Drakesbad Guest Ranch

Drakesbad Guest Ranch
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Drakesbad, California
Built	1909
Architect	Edward Drake
NRHP Reference #	03001062
Added to NRHP	October 22, 2003

Drakesbad Guest Ranch, also known simply as Drakesbad, is a resort near Chester, California. It is located on Hot Springs Creek at the head of Warner Valley, in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

The original ranch was founded in the 1880s by Edward R. Drake (1830-1904). Drake was a trapper and miner who settled down to operate a tavern near Bidwell Bar, California. As mining declined Drake moved to Prattville and resumed trapping in the mountains. Drake settled in the Hot Springs Valley at some point in the late 1870s, building a cabin and eventually assembling about 400 acres (160 ha) encompassing a number of thermal features associate with the area's volcanism. Drake kept cattle at the homestead during the summer and moved back to Prattville during the winter. Drake sold "Drake's Hot Springs and Ranch" to Alexander Sifford in 1900.

Alexander Sifford, a schoolteacher from Susanville, came to the valley in 1900 to drink the mineral waters in hopes of relieving "nervous exhaustion." Sifford stayed for three days and agreed to buy the property from Drake for $5000, giving Drake the right to continue to use the land. The Alexander and Ida Sifford established a guest ranch on the property, expanding Drake's bathhouse and guest cabin. In 1901 the Siffords bough a non-contiguous 40 acres (16 ha) parcel that included a portion of Boiling Springs Lake. Initially calling the place the "Mount Lassen Hot Springs Hotel", the Siffords settled on "Drakesbad" as the final name in 1908. From 1912 an infusion of capital allowed the Siffords to build a dining room and kitchen and twenty tent platforms, allowing them to charge higher rates. The family drained the willow flats around the property through a network of ditches, creating meadows which they harvested for hay. The 1914-15 eruptions of Lassen Peak brought tourists to the area, greatly increasing business at Drakesbad. When the national park was established, Drakesbad offered a convenient base for Park Service personnel to survey the area. Describing the camp as "crude", the park's first superintendent admitted that the food was good and proposed that the park's headquarters be built just to the east of Drakesbad.

Planning for the new park's road network intentionally bypassed the Warner Valley Road, in part because significant improvements would increase the value of the Sifford property, making its acquisition by the Park Service more difficult. The Warner Valley Road was the main means of visitor access to the park until new roads were completed in 1931. By 1936 the Siffrods had built a fishing pond called Dream Lake and four frame cabins.