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Susanville
Lassen County California
Susanville, a small city in a huge California County
Population - few.
Susanville is 28.2 miles southwest of Wild Horse Acres. Susanville is the county seat of Lassen California. The population of Lassen County as of 1996 was 34 thousand. The population of Susanville as of 1996 was 16 thousand which represents about half of the population of the county. Susanville is by far the largest city in the County of Lassen California. Most the cities in Lassen are the size of Litchfield.
population - hardly any, which is 9 miles on Highway 395 in Lassen County to the southwest of Wild Horse Acres. Litchfield does have an impressive grade school. Ravendale, population - few if any, is 28 miles northeast on Highway 395 of Wild Horse Acres. The size of Lassen County is 2,916,790 acres or about 4,547 square miles. The general elevation is 4,000 feet. There are some rolling mountains, very high mountains, and high plain step areas in the county.
All the roads in Lassen County eventually lead to Susanville. Susanville has a college, hospital, financial institutions, and California State low security prison. Susanville is one of the fastest growing cities in California. Lassen County does not suffer from a lot of earthquakes. No freeways in Lassen County at this time but the county really isn't on the fast track. No earthquakes, no freeways, few people, and still in California make Lassen County a great place to live.
Just west of Susanville are Lassen and Plumas National
Forests of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Besides being very beautiful, these national forests make up about two thirds of Lassen County. Both national forests protect Lassen from excessive population growth. Add the military reservations, national forests & parks, to the BLM land, to what is held by private logging & regrowth holdings, and there is very little left for a population to expand in.
Unlike San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento Valley, Susanville will look much the same as it does now in the year 2200. A hundred fifty years ago, one could enter the Los Angeles area and it would look about like Susanville. Just that the shops would be smaller. You can LA from the air, drive through LA takes hours, smell LA's gas fumes, hear LA rumbling car noise, and from time to time you can feel LA shake. You will not see the likes of Susanville any time soon. Like LA, the same is true with San Francisco only San Francisco was a fair sized city a hundred and fifty years ago, so one must go back about two hundred years to say San Francisco is like Susanville. Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, are all surrounded by available desert land which supports even more growth and development. The population of California shows no sign of slowing down its growth either. The point being, in the last hundred years the landscape of the big cities has changed so dramatically that there is no recognizing the old place in the passing of time. The next hundred years and San Francisco and Los Angeles will look different again. But Susanville, it will look much the same as it does today and did a hundred years ago and the reason is there really isn't much available public land.
In the year 2200, any where you can ride a horse will be a precious commodity. Susanville living is not very expensive. At least it is not as expensive as in the big cities. Susanville is a pretty little town with pleasant people going about their business. Large industry is going to pass it by because the government wants it that way. The people in Susanville and Lassen County want some economic growth so they are expanding and would like some industry to enter the area. But, there just isn't the land available to expand major league.
The Lassen County California Chamber of Commerce brochure,
Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4.
The economy Lassen County and that of Susanville is forestry and the California State Prison system. The average income was about $34K however, the new prison has increased it to about $41K. Tourism in the National Forests isn't even a large industry. The local indian tribe has a casino but it huge either. Compared to Reno only 85 miles south the casino is a dinky little thing. Not much in crime in Lassen County California either but there sure is a lot of criminals housed there. Susanville's California State Prison is one of the laregest of its type in California. There is a television station and couple of radio station in Susanville. Susanville has a large Safeway and Longs Drug store.
Lassen and Modoc counties are the last remaining truly remote areas in California. With the foundation of the Death Valley National Park, there is little land left which qualifies as truly remote land in California which can be owned by a citizen. Or, for that matter, a corporation requiring remote but accessible property for industrial use.
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