Cohasset Lumber Mills, Homesteads and Apple Orchards

The property ownership map and photos below date to around 1910, and help illustrate land use patterns in Cohasset at that time. If you click on the map, you can see the dashed line that is Cohasset Road, and in addition, the little triangle at the bottom of Section 14 marking the Sorenson property. This is where Samuel and Lillie Sorenson built a home around 1907. The picture below shows their son Don Sorenson in front of the store they operated which was next door to the little red house, still standing, across from the church. Also pictured below is the Vilas lumber mill, in the NW ¼ of Section 24. The Vilas brothers operated the mill between 1907 and 1914. During that time, they built a road to connect with the main Cohasset Road, which still bears the Vilas family name. In addition to the early logging activities, by the early 1900s there were many thriving apple orchards in Cohasset. The map below depicts some of those, including the orchard owned by Augustus Bolin Hartt in Section 22. Another orchard was planted by Thomas Polk, who, in the late 1870s purchased land and built a farm in Section 27, along what is now lower Vilas Road. Cohasset apples were sold in Chico and other Valley communities and were known for their fine flavor and quality. In 1904, residents Polk and Hartt won silver and bronze medals at the St. Louis Universal exposition for their Cohasset-grown apples.