85 years ago
Two dead bodies have been recovered by tolling miners in the tunnel land-slip at Buck’s Ranch, about 30 miles west of Quincy. One man has been brought alive, which leaves three still entombed.

The scene of the tragedy was the Grizzly Creek tunnel of the Feather River Power Company, beyond Buck’s Ranch. The trapped miners went to work at 4 p.m. last Saturday afternoon.

They came out at 9:30 in the evening for supper and an hour later went back to work. When the midnight-shift entered the workings the cave-in was discovered and from then until now crews of miners have been working ceaselessly and heroically to rescue their fellow workers.

Heavy rains are supposed to have been the cause of the cave-in.

65 years ago
Two million little pine trees, which in 2046 will form part of the new Sierra forest will be going out for the Durbin Nursery of the U.S. Forest Service here this year.

The nursery is the only federal one of the west coast that is complete in itself, handling the whole process of pine seedling production from extracting the seed out little two-year-old pines.

It was named for Pop Durbin, forest supervisor and a legend in the Forest Service.

40 years ago
Inmates of the California Conservation Center returned to meals and work last Thursday after a protest strike that started on Monday.
After two days of refusing to eat or work, it became necessary to use tear gas and fire warning shots to resume normal operations.
Approximately 61 leaders and strike agitators were separated from the general inmate population in order to relieve the pressure tactics of the group on the majority of the inmates who wanted to work.

The strike was apparently triggered by the transfer of a black inmate on April 8 who had made threats of violence toward the staff.

15 years ago
Modoc/Alexander area residents protested a proposed amusement park at a Susanville city council meeting. The plans for “Wild Rides Family Center” includes go-carts, miniature golf and bumper boats, along with a sit down concession center. But the proposed site lies in the middle of a residential area, which is a large concern for the immediate residents.

10 years ago
An unoccupied house and two small barns were destroyed in the Hicks Fire, a 34-acre blaze in Janesville.

Five years ago
Bill Bixby is negotiating a contract to give a Reno-based company an exclusive operating area to provide ambulance services for most of Lassen County.

The county administrative officer got authorization last week from the Board of Supervisors to negotiate the contract with the Sierra Medical Services Alliance, the California branch of REMSA, the Regional Emergency Services Authority.

The board authorized Bixby to negotiate for SEMSA’s option B proposal, which physically locates one ambulance each in Westwood, Susanville and Janesville, along with two back-up ambulances in Susanville.

Last year
The smell of sulfur was enough to cause the county government building at 707 Nevada St. to be evacuated around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 7.

Personnel from the Susanville Fire Department, the Lassen County Office of Emergency Services and the Susanville Police Department responded to the incident after receiving a call about the sulfur smell.

SFD Fire Chief Ted Friedline said even though they weren’t sure at the time about the initial cause of the odor, the department treated it like a gas leak. The entire building was evacuated, which was estimated to be roughly 30 people. No other buildings in the vicinity were evacuated.

The cause of the smell was eventually determined to be the malfunction of a battery back up unit in the building. Friedline said the battery backup was wired backwards, which caused the heavy smell.