This was a short lived Doyle enterprise. In December 1909, A.J. Hall sold the store to Patrick Flanigan. Flanigan hired A.C. Herring to manage it. Flanigan renamed it the Constantia Store Company. When Flanigan purchased the Constantia Ranch he no longer this store.

Tim

The truth be known the three big sawmills, Fruit Growers, Lassen Lumber and Red River could have never existed without immigrant labor. While it was fairly well known the mills hired Italians, Mexicans and Scandinavians there were also the Filipinos.

In the fall of 1922 Fruit Growers hired 125 Filipino men to work in the box factory. Fruit Growers found to them excellent workers. They were housed in the dormitories like everyone else. It should be noted that Lassen Lumber had a designated housing for the Italians. Red River housed the Italian and Mexican employees and their families in what became known as Old Town.

Tim

Note: At Hilt, Fruit Growers had a Italian section that had been established by the previous owner.

Constantia, located in Long Valley, was the creation Henry A. Butters (1850-1908) a capitalist and the president of the Northern Electric Railway Company. On March 10, 1898 he purchased Albert Ross ranch, that included a 17-room mansion that over the years referred to it as the White House. Butters transformed the ranch into small village complete with a general store, a Wells Fargo Office, dwellings for employees and a Catholic Church christened St. Mary’s Chapel. He named the place Constantia, after a city in South Africa noted for its vineyards. Butters boasted that he had 3,500 head of cattle and had an annual payroll of $10,000. It should be noted that Butters visited the property but did not take up residence there. In 1904, due to his divorce from his wife, Lucille, sold the ranch property for E.A. Jordan for an undisclosed amount.

Tim

A.F. “Frank” Dixon was the tenth person to tackle the tapping of Eagle Lake for irrigation in the Honey Lake Valley. Like those before and after him there were numerous obstacles to overcome. For every new enterprise, they had to become more creative, since the previous ones in many cases still had valid claims. Even so, it was not a deterrent.

One asset that Dixon possessed was during the 1890s  he served as Register of the Government Land Office in Susanville. Thus, he knew the procedures for obtaining rights-of-way across government land. However, what caught Dixon off guard is when he filed for his tunnel right-of-way across government land, the government did something they had never requested any one prior–an environmental analysis.  The government was concerned what damages would occur if the lake should be tapped.

The other situation, was Dixon was not alone in his conquest. It should be noted that Dixon filed for his right-of-way in December 1904. In the summer of 1905, the newly formed Lassen-Willow Creek Water Company, filed for a tunnel right-of-way, that was identical to Dixon’s.  Litigation ensued. In 1906, a gold discovery on the eastern edge of the Black Rock Desert lured Dixon away. Dixon would never learn of the outcome, he died in 1908. While Lassen-Willow Creek won in court, their enthusiasm fizzled and that was the end of their involvement.

Tim