SUSANVILLE had a big two day Fourth of July celebration in 1916. There were races on July 3 with the winners being as follows: Will Long, saddle horse race for men; Raymond Raker, saddle horse race for boys; Mrs. Ruth Spalding, saddle horse race for women; Wilbur DeCarlow, foot race, free for all. The picture above is of the parade on Main Street. Leading the parade was the Westwood band followed by ladies on horseback, autos and floats. A $10 prize was awarded for the best decorated auto.
Susanville’s Celebration
July 7, 1916
Old-Time Observance of the National Birthday Calls Out a Record Crowd
The Advocate would have to enlarge its limits were it to attempt an account of the various noticeable features of the celebration of the Fourth of July in Susanville. It cannot do this, nor is it so disposed. The things which attracted the greatest interest, the things that deserve the greatest commendation, are doubtless the things that escaped the reportorial eye, or may have been; and it is sufficient to note the events that those who did not see may best appreciate from a brief mention.
The celebration began on the 3rd, and was entirely in the hands of the Susanville Fire Department, and the character of the celebration was of a nature designed to benefit that organization and help it to build itself up into an efficient and powerful body. It may be said that the citizens of the town contributed liberally to this end, fully understanding the motive, but there were many from the outside who imagined that the observance of the day was a general town function.
This misapprehension may have led to some wrong conclusions with respect to the management of the celebration, but it is thought these will not reflect seriously upon the directors of the affair or the reputation of the town.
The program as announced in the Advocate was pretty closely followed, and was decidedly interesting throughout. There were the usual delays incident to getting people together on time, and at times a conflict of functions that led to undesirable conditions. Especially was this noticeable during the progress of the literary exercises on the afternoon of the Fourth.
Just at the time Roscoe E. Jones of Oakland was delivering his address at the big open-air dance platform, a broncho-bursting contest was in progress at the upper end of Main street, and this drew the bigger portion of the crowd away from the speaker. It was an unfortunate conflict, for Mr. Jones should have been greeted with an audience ten times as large as that assembled to hear him, and probably would have been but for the “broncs.”
Beginning on the 3rd, under the enlivening strains of the Westwood band and a cloudless sky, there was very little time wasted between the opening concert and the close of the dance on the open-air platform just after midnight on the fourth. The races on the morning of the 3rd were good, and winners and prizes for these events are announced as follows:
Saddle horse race for men, won by Will Long.
Saddle horse race for boys, won by Raymond Raker.
Saddle horse race for women, won by Mrs. Ruth Spalding.
Foot race, free for all, won by Wilbur DeCarlow.
The baseball game in the afternoon was an easy victory for the Westwood team as was to have been expected since Susanville has no regular organization.
The morning hours of the Fourth were taken up with the firemen’s contests. Only the Westwood and Susanville teams were contenders, the Alturas men failing to show up. Great interest was manifested in these stunts, and it was difficult at times to force the crowds back so that the fire laddies could have room.
The first event was the hose cart race between the teams over a measured course of six hundred feet. Westwood’s boys were dressed for the occasion in running togs, while the Susanville lads were attired as they would be practically at any time when responding to a day alarm. Notwithstanding this handicap Susanville made the race two seconds quicker than their competitors, but were penalized two seconds because of an error in affixing the nozzle to the hose, and Westwood was declared the winner by less than a second. Westwood’s time was :37 flat.
