Susanville

Susanville, city, seat (1864) of Lassen county, northeastern California, U.S. It lies on the Susan River, at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, at the head of the Honey Lake Valley, 85 miles (137 km) northwest of Reno, Nevada. In 1853 Isaac Roop staked a claim and built a cabin on the site. The following year Peter Lassen and a group of prospectors joined him; they struck gold, and the settlement, later named for Roop’s daughter, became a bustling mining town. In 1856 Roop established the short-lived “republic” of Nataqua and made Susanville its capital. The city is now a marketing and shipping centre for an agricultural area (dairy products and grain) and has lumber and flour mills; Diamond Mountain Casino, operated by the Susanville Indian Rancheria, contributes to the local economy. Susanville contains a community college established in 1925 and is a gateway to Lassen Volcanic National Park and Lassen National Forest (headquartered at Susanville). Plumas National Forest is also nearby. Other recreational facilities are available at Eagle Lake, Honey Lake, and Lake Almanor. The Roop’s Fort/William Pratt Memorial Museum (1854) was the “capitol” building of the Nataqua republic, which, in an 1863 event known as the Sagebrush War, resisted California’s jurisdiction. Inc. town, 1900; city, 1940. Pop. (2000) 13,541; (2010) 17,947.