photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Deems Burton | all galleries >> Galleries >> Tennant, California > Tennant, California my cabin
previous | next
March 1981 D Burton

Tennant, California my cabin

I lived in this cabin at 310 Willow from 1981-1984, then moved up the block into a similar cabin at 410 Willow from 1984-1988. These cabins were built in the 1920s in Weed, Calf and moved on trains to Tennant in halves and reassembled in place. I heard there were 5 home layouts, 2 pairs that were mirrors, and another that was unique. Tennant was a company logging town in the PreWW2 days, and now it's a great remote town. My time in Tennant was very special, and set me on a path I live today.


other sizes: small medium large original auto
previous | next
share
Sheila 04-Nov-2023 20:01
Any information on tennant cemetery in tennant california, pictures,stories,when cemetery was established. Thank you
Sheila 04-Nov-2023 20:00
Any information on tennant cemetery in tennant california. Pictures,stories,cemetery was established. Thank you
Patrick Egan 31-Aug-2021 11:37
My uncle Ward Preston lived in Tennant with my Aunt, Francis, I love Tennant.
mike gillman 30-Mar-2021 21:18
My aunt and Uncle (Francis and nitta Kirk) owned the town from 1961 to 1966 . He was a logger and logged the area with his brother (Forrest).. I lived there with them in the summer of 1962,but made many trips there as a kid with my parents. Looking to buy there and retire there... Any leads ???
Alfonso Martinez 15-Mar-2021 03:04
Alfonso, I am related to the Martinez family who lived and worked for Long Bell Lumber Company in Tennant from 1926 to 1931? Working for Bell were my great grandparents, their five sons, their wifes and children. My Grandfather Camillo's wife, Luisa Beira de Martinez died in Tennant and is buried in the Tennant Cemetery, died on December 16, 1926. Some cousins of my mom were born in Tennant. My Great Grandmother & daughter in-laws cooked in the large roundhouse for the workers. My mom, her siblings and cousins went to school at the Tennant School House. The families lived in the cabins built in Tennant by Bell for the workers. To make a long story short in the winter of 1931 the Martinez family totaling about 29 family members were put on a train in Tennant along with others of Mexican decent and transported to Mexico, it was called the "Mexican Repatriation Act initiated by the President of the United States. Over half of our family members that boarded that train, not of their own free, were U.S. Citizens and all others were legal residents. My mother and her five siblings suffered a lot in Mexico and in time the women, all born in the U.S., returned to the U.S. with their grandfather. Two brother died in Mexico at a very young age, in their teens and early 20's. God blessed us for my mom and aunts lived a long life, into their 90's. One aunt is still living, 98 years of age. My mom and aunts do remember happy times in Tennant, after all they were children. When they boarded the train all of their belongings were left in Tennant, furniture, car, stove and on they way lost some of their items, few pictures survived from that time. They traveled by train from Tennant through Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and to Texas/Mexico border. The State of California did Pass Senate Bill 670 - the so-called "Apology Act" for the 1930's Mexican Repatriation Act which sent 2 million people of Mexican ancestry to Mexico with over half of those being U.S. Citizens. I, my sisters and cousins are very grateful to our parents for returning to their birth place and making a better life for their children. I am an proud American of Mexican heritage and have served my country as have many of my cousins. God Bless all.
Alan Rosean 16-Jan-2017 03:05
I dimly remember Tennant originally being called or referred to as Camp I. I never could figure if there was a Camp 2 or not.

I lived in the house at the corner of Shasta Drive and Ridge Lane, off and on, from circa 1956 to 1957. I cannot find the house number. My Dad was a loader operator/welder for Long Bell Lumber Company, owner of the town. Both of my parents (Bob and Mary Rosean) are gone and I failed to document the early family history. My younger brother, Gary, was born in that house (1952) and the doctor had to drive in from a nearby town. I remember the 2-room school house with grades 1-4 in the south side of the building. Grades 5-8 were in the north side and the older kids went to school in Dorris on a bus. I likely am wrong but I think the two teachers were Mr & Mrs Chronister with the lady being my teacher. I do have the class photo from 1956-7 (3rd grade for me) if some wants a scan. The school newspaper was Deerland and I have one issue scanned if someone wants a copy. My Mom kept much of our childhood for us. I have pictures of the early days of logging when steam donkeys were used to skid logs.

There was a pair of cottonwood (?) trees to the southwest of the house that I climbed as a kid. Many years later I decided to see if I had left a pocket knife stuck in the tree. Yep, it was still there and I pulled it out while standing on the ground. I remember my Dad remodeling the house to change the wall between the kitchen and living room into an island. Circa 1956 my Dad build a race car for racing at the Fawn Club Race Track located between Weed and Mount Shasta City. It was a Plymouth.

Some of the 'migrant' workers built log cabin or wood slab-covered dogouts just outside of town.

We were free range kids. Most of us had bicycles. Antelope Creek was a favorite swimming hole. My Mother was the librarian for awhile and she gave us kids free range of the library. She let me read anything I wanted and simply told me to come to her if I had questions from my reading. We used to earn 25 cents a quart jar for choke cherries from some of the older ladies. I remember being with my Dad while he was fishing near the water inlet and coming face-to-face with a bobcat.

