Not By The Hair of My Shinny Shinn Shinn!
The weekend after the July 4th holiday Mike and I took a ride out of Susanville. We had some very loose directions to some petroglyphs! We never found them but we did venture to another place that I have wanted to visit.
The Shinn Ranch in remote eastern Lassen County is not a place one just happens upon. We went in on Shinn Ranch Road looking for the petroglyphs. Let’s just say it took a long time to get in and a passenger car will not make it! We didn’t find the petroglyphs but I did find some Indian fortification that were pretty cool. The best way to go is from Ramhorn Road off of Hwy 395.
So from my research this is what I have gathered about this place. Oliver Shinn moved there with his family in 1870 from Baker, Oregon. He was their until his death in 1883 from an aneurism. The following year his widow, Louisa, sold the ranch to George Winters. The Winters family owned the nearby Smoke Tree Ranch.
When Mike and I were driving in I saw a grove of cottonwood trees. It was apparent that at one time they were magnificent. Now they are pretty much dead. Turns out that Winters planted a grove of cottonwoods in 1889 in order to increase the value of his property. In April of 1893 he was issued a 160 acre land patent that he filed under a section of the Timber Culture Act.
The trees were destroyed in the Rush Fire some years ago. They don’t look as if they were making any kind of a comeback. There were still a couple of trees on the property that were impressive in size.
DIRECTIONS
Now there are many ways to go into the Shinn Ranch. The long way and the short way! I don't suggest taking Shinn Ranch Road. It is long and rocky. My suggestion is to go in Ramshorn off HWY 395 out of Susanville. Drive past the campgroud and keep going. You can't miss it.