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Thisisfromanundated clipping in 1927, written by L. L. McCoy. "Retired sheep man recalls snow storm fifty-four years ago as it cost him heavily." "I found this question in the Daily News Monday night: 'Do you remember the snow storm, here fifty- four years ago?' "Well I rather guess I do. This snow storm came in the early part of Decem- ber, 1873. I was located over on Salt Creek with sheep. Snow began falling the lat- ter part of the night. I had stayed that night with Frank Owens at the Ow- en's sheep camp at Coy- ote Springs. This camp was about three miles east of Tuscan Buttes on the old Dye Mill road. This is an old road built by Job F. Dye many years before the Hog Back road was scratched out. Snowingthickand fast "When I started out that morning the snow was about a foot deep, and still snowing thick and fast. The general aspect of the hills so changed and the air so thick with snow I could see nothing as to where I was going. I was soon lost and wandered about for two or three hours and finally by mere accident came on the hill near my own cabin. I thought I was in an entirely different section of the hills. I stood on the hill and fig- ured on the appearance of the cabin, the size and shape of the brush corrall near by, the distance of the corral from the cabin and the general layout before I could realize that I had found my own shack. "The snow by this time was about two feet deep. The weather warmed up a little and in ten days or two weeks the snow had melted and settled down to three or four inches; turned cold and froze, practically cov- ering the hills with a sheet of ice. "The sheep that really belonged on the ranges of that section at that time were H. A. Rawson at Mud Springs, L. L. McCoy at Salt Creek, John Gates at Tuscan Buttes, Mr. Hazel- ton on the River south of Paynes Creek, A. C. Ow- ens at Seven-Mile creek and Paynes Creek, T. A. Palmer at what is known as the Palmer place on Paynes Creek and Mike Facht be- tween DeHaven gulch and Plum creek. "At that time the only land owned in that whole section of the hills was eighty acres at Mud Springs, by H. A. Rawson and eighty acres at Tuscan Springs by J. C. Bradley. So in a sense it was a sort of 'free for all' range. "The feed in that section was fine that fall; the rains held off and others were in- duced to stop in there with sheep. John Tumblety, with 600 on Little Salt Creek be- low Tuscan Springs; John Smith on Salt Creek at the foot of the hill with 700; Adam Steif with 2,700 just below Grecian Bend; Zeb Eaton with 1,700 and T. N. Howell with 1300 on other sections of the hills. "When the sheep were about to starve to death, the whole outfit was turned loose and were so mixed up generally, they could not be separated to take his own and leave. The total loss of sheep that winter in that section of the hills was fully 5000 head. "Do I remember the snow storm of December 1873, and that winter? Well I guess I do. Losses "I went into that win- ter on Salt Creek with 1,270 ewes and about 500 lambs. I came out in the spring of '74 with about 900 sheep and raised about 225 lambs. The sheep were very poor and averaged less than two pounds of wool. And such wool — it would not pass muster these times. But I got 28 cents per pound for it. In those days most anything in a wool sack would go. Lambs tails and now and then a sheep skin were put in to help fill out a sack. In addition to the poor sheep, I had for my outfit two small pack mules. "Then I had something else, I remember that I was not allowed to for- get. I had one note out for $4,800 bearing one per cent per month interest. And H. Kraft had my note for $40 bearing interest at the cheerful rate of two per cent per month. So put- ting my sheep at what they were worth when I went to the mountains the spring of 1874 I was fully $2,500 worse off than nothing. "Well I had to get in and really learn the sheep busi- ness. And I guess I learned the business. I was very kindly treated by my cred- itors; not crowded in the least and in a few years paid it all off and had three or four thousand good sheep. "In 1881 the railroad lands in my section came into market. I had made application or filings on about 25,000 acres, as was one of the regulations of the company. "And I secured the relin- quishments of several oth- ers who had filed on lands, which strengthened my ap- plication with the Ry