Lyonsville in

Tehama County, California Tehama County ( ; Wintun for "high water") is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,829. The county seat and largest city is Red Bluff. Tehama County comprises the ...

was the site of the Lyonsville Mill, a major lumber operation which was once the largest

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

in Northern California. It was located between the north and south forks of Antelope Creek, high above Hogsback Ridge. The mill served logging operations around Antelope Creek, and around it grew a town of the same name, with two saloons, a community hall, a general store, a post office, and machine and blacksmith shops. At its peak, there were more than 1000 people in the town. Nothing remains of it today apart from a giant sawdust pile, some brick mill foundations, a cemetery located from the town proper, and thousands of square nails, bolts, and railroad spikes.

History

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

was established at Lyonsville in 1883, which was moved to Paynes Creek in May 1937. The mill, and town, were named after Darwyn B. Lyon, who was the first superintendent of the Antelope Division of the Sierra Lumber Company, which operated several mills in the area when the town was founded. Champion #1 Mill was built by Herbert Kraft and became one of the C. F. Ellsworth mills in Antelope Creek in 1870. The Lyonsville Mill, also known as Champion #2 Mill and by locals as "The Champ", was constructed three times, and by 1885 employed 300 to 400 people. It was first built as a steam mill in 1876/1877, having 2 circular saws which could nominally cut 30000 board-feet per day, and operated until it burned down in 1891. It was then re-built, to again burn down in 1907. A narrow-gauge railway with a roundhouse was used to move logs to the mill. The

Diamond Match Company The Diamond Match Company has its roots in several nineteenth century companies. In the early 1850s, Edward Tatnall of Wilmington, Delaware was given an English recipe for making matches by a business acquaintance, William R. Smith. In 1853, Tatn ...

acquired Sierra's timber holdings in 1907, and the mill was rebuilt in 1908 for the third time. At the turn of the century, mill hands would "ride the

flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...

" on wooden boards for 35 miles between Lyonsville and

Red Bluff Red Bluff(s) may refer to several places in North America: Places Canada *Red Bluff, British Columbia, a community near Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada ** Red Bluff First Nation, a First Nations band government headquartered near Quesnel, ...

. The original flume had been built by the people who first settled Lyonsville, to divert water from the Creek to their home, which was on an old

Yahi The Yana were a group of Native Americans indigenous to Northern California in the central Sierra Nevada, on the western side of the range. Their lands, prior to encroachment by white settlers, bordered the Pit and Feather rivers. They w ...

Native American foot trail between Lassen and Antelope Creek, named Waganupa. The mill was served by a newer box flume. Sawdust was dumped from the mill at the foot of Antelope Creek and would eventually become a pile several hundred feet deep. In 1913, Champion #2 Mill closed because Diamond Match moved their operations to Sterling City. By 1918, residents had abandoned the town. However, a "new" Lyonsville, northeast of the original site and near the Turner Ranch, is recorded between 1926 and 1956. It was the location of a

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

camp. Although Lyonsville became a ghost town, its post office did not close until December 28, 1937.

References

Unincorporated communities in Tehama County, California {{TehamaCountyCA-geo-stub