By Susan Couso
The town of Amedee and the Amedee Hotel seem synonymous, for the hotel was the most striking building in the town, and also the center of most activities.
When the NCO narrow-gauge railroad got to the area in 1890, there was little to distinguish the spot. But that’s where the railroad ended, and the town soon began to grow there.
By 1892, it boasted a depot, two hotels, a restaurant, a lumber yard, a harness shop, a shoe shop, a general store, a hardware store, a cigar store, a stationary store, a blacksmith shop, two saloons, a telegraph office and all of the other trappings of a budding metropolis.
The town of Amedee eventually grew to between 300 and 400 residents. The local newspaper, the Amedee Geyser, printed its first issue on March 30th, 1892.
The beautiful Amedee Hotel itself was three stories tall and advertised having all of the ‘modern conveniences’ and appliances. It was 28 miles to Susanville, and Susanville’s citizens considered the hotel a convenient place to stop over to catch an early train.
It was also an entertainment spot, and a place to stay while visiting the curative waters of the hot springs nearby.
But the railroad ruled the town. Amedee was a major shipping point. Livestock was driven to the depot for transportation, and lumber was shipped out of the area from Amedee.
About 1894, Jake Yanner built a steamboat to cross Honey Lake from the Milford area. The boat hauled goods to be shipped out, and on return trips, it brought goods back to Milford.
By 1898, Yanner’s boat took on water and was ruined, but a new one soon took its place. Then, in 1907, a boat that had been used on San Francisco Bay was purchased for the task. It was loaded on rail cars and brought to Amedee.
Wiley Cornelison’s oxen hauled the boat, on wagons, to the shore of the lake where the boat was launched. The Jellison family also built a large barge which was used to haul lumber and other freight across the lake. The barge was left to rot on the shore about 1911.
In 1913, the Southern Pacific put its tracks through the area, leaving Amedee in its wake. No longer the terminus for the railroad, Amedee began to die. Perhaps a slow death only prolonged the pain.
By 1949, the old Amedee Hotel was demolished, and in 1950, the town site was sold for $32 in back taxes. The town of Amedee, named for railroad magnate, Amedee Depau Moran, was no more.
