by Susan Couso
Mountain Meadows Ranch has a long history in Lassen County. Its major development began in 1910, when millionaire businessman, George Wingfield purchased the Clinton DeForest property, which was then situated on the main road to all places south.
Wingfield, from Nevada, needed a place to relax. By June 4, 1910, his wife, Maud, had approved the plans, and architect M. H. Grosmeyer had come to the site to oversee the work.
The estimate for Wingfield’s new Meadowbrook ranch came in at $25,000, and another $20,000 was needed to furnish the interior. It was to contain five bedrooms, a large living room, dining room and kitchen, and be, “artistically decorated throughout.”
The home had a large stone foundation and shingle cladding and included electricity and telephone service. Once the landscaping was finished, it was a beautiful place to see.
In 1912, Wingfield paid $21,000 for an additional 1,040 adjacent acres of timber, to make his total holdings at his new ranch amount to 3,000 acres. The house was completed in 1914, and Wingfield moved on with his plans to make it into a proper game preserve.
As soon as was possible, he made a small reservoir and fenced the property in preparation. Wingfield purchased elk from the estate of the late Governor Sparks, of Nevada, and brought them to the new preserve.
He stocked trout in the upper lake and stream, and bass and catfish in the new reservoir, naming the lakes Lake Jean and Lake George, after his two children.
Wingfield then brought in four bison, and numerous different fowl. He purchased Virginia Wild Bronze turkeys from New York, and he would incubate eggs at the ranch, and raise peafowl, as part of his project.
The Meadowbrook site was a fascinating, peaceful place, and people drove from all around to see it. The Wingfield’s hosted many gatherings there too.
By 1924, Wingfield’s marriage had ended in divorce, and he grew tired of the ranch. He said that he didn’t have the time to properly oversee it anymore.
Even with a full-time manager, George Howe, it was too much.
The Meadowbrook property, with its reported 20,000,000 feet of marketable timber, was sold to Lassen Lumber & Box Company for an undisclosed price.
As the property was sold, the bison were relocated to Reno’s Wingfield Park, and some of the elk reportedly went to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, but many remained at Meadowbrook.
The elk had thrived and overgrown the site. Wingfield had even resorted to butchering them for meat, to thin the herd.
As the new owners neglected to care for them, the elk escaped the enclosure, and as late as 1972, were spotted on the back side of Diamond Mountain.
Lassen Lumber & Box Company had the property for a very short time before selling to a group of local businessmen, who formed the Susanville Country Club, and added a nine-hole golf course to the lower meadows.
By 1925, the Western States Life Insurance Company had taken over the ranch, and held it until 1932, when it was sold to Leon Roy Cady and Frank Coffin.
Somewhere along the line, Frank Coffin was out, and Fred Abbay became part owner. In 1939, Cady and Abbay sold the property to Mr. & Mrs. M. R. Wallace and Wayne Sharp, of Napa County.
Silent movie star, Buck Jones, and his wife Odille purchased the property in 1942.
They planned on a quiet retirement at the ranch, but Buck Jones was tragically killed in a nightclub fire in Massachusetts before the couple could settle at Meadowbrook.
In 1956, Jack and Jacquie Ellena purchased the property, with dreams of creating a popular summer resort. The Ellenas improved the site and made a very successful business out of it. The now-named ‘Mountain Meadows Ranch’ remains in the Ellena family today.
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