A subscriber wanted to know more about Fruit Growers Spring, also known as Bagwell Springs. These springs are located north of present day Susanville Ranch Park.

The springs were named for James Washington Bagwell, who located on 160-acres that included the springs. In 1893, he sold out to George W. Long for $300.  In 1901, William Black Long claimed rights to this spring that he designated as Bagwell. In 1919, the Fruit Growers Supply Company purchased the property for its water rights. For a number of years the spring was known as Fruit Growers Spring. It appears with that designation in the decree of Fleming v Bennett—the adjudication of the Susan River watershed. In 1935, Fruit Growers sold the spring to the Republic Electric Power Company, who purchased it as an additional water source for Susanville. Thereafter, the spring was once again referred to as Bagwell. The springs are now owned by the City of Susanville, which are used in conjunction with the city’s water system.

Subscribe!

Lassen County, in many ways, did not experience the harshest aspects of the nation’s financial depression of the 1930s. This is not to infer that all was good. Many of the ranchers were still self sufficient for many of their needs. While the sawmills did curtail operations, they continued to operate, where numerous mills on the Pacific Coast closed. Lassen County also benefited from one of the last major railroad construction projects in the nation, the Inside Gateway linking the Western Pacific Railroad with the Great Northern at Bieber.  For Big Valley it was a prosperous era.

However, there were some residents who were very marginalized and did whatever they could to make ends meet. There was some money to be made in selling scrap metal. Take for instance, some unknown parties ransacked the abandoned tugboat on the shore of Honey Lake and removed the engine and any other metal component. At Bly’s Eagle Lake tunnel the light rail and ore cars used in the excavation disappeared, too. Depending upon one’s perspective today, the scavengers either did a good job of cleaning up the environment or the opposite spectrum, those who like to examine old relics might be dismayed.

Support by subscribing.

The first recording of Eagle Lake’s lake level elevation occurred in 1875, done by the United States Government Land Office. The surveyor’s benchmark was placed at the lake at an elevation of 5,109 feet above sea level. Their documentation has been cited continuously as a guidepost for monitoring the lake’s fluctuation.  At the moment the lake level stands at 5092 feet.

Eagle Lake began rising after the 1875 survey. In the early 1880s, the lake had encroached on developed ranch land on the north shore and the pine trees on the south shore were being inundated. Thus, at the south shore began creation of what was called the “stub forest.”

In 1915, Professor S.T. Harding began studies of the water variations at Eagle Lake. Harding, as well other scientist, were intrigued with the rising low that lake levels. After all, the lake has no outlet, but further the  main water source was the spring run off. When Harding arrived on the scene the lake level had increased 13 feet since 1875. Harding focused on the stub forest to obtain data on the lake’s elevation.  He studied the tree rings and the exact elevation  of a number of trees. By taking the lowest submerged trees (the oldest one was found to be a 245-year old stump at the elevation of 5,116, that was submerged in 1895), he determined the lake level had to be at 5,115 feet or less from 1650 until the time it was submerged. Another stump examined placed its initial growth between 1420 and 1520, and during that time period the lake had to be at an elevation below 5,099 continuously  from 1420 to 1520. In addition, Harding also examined trees at the 5,126 foot elevation that were found to be over 400 years old.

By the early 1920s, the stub forest literally lived it to its name. In 1918, the lake began to recede, which it should be noted  prior to the Bly tunnel. The inundated trees of the south shores reduced to dead snag trees, and the tops would break leaving  tree stumps. It should be noted that a few stumps still existed at the south shore in the 1960s.

Support by subscribing.

Wendel has had many names over the years. In the 1860s, it was referred to as Upper Hot Springs to distinguish from the Lower Hot Springs. In 1890, when the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad (NCO) extended its line to Amedee, the Lower Hot Springs took on the name of town established next to it. Upper Hot Springs simply became known as Hot Springs. In 1899, the NCO extended its line further north and at Hot Springs established a new station named Boyd.  When T.F. Dunaway became General Manager of the NCO in 1900, he renamed the Boyd station to Smithon. Two months later, in January 1901, he again renamed it to Hot Springs. It would be another fourteen years before the place became known as Wendel.

Tim