The Lassen Municipal Utility District (LMUD) that we know, came into existence in 1986. The original LMUD was  created in 1931 on the premise to lower electric rates. Susanville residents complained that their electric rates then were exorbitant–some of the highest rates in the state. A revolt was born to form a municipal utility district to reign in the rates. When the voters approved it, the next order of business was to take over the Republic Electric Company and the battle lines were drawn. The takeover failed. LMUD’s board of directors decided to build its own power plant and transmission lines. They were unable to convince the voters to pass a bond measure to proceed. Many cited the area just too small to support two electric companies. In 1937, the original LMUD was dissolved.

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This goes under of not quite Dumpster Dive Tales While searching through archives I spotted this file. it is Lassen County District Docket of 1865. In 1869, it surfaced at a Reno, Nevada yard sale The person who bought it, knew Eslie Cann, who at the time worked at the Nevada Historical Society. Eslie alerted me, and she passed on small docket me for safe keeping. It should be noted that the voters of California in 1879, adopted a new state constitution. The District Court system was replaced with the Superior Court system we have today. Anyhow, the moral story is one never knows how records were dispersed and when they may appear again.

As a researcher court docket books and court minute books, while they are a relic past, can provide much information. This especially true when the court file does not exist, as it has been transferred to another county due to other circumstances. Whether the Lassen County Superior Court when it moved into its current facility retained these records I do not know.

Tim

I had hoped by now to have completed the tale of M.O. Folsom, a rancher turned capitalist. His story has been a challenging. While the Folsom name is not well known by many today, Folsom played a key role in Susanville’s development. Here is a bit a trivia, to go along, for many decades Hobo Camp on Susanville was known as Folsom Park and he also owned what is known as Memorial Park.

In October 1917, M.O. Folsom met Charles McGowan, R.D.Baker and C.E. Cotton. The men had inspected a timber sale proposed by the Lassen National Forest in the vicinity of Peg-Leg Mountain some twenty miles north and west of Susanville. They contacted Folsom for possible mill site. Folsom had rallied the Susanville business community A committee was formed, after was at stake was a sawmill and box factory that would initially employ 250 men. The community proposed to offer a 40-acre tract with water rights adjacent to the railroad and east of the Susanville depot,  along with a  $8,000 cash bonus. McGowan and Company accepted and they named their new enterprise the Lassen Lumber & Company.

In 1919, James McNeen a Colorado lumberman contacted Folsom to assist a sawmill site west of Susanville. Folsom presented a site west of Devil’s Corral, along the railroad, and opposite the Bunnell Ranch. A deal was reached and McNeed built a sawmill with  average daily output of 30,000 board feet of lumber.  In that same year, Folsom was a member of Susanville’s Citizen Committee, and they secured Fruit Growers Supply Company to build its mill north of the railroad from tracks from Lassen Lumber.

Folsom had influence with the Red River Lumber Company. In 1892, Folsom’s father, Orman, had purchased Clear Creek from Hank Lands for an undisclosed amount. In 1909, M.O. Folsom sold it to Red River’s founder, T.B. Walker, for $6,500. At the same time, Walker acquired some 7,000 acres at Mountain Meadows, the remnants of the Goodrich Estate. Those acquisitions would result in Red River’s to establish their company town of Westwood.

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Last Saturday, I wrote about how Doyle evolved. At the conclusion I included a photograph one of the town’s landmark building now known as Winje’s, but for decades was known as Dixon’s. Some time around the late 1970s or early 1980s Winje’s purchased the building from Mary Dixon. Some time around 2021, Winje’s closed its doors. May be a reader might have some knowledge .

Whenever my Dad, was in Doyle he would  stop by to see June Dixon. They would swap stories about prospecting on Fort Sage Mountain. In 1910, Orlando McNabb did extensive traipsing on Fort Sage looking for gold. From there on, it has attracted prospectors.

Tim