In 1957 we moved to Weed with most of the town. We lived on Rabbit Flat (Street?) for 3 years until the company moved the houses and we left for Mount Shasta as my Dad did not want to purchase the house. Rabbit Flat was located next to the tracks which carried lumber on carts from the mill to the drying kilns.
Ron Park 20-Sep-2016 19:53
My parents lived in Tennant from the late 40's until about 1960. Mom delivered and picked up mail from the train over near Bray and Leaf for the post office in Tennant while dad was a blacksmith for Long Bell Lumber in the roundhouse that used to be near the edge of town on the south near the company store. My dad is 91and a WWII vet, I am still leaning a lot about those days. He also worked out at camp 1 southeast of Tennant in the 40's about 90 miles from Tennant, this was the primary place they were logging back in those days and he ran a skidder. We live in Missouri, but there were lots of people from Mo back in those days because of the steady work. It was a hoping place from what I've been told.

Here's a video a ran across last year showing the Long Bell train leaving the mill in Weed and then in Tennant, and then it shows the spur lines going out to the camps, dad says this video shows the workers out at camp 1, the bunk houses, and the mess hall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aWszU7S4Ug
W. Martindale 08-Aug-2016 01:35
My mother, three sisters and brother were raise in Tennant from 1920 until the early 1940's. My mother left Tennant to attend her senior year in Sacramento in 1938. Her sisters and brother followed in the 1940s. I would like to see a more specific history of the families who lived there. They worked for Long Bell Lumber Company. As I recall, there were two local steam engines that operated on a number of spur tracks and hauled lumber out of the Tennant area over to the main rail line at bray. From there, the logs were loaded on Southern Pacific railroad cars and hauled to the mill in Weed. I recall the names of some of the families who lived in Tennant at the time my mother lived there. I'm not sure of the spelling, but families included Atkins, Fine, Little, Dollerhyde and Philson. George Little worked as an officer for the Benicia Ca Police Dept. My Grandfather, S.C. Pennell was responsible, in part, to run and maintain the the generators that provided power to the town of Tennant. He served as a Merchant Mariner Captain in WW-lI and returned to his family in Tennant after the war. In the early 1940's, I visited Tennant to visit my grandparents and spent time in the general store. There was a clinic with a nurse in those days and I've been told she was laid to rest there in the cemetery. Mr. Zimmerman, the Long Bell Superintendent is also there. A family friend was the last Long Bell employee out at Tennant. He served as a watchman and attended to temaining facilities, including the roundhouse, until the early 1950's. About 1958, Long Bell sent letters to families who lived there to give them first choice to purchase the company owned houses in Tennant. The above is to the best of my recollection.

William Martindale
don shaffer 22-Sep-2015 02:56
I am Don Shaffer, I lived in Tennant from about 1950 to about 1954, The school was not a one room school, it was two rooms. Mrs Krupp was one of the teachers and my guardian and A Mrs Davis was the other teacher. I was in Mrs Davis class in 1953 and 1954. I also was in Mrs Krupp's Class in 1950 and 1951. I remember at the time there was a church, a gas/store and the school and the houses. Some of the kids names are written on the back of my old school class photos of the classes from 1950 to 1954. It was a good living. L lived in one of the next to last houses on the northern side of town, about a block away from the school. There is a dirt road between my house and the school with if followed will go to the Captain Jack Strong hold (lava fields) along that road were some ice caves that us kids use to play around. I have been back to Tennant a couple times in my life. But have never known what happen to anyone.
dan tennant 28-Jun-2015 03:06
Hi all my name is dan tennant, i live on vancouver island and would like to know the town got it,s name? My family has lots of ties to the USA. Please e-mail me if you can shed any lite on how tennant got it,s nam
tennantdan@yahoo.ca
cheveux gras19-May-2015 06:29
Hi.... like your photos so much..... you are really great photographer.
Scott Tennant 19-Jan-2015 20:10
I would so love to visit Tennant, being that my last name is also Tennant. Now that I live in Yreka I will be visiting it.
Rudy 23-Feb-2012 23:03
My father, Rodolfo G. Martinez was born in Tennant back in 1929. He was later on a Korean War hero, and in 1977, he started up Doc Magoo's Cafe & Restaurant in Los Angeles. The technical advisors to the TV show, ER, later asked my father if they could use the name in their show, and my father gave them permission. So for 15 it was used on ER. I guess that would make my dad the most notable person to have ever been born in Tennant. Anyhow, I visited Tennant on my was from Seattle to L.A. about 4 years ago. The historical marker, the old hotel & general store, the forest surrounding everything and beautiful Mt. Shasta makes this a really neat place. I think i have a relative buried in the cemetary.
Nona Spencer 20-Aug-2011 00:49
I lived in Tennant when I was 6 and that was in 1953. It was a company logging town. They had housing for family's and a hotel for single male loggers that was attached to the general store. I went to school there and from what I remember it was a one room school. I revisited Tennant this past year, it was close to a ghost town, a few people still live there. I found the old school boarded up along with the general store. Makes one wonder how far they travel for supplies and if medical aid is needed in an emergency. Plus I wondered if children are there where they go to school. They had a cemetary there that was well maintained and if ghosts could talk there would speak of a lot of history within the land.
Bill 19-Mar-2010 04:47
We passed through in 1969 when there were only a few folks living there. It was nearly a ghost town and almost all the buildings were boarded up. The main store was open, though, and we got gas there. They must have made their living off travelers back then.

I passed through again in 1990 and the houses were pretty much inhabited. It was quite a change.
Guest 29-Jul-2007 19:03
i used to live in tennant, i was on tennant road the second house in right after the old general store. It was in 1993, was 11 years old. my friends and i would go down to the bridge at the end of town and swim in the creek and see who could catch the most fish.....with just their hands. The houses were small, the town was small, but between the flowing creek, the thick forest and lush meadows that place came alive.
Terri Steele30-Jan-2007 05:58
Excellent! I really love the color and contrasts in this photo. Great work.
Monte Dodge21-Jan-2007 19:10
Nice shot!!! Kept them coming.....
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment