Jance & Jack's Cabin

 

                                           JANE AND JACK’S CABIN

 

As a family we would drive up to Jane and Jack’s cabin near Mill Creek, California.   The cabin belonged to Jane’s uncle and I remember our family making trips to it during the 1950’s while living in Willows.   Jane and Jack Hendricks were friends of our parents and also lived in Willows before moving to Red Bluff in the 1960’s.  Jack and our dad had met while going to the University of California at Davis between 1945 and 1947. 

 It was about a two hour drive from Willows to Mill Creek.  We would drive up to Red Bluff where we turned onto highway 36 leading up into the mountains.   After leaving the Sacramento Valley we would enter the foot hills with scattered oak trees and many rocks from the volcanic eruption of Mt. Lassen in 1914.   As we got higher up in elevation the oak trees would gradually start mixing with pine trees.   Eventually we would drive into the pine and fir forests near the community of Mineral where we turned onto the small winding paved highway to Mill Creek.  

The fond memory of arriving at our destination and smelling the wood smoke from the cabin chimney was always inviting.   As soon as we got out of the car we would hear the sound of the stream that was nearby with a little foot bridge crossing it and a spring box beside it where there was a water melon kept.   The cabin was located up a small dirt road off the highway just above the small community of Mill Creek.   We would pass two other cabins before arriving at Jane and Jack’s cabin.   The cabin was rustic looking with a stone fire chimney, a brown exterior, a shake roof with large pine and cedar trees surrounding it.  There were many large pine cones we would collect to take home or put in the cabin fire place.  Our family would stay upstairs where sleeping rooms were separated by curtains.  Jane and Jack’s family stayed downstairs.  In the morning we would wake up to the smell of pancakes cooking downstairs.   The great adventure would be to hike up the creek to find the water source.  There were two other cabins a short distance uphill from Jane and Jack’s cabin.   There was never any people staying in the adjacent cabins that I remember as the windows and doors were boarded up to keep the winter snow out.  The head waters of the creek consisted of springs scattered on the mountain side and it was impossible to determine where the actual upper head waters were.  There were two large wooden tanks that stored water from the springs for use in the cabins below.   These tanks had water leaking out their sides as they were held together with large metal rings.   The small community of Mill Creek was made up of scattered resort cabins, used mostly in the summer, a post office, a small store including a soda fountain where we would get ice cream or a milk shake.   The store also sold basic food stuff, such as dairy products, lunch meats, bread and some can goods. 

After departing for home I always looked forward to the next visit with determination to find the water source to the creek. 

Later in life, when I was working for the Forest Service on the Greenville District of the Plumas National Forest from 1977-79, we drove to Mill Creek in search of that cabin.    The entire area had become a housing tract for summer homes under a special use permit with the Forest Service on the Lassen National Forest.    It was not the same and now only a memory.