutions since then. Of course, on the corner of Main and Ash was Baxter’s Flying “A” Service Station. After it closed, for a brief time in 1978 it housed Jim Pardee’s campaign headquarters for Lassen County Superior Court Judge, and then was subsequently torn down and has been a vacant ever since.
According to records filed with the city the bronze plaque commemorating Potter’s will be preserved and replaced on the site. The fire department has sought authorization to conduct fire training on the bank and remaining vacant residences scheduled for demolition. It is Rite Aid’s goal to be in their new location by the of 2015.
On Thursday May 28, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. in the Lassen County Board of Supervisors room at 707 Nevada Street, Susanville the Eagle Lake Interagency Board will be holding one of their regular meetings.
I will do a presentation on historic weather patterns. Some of the interesting events will be the drought of the 1850s; the devastating floods of 1861-62; the extreme wet cycle of 1907-1916, which was followed by the 20-year drought of 1917-1937. The meeting, of course, is open to the public.
Attention Subscribers: You will be receiving the text of the presentation, as another special bonus for your support.
Gallatin Beach has certainly evolved over the years. During the 1910s, the beach did not exist, due to the high water levels of Eagle Lake. By 1917, Eagle Lake reached its peak high water mark, and on the south shore, considerable timber was flooded, killing trees some hundreds of years old.
In the 1920s, the water level of lake began to recede, in part by Bly’s Tunnel and equally important the region was in the midst of a 20-year drought. Dead trees were now a part of the beach’s landscape. Local water enthusiasts made the most of the situation, and incorporated them into photo ops
One never knows for sure where your final resting place may be. In one instant, there was a dis-internment of a grave of a person who died in 1924 from the Susanville Cemetery and reburied nearly 70 years later to a cemetery in Oroville.
Then there is the case of Amy Laughead. She was a first cousin to Red River’s founder, Thomas Barlow Walker. Her claim to fame, is that of her son, William B. Laughead, who developed the famous Paul Bunyan caricature that later became the trademark for Red River. Amy is a perfect example of you just never know where your final resting place might be. She died in February 1939 at Westwood and was buried in Sacramento. Seven months later, her son had her remains disinterred and brought to the Westwood Cemetery. When he died in 1958 he was buried in the plot in Sacramento where his mother was originally interred.
I still hold a grudge with Congress when they changed Memorial Day to make it a three day weekend. Prior to that, the true spirit of Memorial Day could be witnessed. Today, I see fewer and fewer people paying a visit to the cemeteries. Instead of doing it on one day, those that still observe it, do it whenever its convenient. However, there are still some of us that follow tradition.
As I do a lot of cemetery work throughout the year, I do spend even more time during Memorial Day Weekend. Many instances is usually assisting people in search of a grave. One of my favorite cemetery stories occurred at Janesville. A couple had arrived, and I could see they needed help. The woman was perplexed and remarked “Why don’t they bury people in alphabetical order? It would make it so much easier.” After further discussion, I inquired as to the grave they were looking for. I informed them they were in the wrong cemetery, and needed to go Lassen Cemetery, which I gave them directions to, as well as to how to find the grave they were looking for.
While a few months ago I mentioned the peculiar situation noting that North Street runs in a east/west direction. As duly noted, it made sense back in the day, as it was the most northerly street in the new town.
Another peculiarity is that of Roop and Weatherlow Streets. This was pointed out to me many years ago when Eleanor Vandeburgh and I worked at the museum. After all, her reasoning was, one would think Weatherlow Street should have been designated as Roop, since it went to his original home. Weatherlow lived at the end of Roop Street, though it did not extend that far, since his original home is known today as Susanville Ranch Park. On the same token, Weatherlow Street goes by Roop’s original home.
Scott’s was a little known Western Pacific station in Long Valley. It was so named for Charles and Franceska Scott who located there in 1901, from Fish Springs. With the railroad station, they decided to open a general store and even established the Scotts Post Office. The post office only operated from 1912 to 1916. In 1918, they sold their 3,160-acre ranch to Antonio Saralegui.
The winter of 1923-24, was one of the driest on record in California. That summer another record would be broken–forest fires. It was June, 1924, when the Red River Lumber Company having been in operation for over a decade experienced its first major forest fire. The fire broke out at Chester Flats between Camps 34 and 38 and burned a narrow strip of land, eight miles in length. Red River’s loss was minimal as the fire burned recently logged over land and the only significant damage was 500 cords of wood burned along 1,000 feet of railroad track. Red River considered its biggest loss was to the men fighting the fire which cost the company a $1,000 a day in wages, and it took a week to contain the fire. Continue reading Westwood’s Fire Train
Dennis Tanner’s residency in Lassen County was brief but a busy one. Upon his arrival in Susanville, he installed a skating rink in the first floor of the Masonic Hotel. The following year, he purchased the Janesville Hotel, if one could call the structure. It had been built in 1856, before Janesville existed. Tanner dismantled it, and built a two-story 22 room hotel. In 1874 he sold to McClelland and Byers for $3,500. His next venture was a general store at Milford, and then had a brief stint as a innkeeper of the Milford Hotel. In 1878, Tanner relocated to Ukiah where he operated another hotel until his passing in 1898.