Com- pany. "In due time I came down from the mountains, took out $2,500 that I had in the Bank of Tehama county, borrowed $16,000 from Billy Cahoone; went to San Francisco and when the day of sale came I was on hand with money enough to buy under contract about what I had filed on. "But Charlie Willard and others were on hand with filings and claims of occu- pation and were awarded lands which they were us- ing. I got somewhere about 18,000 acres. "I left nothing in the county as security for the $16,000 I borrowed except a saddle horse in the old Luna stable. I did not run sheep in those days by tele- phone, gasoline and Ford cars. "While I borrowed $16,000 on my cayuse sad- dle horse, it would be a mighty good looking young fellow that could borrow that amount these times on his Ford machine." Beginnings My great-grandfather Charles Willard purchased from the railroad Section 7 on Dec. 24, 1881, Section 1 on Feb. 16, 1883 and Sec- tion 34 on Aug. 13, 1884. These sections of land are still owned by his descen- dants. Lyman Willard, my fa- ther, wrote to his grandson Carl Avrit in 1967 the fol- lowing: "After spending one winter in Lassen County, they (Charles, Julia Au- gusta and four children) decided they would not do that again, so in the fall of 1873, the family drove their small herd of cattle from Lassen County to spend their first winter in the foothills, at Mud Springs on the Belle Mill road, east of Red Bluff. They were look- ing for the warmer, open winters of the Sacramento Valley, where their cattle could be kept without the chores of feeding all winter. "It was a severe win- ter, the snow getting 2 to 3 feet deep. To keep the cat- tle from starving, Charles had to haul hay from the Cone Ranch to feed them. The hay taken by pack- horse through the snow; even then he lost about half of his cattle. "In the spring of 1874 Charles Willard bought 200 head of sheep and leased 500 head of sheep from a widow, and made up a band of ewes and lambs that summer. They trailed them to Lassen County with the cattle to spend the summer. They settled at the foot of Fredonyer, on the east- ern slope, in what was later called the "Pat Cronin" place, a grassy meadow. There Charles filed on a homestead and built a cabin. "In October that fall the cattle and sheep were driven back down the road to Grecian Bend, which would be about three miles northeast of Mud Springs, where he had spent the winter before." JeanBartonhasbeenwriting her column in the Daily News since the early 1990s. She can be reached by e-mail at jbar- ton2013@gmail.com. JEANBARTON Asheepmanrecallsstormof1873 COURTESYPHOTO The Willard Headquarters house was bought from a homesteader by the name of Fields, and moved from near Salt Creek a er Charles bought the Fields' 160acre homestead, and Julia Augusta homesteaded the 160acres where the house now stands on Tuscan Springs road. Photo was from 1881-1930era, and the headquarters is now owned by my first cousin Charles Willard. "W hen I s ta rt ed ou t t ha t m or ni ng th e s now w as ab ou t a f oo t de ep , a nd s ti ll sn ow in g t hi ck an d f as t. T he ge nera l a spe ct of t he h ill s s o ch an ge d a nd t he ai r s o t hi ck w it h sn ow I c ou ld see n ot hin g a s to w her e I w as go in g. " — L .L . Mc Co y, D a il y N ew s, 1 92 7 PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thankyou! 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Dear Tehama County, I am honored and humbled to serve as your District Attorney. The reason that I am running once again is simple. I am deeply committed to what I do: protecting public safety, working hand in hand with law enforcement, protecting children at all cost, and to eradicating gangs. The challenge for this next term is to maintain consequences for those who break the law. Consequences mean being locked up or "paying back to society." In my mind, the best way to "pay back" is to perform labor to benefit our community and the offender. I will continue to be fiscally conservative with your County money. I am truly dedicated to serving Tehama County and everyone who chooses to call it "home". This is my family s home too and I whole-heartedly believe that we are all blessed to be living here! Thank you for the opportunity to have served as your District Attorney. I am asking for that opportunity once again. I am humbled and proud to ask for your Vote. 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