One astute subscriber wanted to know more about Mr. Davis. Hardly, a household name around these parts, but he made major contribution to the early history of Lassen and Modoc Counties. After receiving his teaching degree in 1938, his first job was Bieber High School. He boarded with the Jack family and was fascinated by their and others accounts of the history. After all, Davis graduated from Fresno with a degree in history. During his short stay in Bieber he penned articles about the history of the region in the Big Valley Gazette, which would be the foundation for his thesis. It was published in 1974, but covered the early history of both Lassen and Modoc.
Davis would later have a long career with the California State Archives. I first met him back in the late 1970s, when he appeared in the Lassen County Clerk’s Office. The county archives stored in metal canisters, and in one instance, he pulled one out which gashed his forehead. Not an event he wanted to be remembered for, but we laughed about the incident for many years.
His research was meticulous. When he released paper that Susan River was not named for the town’s founder, but another Susan prior to Roop’s arrival—the Defenders of Roop—our version of a wackodoodle militia group similar to the recent Bundy Malheur Refuge group, were not pleased with Davis. Blasphemy they thought.