Ghost Town of Susanville Oregon
Ghost Town of Susanville Oregon
The town of Susanville started as a gold mining camp in 1864. As far as I can tell, the name of the original camp is lost to history. But miners, no doubt fed up with a lack of a local post office, outright stole one from what is now called Galena in 1901. By doing so they stole the name too, and the unknown mining camp officially became the town of Susanville.
On June 19, 1913, George Armstrong found an 80.4 ounce gold nugget in a nearby placer mine. The nugget is still visible to the public in display a at a Bank in Baker City Oregon. No doubt Mr. Armstrong had a really good time for a few weeks after finding it.
I have been told, but have not confirmed, that Susanville is easy to find from Galena. Just take the only road available right out of town to get there. Unfortunately, there are no trespassing signs on the road about half way up so I was not able to find the exact location easily.
This cabin is about 200 yards up the road on the left. It’s obviously inhabited still, and locked up tight when I was there. So no chance to ask any questions about the town.
House at ghost town of Susanville, Oregon
The road is a fun little drive, even more so with my front wheel drive.
Due to the “no trespassing” signs, the rest of these pictures date from sometime in the early to mid 1990’s from what I can tell. They were from an undeveloped roll of film that was passed on to me from a relative’s estate. I had hoped go up and see what buildings, if any, were still present and do a then and now comparison.
House at ghost town of Susanville, Oregon
I believe this is the remains of one of the ten-stamp stamp mills in town.
This building has the look of a general store.
Here is a closer look at a remaining house, and what appears to be a root cellar in the bushes in the foreground. Perhaps there was another building there at one time?
Based on chronological order, I’m assuming this is the inside of that house.
Some of the debris around “town.” Can anyone identify these pieces of equipment?
This is apparently the town’s remaining resident.
So at the time of these pictures it looks to have been a Class C Ghost Town. I’d be interested to see if it’s still the same, or if it’s deteriorated completely. Google Map’s satellite view has not been incredibly helpful here.
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Reader Bob Benton provided the following historical views of Susanville. Thank you very much Bob!
Badger Mine 1903
Susanville, Oregon (Viewed from Northeast) 1916
Susanville, Oregon (Viewed from Southwest) 1914
Nice photos of the area, grew-up playing in the cabin (your first photo), owned by my grandfather at the time (1950s-1970s).
Hello Steve! Thank you for stopping by!
Do you happen to have any photos of the cabin or town from back into those days? A lot of my readers would love to see what it looked like then.
I have a complete photo history of Susanville, family had been associated with the area for a hundred years. We own the Gem Mine property above Susanville. I also have a mining claim that abuts the private property.
My great great grandmother died there in 1883. Nancy Fancher King. They had a claim there . Her son was Lemuel King. If you have any info I would be interested.
Thank you,
Ed Burdick
My grandfather Xerxes Parnell worked there at the Gem mine in the earl 1920’s. He kept the pump going that pumped water out of the mine. My mother an aunt and an uncle were born there
Bob, do you have info on my great great grandparents? Rasmus and Hannah Nelson?
Hi Melissa. I’m Jerry Harrison. I was born in Susanville in 1946. My Grandmother Martha Gertrude “Gertie” (McGinnis) Johnson O’Rorke was a friend of Hannah. Grandma Gertie took over as post mistress from Hannah in 1901 after the old post office burnt down. Grandma operated the old Susanville store and part of the store was set up as the post office. She was post mistress for 43 years from 1901-1946. Harry Hamilton took over the post office in 1946. The land where Rasmus and Hannah had the post office is located on one of our mining claims “The Hidden Treasure” located in 1901. The area was soon after mined using hydralic giants, so nothing but a pile of tailings remains today. I have a picture of the mining operation at the site of the old post office. I do have pictures of some of the Susanville residents, but unfortunately I couldn’t locate any of Rasmus or Hannah. The new Susanville store burnt in 1950 and most of the pictures Grandma and my Mom had were lost in the fire. Gertie’s second husband John O’Rorke also died in the fire. Feel free to contact me if you want to talk about the old times, or share some of the pictures I have.
Bob Benton. Did you or your family know the Bunkers?
I took a road trip to Susanville a number of years ago and never really did find it. I think I might have spotted some lumber from an old buidling but nothing like you have shared.
My family and I went through there about 22 years ago. I took pictures but have no clue where they would be. It was an awesome place. We walked over the piles of rocks that had been stacked and the stamp mine was still standing. Although it was just the skeleton of the building. We went to the closest town and looked through some pictures in their archives…It was a great day!! 🙂
I go hunting in that area every year i dont think your photos are from the 90s the pile of logs 5th and 6th photo used to be some sort of build in 2000 to 2005 fell down around 07 i have picture somewhere of it and some other mines that are in the area
My father was born in Susanville in 1900 and his brother in 1904. We took a little trip to see what was left and were quite surprised. Looks just like your pictures still. Our iPhone’s gps took us right there. It still has a zip code! Amazing!
I was there yesterday. I took some pictures and video.
I was just there for the eclipse last weekend and it looks exactly like these pictures. Saved offline Google maps before heading out there because I had no cell service anywhere in the area. The Google maps took me right there, coming from Galena off of Rd 20 (Up Middle Fork Rd) take a left on NF-914 and follow it up about 2 miles… there are signs stating it is on private property.
My great grandfather was a miner there, Randall Ingraham. His first wife, Mary Edith Whitaker Ingraham is buried in what was the cemetery there back in the 1800’s. My family and I visited the area in 1995 searching for the cemetery, was unable to locate it.
The Galena cemetery is in town uphill behind private property but there is an access road
I was just there last week. I stayed in the old Rapp cabin just above Susanville and below the Gem mine. A good friend of mine owns the cabin. I go there as often as I can. We saw about 100 Elk right at Cress Creek on Sunday. Bob Benton, have you met your new neighbors yet?
My grandfather built that cabin. George Armstrong was his brother-in-law. I have pictures of family at that cabin
as early as 1904.
Would you be interested in sharing those photos?
I’d share all kinds of photos. I will be there Sept 4-8 if you want to stop in.
Send me an email and I’ll share some photos. Send me any photos you might have. I’ll be there next month if you want to stop by.
[email protected]
My great great grandparents were Hannah and Rasmus Nelson who ran the susanville post office beginning in 1889. My family still owns 20 acres by elk creek and the forest service road. My grandma had given access rights years ago.
Their daughter Emma Nelson was the one who got lost in Cress Hollows at age 4 for a week!
My grandparents lived there in the early 1930’s. Paul and Olive Stinard. He worked in the gold mine I believe. My mother was born in 1935. Story was they went down the mountain to Prairie City for her to give birth. I am not sure if that’s where the hospital/doctor were or why she did that, but that is where my mother was born and they have their residence listed as Susanville. I would love to see pictures and/or find information out about my grandfather who worked in the mines.