Wheels West Day in Susanville History – September 3rd, 1942

Farming in the Honey Lake Valley, 1942

Merchants Plan to Aid Farmers

September 3rd, 1942

Full cooperation, even to the point of closing their stores, was pledged at a meeting this week of Susanville businessmen, who met with the farm representatives of Lassen county to seek a solution of farm labor shortages in this area.

Outlining the problems faced by the farmers this year was Supervisor Tro Emerson, member of the farm labor committee of the Lassen county land use committee.

Emerson declared that a definite shortage of manpower exists and will exist during the peak harvest months of July and August. With outside labor cut off because of transportation, and much of the local labor employed in defense industry, the only solution lies with work by the city population, he declared.

Every merchant speaker at the meeting pledged his full cooperation of himself and staff, with Mayor H. L. McMurphy, chairman of the meeting, appointing W. P. Reichel of the local U. S. Employment Service to prepare the schedule of work needs for the farm owners. Mayor McMurphy, and Lester Coffin, secretary of the employers council both pledged cooperation, providing that a definite schedule of work needs are presented by the farmers.

Reichel announced that registration cards would be distributed to every business house in the district to determine the amount of available help, while farmers will be contacted to indicate when, and how many of these workers will be needed.

We are always looking for new pictures to preserve and share in our historical photo collection and we would love to see yours.Your picture will be added to our digital archive for future use and we will make sure you receive credit whenever possible. Email your contribution along with your name and a short description of what you’ve sent to webxtra@susanvillestuff.com. A digital copy of every submission will also be donated to the Lassen Historical Society for preservation in their files.

Don’t know how to scan your photos? Our friends at the UPS Store have offered to professionally scan your vintage photo submissions for free. Just stop by 2850 Main Street in Susanville and they will be happy to help you.

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