Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008 • Writers seek personal, family stories about Lassen County

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008 edition of the Lassen County Times

Everybody’s got a story to tell, and a group of local writers may want to memorialize your story in an upcoming book about Lassen County.

Local writers Candace Toft and Dianna Henning are collecting stories from residents for a project entitled “Preserving the History of the Land through Its Stories,” funded by a $10,000 grant from the California Council for the Humanities. The project is part of the council’s statewide California Stories Initiative.

“The grant will be matched by the college,” Toft said, “mostly by contributions in kind.”

She said Carrie Camacho, the department chairman of library arts at the college, was appointed to work on the project.

Lassen Community College will direct the project, and the writers will assist those who need help to get their stories in print.

“We’re trying to reach out to people who have stories about Lassen County,” Toft said. “We’re looking for interesting stories about Lassen County and Lassen County families.

Toft said the project is especially looking for stories that touch or intertwine with other stories.

For example, she said Susanville resident Evan Chappuis, 98, contributed a story about his family. Encounters with Old Man Joaquin, a Native American from the Paiute tribe and one of Lassen County’s most colorful men of yesteryear, were also included.

Chappuis recalls the old days of 1915 when he was a child, and Joaquin would visit the ranches in the Standish area on a two-horse wagon piled high with wild hay. Underneath the hay, Joaquin would transport a number of large trout he had caught at Pyramid Lake. He sold the fish to the ranchers for $1 each.

Chappuis said he always looked forward to seeing Joaquin, even though he was taught to be fearful of Indians.

Also included in Chappuis’ story are tales about his pioneer relatives Benjamin Leavitt and Robert Johnston.

He even writes about the first time he ever saw an airplane when a barnstormer put down in the Honey Lake Valley and offered to sell airplane rides for $5.

Toft said others in the area may be able to fill in these stories, add to them or even offer new insights from a different perspective.

“Maybe somebody knows another part of Evan’s fish story,” Toft said.

The project organizers want to hear more stories from people across Lassen County — Native Americans, the Basque people who came from Spain, the ranchers, the farmers, the mill workers, the loggers, the railroad workers, the gold miners and the immigrants — anyone who has a story about life in the county. Even stories from newcomers are welcomed.

“We’re interested in any stories,” Toft said. “The goal of the project is to preserve the history of the land through its stories. We’ve got a lot of people coming from Westwood with old logging stories. We’ve got stories about people trading for baskets with the Indians, but we want to get the Indians’ side of the story.”

The book will be made available to the community, and after the book is printed, the culminating event will be an opportunity for many of the participants to read their stories or to play recordings to an audience of Lassen County citizens.

The program is also intended to promote unity among all segments of the community who are or have been significantly impacted by the history of the land.

Writers’ meetings
Toft said residents don’t need to have writing skills to participate in the project. Professional writers will hold meetings with those who have a story to tell and will help get the story in written form.

For some, getting together in a group to share these old stories may help bring other stories and memories to mind.

Classes to support writing these stories will be made available at four different times and locations to accommodate all who are interested.

The first meetings will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Thursday, Aug. 21, at Eagle Lake Village Retirement Center, 2001 Paul Bunyan Road, and from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21, at the Rancheria Natural Resources Building, 745 Joaquin St.

Additional meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 25, at the Lassen County Arts Council, 807 Cottage St., and from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 26, at the Lassen Community College cafeteria.