High Rock Springs, Honey Lake Valley

June 2, 2023 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

These springs in eastern Honey Lake Valley and near the Nevada border are quite unique. They are an ancient, dating back to the time when the area was covered by Lake Lahontan in the Pleistocene epoch.

The second reason is it is a warm water spring with a constant temperature of 86F. The springs supports two kinds of fish. First is the Lahontan tui chubs. This, of course, is rather remarkable that the fish have adapted over the years to thrive in constant warm water in a confined space. Water from the spring then goes underground and re-surfaces 100 yards distant, maintaining a constant cooler temperature at 76F. At this point, again, which is also unusual, is found the Lahontan speckle dace. However, it has been relayed to me the fish no longer exist, due to an introduction of an exotic fish species in the early 2000s that wiped the tui chub and dace.

A portion of the tunnel outlet of High Rock Springs. April, 1975

It should be noted that in the 1920s, William Dicting was hired by the Rees Jenkins to develop the springs. He spent eight years to hand drill through the rock to develop the water tunnel to increase water flow.

Support by subscribing.

History

Albert Gallatin’s Good Fortune

June 1, 2023 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Albert Gallatin is one of the many intriguing figures in California history. This native New Yorker arrived in California in 1860, and the following year located at Sacramento. It was fortunate timing on his part to land a job in hardware store owned by Huntington and Hopkins. At the same time, Huntington and Hopkins would join forces with Crocker and Stanford, to become the “Big Four” and establish the Central Pacific Railroad. Gallatin, as a junior partner in the hardware business, became quite lucrative providing materials for the railroad. In 1877, he built the Gallatin House and in 1903 it became the California Governor’s Mansion.

The prosperous Gallatin began branching out into numerous endeavors including the sheep business. Gallatin needed summer range for the sheep, and discovered Eagle Lake. In a two year period in the late 1880s he purchased nearly 5,000 acres of Eagle Lake properties for $9,000. The bulk of the purchases were timberlands, with the exception of Hall’s Papoose Meadows and William Dow’s ranch near present day Spaulding Tract.

With the exception of Gallatin being Eagle Lake’s largest property owner, his influence otherwise was minor. In 1905, he passed away and his second wife, Malvena, had the lasting impact on Eagle Lake. After all she introduced Leon Bly to Eagle Lake.

Support by subscribing.

History

Lassen County Cemeteries

May 31, 2023 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

In 1899, the Lassen County Board of Supervisors addressed the cemetery issue. The problem at hand, all the cemeteries were on private property, even though the burials were public internments. In a housekeeping measure the county began making arrangements with the different property owners to secure title. The first to convey property was Thomas J. Durfee who on May 23, 1899 deeded over the Mountain View Cemetery near Bieber. The majority of the other cemeteries were done in 1901. Buelah Meylert conveyed Janesville; William H. Roney conveyed Hillside Cemetery; Alex and Susan Arnold Susanville; H.H. Dakin Janesville and the Doyle aka Long Valley was a convoluted mess with George Greeno, John Robinson, Charles Harwood and Robert Dooley all signing the deed. It was not until 1909, when the county deemed Ash Valley a public cemetery, that was located on land owned by the county.

Once cemeteries were deeded to the County, it was then the Lassen County Surveyor’s job to survey and lay plots in each one. Once that was done, the county began charging for cemetery lots.

Tim

History

An Eagle Lake Boat Dock

May 30, 2023 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

South shore Eagle Lake, July 4, 1936–C.H. Bennett Collection

A Tuesday tidbit for today. Unknown parties, at least to me, built an informal wooden platform at the south shore of Eagle Lake. This was in the mid-1930s when lake was about to reach its initial historic low. The dock, if you could call it such, was ideal for small boats, i.e. canoes.

Tim

History

Memorial Day, 1926

May 29, 2023 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

There was a significant change in the ceremonies held for Memorial Day in Susanville. In the past, people would assemble at Susanville’s Methodist Church. After a few speeches by local dignitaries, everyone would proceed to the nearby Susanville Cemetery. In 1926, the ceremony was held at Lassen Union High School. Afterwards a procession proceeded to the Lassen Cemetery on Chestnut Street.

Tim

History

Prospect Peak, Lassen Park

May 28, 2023 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

A view of Prospect Peak from Swains Hole, October 22, 2019

Between the discovery of gold at Coloma, California in 1848 and the Comstock in 1859 in Nevada, mining prospectors scoured the west looking for the next “El Dorado.” According to Lassen Park naturalist Paul E. Schulz in 1849 Major Pierson B. Reading, the first person to settle in Shasta County, explored what would later become Lassen Volcanic National Park. He was one of many prospectors at Lassen and that is how this peak became known. Schulz noted: “A 2,000 peak of gentle and symmetrical contour. It is a rather good example of a Hawaiian-type volcano, and is composed of countless Prospect Peak Basaltic lava flows.”

