Caribou Lake, and nearby Silver Lake is the upper watershed of the Susan River. The lake is also a jumping off point for the Caribou Wilderness Area. When gold was discovered in British Columbia in 1858, a number of miners, including some Honey Lakers, rushed there. It was known as the Cariboo. It should be noted that early records spelled lake’s name the same. One of the mining enterprises there was named the Neversweat.
On August 11, 1883, J.H. Slater filed for the water rights to both Caribou and Silver Lakes, along with the right to install dams and gates. In September 1883, Slater hired 12 men working at Caribou Lake to install the first headgate. It should be noted Slater owned what is today the Fleming Unit, of Honey Lake Wildlife Refuge, and was a civil engineer.
As to the Stella Stiles divorce she was married to Harry Cain. While many may not be familiar with the Stiles name, there are several Stiles descendants who subscribe to this site. Where Monsignor Moran Hall is located in Susanville was purchased from the Stiles family. Willard Hill and the Willards are part of the Stiles clan. One of my favorite Stiles descendants was Philip Hall.
Anyhow back to Harry Cain, Stella’s ex. In the summer 1905, Harry Cain, along with James Wallin and Hi Skadan went on their annual summer excursion to camp and fish at Silver Lake. A couple days out, things went wrong. On the morning of July 7, Cain went over to fish Caribou Lake. He had a small folding canvass boat. Wallin and Skadan remained at Silver. That evening Wallin began to prepare dinner, but Cain was not there. The two men went over to Caribou, and found Cain’s boat adrift, but no sight of him. Since it was nearly dark, Wallin and Skadan returned to camp. The next morning, they were back to Caribou, where they found Cain’s body at the bottom of the lake, about twenty feet from shore. The body was retrieved taken to Susanville for an Coroner’s Inquest, and later interred in the Susanville Cemetery.