The Round Barn is rising once again!  This page will chronicle the dismantling and the reconstruction of the historic Round Barn. 

If you would like to see the round barn, help build it, or donate to the cause, please contact the Fort Crook Museum and Historical Society at 530/336-5110.  They need all the help they can get to finish reconstructing this very rare and very unusual barn.

It is now located on the grounds of the Fort Crook Museum at 43030 Fort Crook Avenue in Fall River Mills alongside Highway 299 just before you enter downtown Fall River Mills.  You can't miss it.

The history of the barn: 

The original barn was built southeast of Pittville in Lassen County in 1916 by R. L. Johnston.  The barn was built for one reason:  to break and train wild horses for the  U. S. Army.  The horses were run in a circle inside the barn while being trained.  The Army desperately needed the horses for World War I.

A crew of 15 Indian men were employed by Johnston to build the barn.  They were paid $2/day, plus board.  Indians also captured wild horses in the area and sold them to Johnston.  Johnston trained the horses inside the all-weather barn, then herded them to McArthur.  From there the horses were transported and delivered to the U. S. Army.

S. T. (Shird) Eldridge and his wife Emma became owners of the property (and the barn) in 1917.  Shird and his son Jesse continued to raise and train horses in the barn for years.

The original barn center pole was a very tall cedar tree.  But it wasn't tall enough to reach the very peak of the roof.  To get it higher, another 15 ft. tree was added to get the desired height.  The 15 ft. extension had braces attached to it for strength; the braces made it look like a crow's nest.

The outside walls measured 85 ft. around the round barn.  The original barn roof was covered in wooden shakes, but because they were heavily damaged in a hailstorm, they were later replaced with sheets of aluminum.

Over the years the barn became a local landmark.  It also deteriorated from age and was no longer used.  The Bickford and Buckman families were the last owners of the barn.  Knowing it was an important historical structure, the families wanted it preserved.  This they did by donating it to the Fort Crook Historical Society.  But with one condition - that it moved from the ranch property. 

And so, in January of 2007, scores of volunteers completed the dismantling of the old round barn and stored it away in several locations throughout the Fall River Valley.  Meanwhile, fundraisers were held to collect materials and monies needed to reconstruct the barn.

There are only a very few other round barns still existing in California, but none have been restored.  This will be the only one.

Information for this story was provided by Leslie Mastalarz, volunteer historian of the Fort Crook Museum, and Robert Ingram, president of the Fort Crook Historical Society.

Roofing contractor Gary Benson installs a handmade weathervane created by

The hard-working roofing crew of Benson Roofing applying cedar shake shingles.   July 27, 2009.  Photo from Fort Crook Dispatch newsletter.

 As of 5-8-09 

Nailing the battens                   

              Week of 5-8-09

        Week of 5-8-09

 

 

                                             

During the first weeks of April, 2009.  Stan Weigand's horse is pulling one of the top rafters attached to a pulley that is attached to the center pole.

As of 3-23-09

                     March 2009                                             March 2009

                   March 2009

                           March 2009                                       March 2009

March 2009

What it looked like just prior to  dismantling in 2007

What was called the 'Crow's Nest' (above and below).  It was created when a 15 ft. log was attached to the top of the center pole necessitating bracing being attached to it; the braces made it look like a 'Crow's Nest.'

The dismantling has begin.  Photo taken in May 2006 by Marilyn Rountree.