Fairfield's Pioneer History of Lassen County California to 1870

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The writer, them a boy about eleven years of age, crossed the plains in 1865, and came to Honey Lake Valley to live and the most of his life since then has been spent here. As boy and man he was acquainted with the majority of the pioneers of the county, and many months of his life have been spent in listening to their tales of early days. In 1909, when this work was commenced, excepting the out line given in the History of Plumas, Lassen, and Sierra Coun ties, there was no history of Lassen county; and there was no likelihood that any would ever be written. Very few of the early settlers of the county were alive, and if their stories were saved and anything like a complete history written, it had to be done at once. For these reasons the writer undertook the work. An attempt has been made to tell the truth in plain language, and no pains have been spared to obtain the truth. A great deal, perhaps the most, of what is given in the following pages in the way of Indian troubles, historical reminiscences, etc., was learned from the men who took an active part in; the events narrated, or from the men and women who lived in the country at that time. As a matter of course, after a lapse of fifty years, or more, their stories are more or less conflicting in the minor details but in nearly every case it has been possible to find some account of what they told in the publications of those days, and in that and in other ways their stories have been verified. In what is given as original, unless otherwise stated, the date and the principal facts can be depended upon.