Tim

History

Early Day Bly Tunnel Photograph

May 27, 2023 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Initial work on the Bly Tunnel, Willow Creek side, December 1921—Lola L. Tanner

This being Memorial Day Weekend, it only seemed fitting for an Eagle Lake topic, since there is a lot of activity around the lake that weekend.

Leon Bly spent five years to put together a project to tap Eagle Lake to irrigate land in Honey Lake Valley. He had a lot of obstacles to contend with. First there was the initial study of lake to see if it was feasible. Then he had to convince the farmers of the Honey Lake Valley that it was indeed worthy. This was not an easy task since there had been attempts to tap the lake since 1875. Then public irrigation districts had to be formed to be able to put together a $1.25 million bond measure to finance it. Then there was all the detail work to obtain rights-of-way for the necessary canals and ditches, that would also have to be surveyed. One would of thought when the initial work began in the fall of 1921, there would be some kind of celebration, but it started off quietly with no fanfare.

Tim

History

NCO Lakeview Car Update

May 26, 2023 Tim Purdy 1 Comment

Back in early February was a Tuesday tidbit about the Nevada California Oregon Railroad’s Lakeview car. At the time, I noted my notes were not handy, and they still are not. I am just not mentally prepared to sift through my extensive NCO file that date backs to the 1970s.

Anyhow, the following was relayed to me. The Lakeview was originally a narrow gauge car owned by the Union Pacific which was used as a business car. The Union Pacific converted it to standard gauge. When the NCO purchased it from the Union Pacific, at the NCO’s Reno shop the Lakeview was once converted back again to narrow gauge.

An NCO passenger car at Wendel being prepared to move, 1974—Tom
Armstrong

As to the above passenger car it was sold to the Huckleberry Railroad, a narrow gauge railroad near Flint, Michigan where it was restored and put into use. This is a tourist railroad that operates in summer months.

Tim

History

The Susanville Stone Quarry

May 25, 2023 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

Knoch Building — Construction of the $20,000 Masonic Hall in 1893 from the stone from the Susanville Quarry—Philip S. Hall

Located at the west end of Susanville is Quarry Street, so named for a stone quarry there that was discovered in 1860. The bluff at that part of town, better known as Inspiration Point, is fault block caused by volcanic upheaval. That upheaval created a deposit of rhyolite tuff. It is an ideal building material, because it is light weight, and can easily be sculptured. In 1862, H.F. Thompson began the development of a quarry, Some of its first uses was for headstones, the largest being for the grave of Captain William Weatherlow who died in 1864. In 1863, Miller & Kingsley had the first stone building constructed from the quarry. The last major use of the quarry was in the 1930s to construct the Spalding home on Quarry Street.

Lassen County Courthouse and Hall of Records, 1907. Courtesy of Gil Morrill

Here is an interesting tidbit. On July 3, 1883, W.P. Hall sold for $700 to Lassen County rights to the quarry for the needs of the county. In 1887, the county built a small stone building adjacent to the courthouse for a Hall of Records. When the new courthouse was completed in 1917, the Hall of Records building was dismantled and the stone was used to build the Susanville City Jail. By the 1950s, the jail was no longer used and it was converted into a garage and subsequently torn down in 2000.

Tim

History

Susan Nobles & Susan Arnold

May 24, 2023 Tim Purdy Leave a comment

This is a tale of two Susans—Susan Parker Nobles and Susan Roop Arnold. While the two women never met, one has a river named for one Susan and the other a town, i.e. Susan River and Susanville.

First we begin with Susan River. During the years 1851-1852, William H. Nobles located a new emigrant road from Shasta, California to Lassen’s Meadows, Nevada. This road passed through the Honey Lake Valley. Nobles named the Susan River for his wife, Susan Parker Nobles. Very little is known about Susan Nobles. She resided in Minnesota for the majority of her married life, only moving to California when her husband, Nobles, died in 1876.

Susan Arnold and Anna Hall — Susan Roop Arnold and Anna Hall at Constantia, 1905–Philip S. Hall

Susanville was officially named on March 17, 1859 when the Susanville Post Office was established with Isaac Roop the first postmaster. It was so named after Roop’s daughter, Susan. When her father came to California in 1850, she was left in care of her maternal grandparents. In 1862, at the age of nineteen, Susan left her grandparents home in Ohio and moved to California to be with her father. On December 27, 1864, Susan married Alexander T. Arnold and spent the rest of her life in the community that was named after her. She passed away on July 22, 1921, at the age of 79.