“Mt. Hebron & Tennant Then & Now”
As most everyone who has passed through Butte Valley knows, we are not a single and solid town. Rather we are a collection of towns and townships held in the bowl of the Butte Valley. There is the main city, Dorris, as well as the slightly smaller town of Macdoel. In
addition to the official towns, there are the townships of Tennant and Mt. Hebron. While the histories of each town are closely linked, those of Tennant and Mt. Hebron are inseparably intertwined.
The town of Tennant was originally a company town for loggers, and the timber company had strict rules for what could be on their tenant’s land. That is to say, they could have no promiscuous businesses. Now consider this, most of the loggers were single men on their own out in the west, and the only women who lived in Tennant were the wives and daughters of other loggers. I believe you can draw your own conclusions on that note.
While there was a living to be made in Tennant, a few enterprising souls saw fit to build, outside the company town, businesses to cater to the entertainment of the loggers, specifically bars and brothels. This collection of businesses eventually grew into a township and named after the nearby mountain, Mt. Hebron. While written records and specific dates are few and far between, a few of the old brothels still stand; one is now the residence of a Mr. F. Drake.
Over time, (few specific dates have been recorded) Mt. Hebron
shed its questionable youth, even opening a schoolhouse and a general
store among other more respectable businesses. The old Mt. Hebron
schoolhouse was closed in favor of joining the Butte Valley Unified
School District, and the building is now the residence of Jim and Sharon Taylor, the school's old merry-go-round and basketball court still standing in the front yard. Over the years, the Mt. Hebron General Store has had roughly five different owners, most recently Bill and Opal Sexton, who sold it to Lassen Canyon in 2008, who now run it mainly for the use of their workers.
Both Mt. Hebron and Tennant have become considerably smaller than in their early days, and far more calm, but our colorful history is indeed a point of pride for the remaining residents of both towns. ?
My uploaded photos show the merry-go-round and former basketball court
at this private residence. Based on the older picture of this school above also apparent that this house has been added onto from the original building.