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Lakeshore Resort, 1926
Native Americans
In the late 18th Century the early settlers of the Huntington Lake Basin were the Monache or Western Mono Native Americans. They lived in surrounding areas between the elevations of 3,000 to 7,000 feet, and were linguistically linked to the Owens Valley Paiute (Eastern Mono) cousins, speaking a similar Western Numic language. They came out of Jose Basin to the Shaver Lake area by way of Stevenson Creek up through what is now Big Creek, to cross over the crest of the Sierra to Bishop to trade with the Eastern Mono. The Monache and Owens Valley Paiute regularly engaged in trans-Sierra Nevada trade, and in doing so, along with harvesting the native plants and animals, established and made frequent use of an elaborate network of mountain trails.
Several other Native American groups occupied the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range in the area of the Huntington Lake basin. On the west side of the Sierra Nevada, Penutian-speaking Foothill Yokuts occupied lands in the western Sierra Nevada foothills from the San Joaquin Valley edge up to an elevation of about 3,000 feet. The Northern Paiute group resided in the Mono Basin, while the Owens Valley Paiute resided along the Owens River in the vicity of Bishop Creek.
For at least 10,000 years Native Americans have lived in this area. The basin that now holds Huntington Lake was an attractive site because of its cool summer temperatures, water, and abundant natural resources. They stayed there during the summer and fall, bringing salt, pine nuts, and acorns with them. Native Americans were extremely knowledgeable about the forest and utilized everything from insects to big game. Deer and fish were obtained in the area that is now the Huntington Lake Basin, as well as strawberries, gooseberries and elderberries.
They developed an extensive network of trails as they walked on their seasonal rounds, traded, and visited. The trails reflect travel from the coast, valley, and mountains, both north and south. The location of many of the current trails on the National Forest were originally established by Native Americans. For instance, the trail through Huntington Lake to Lake Edison, following Mono Creek, is the Mono trail. The Paiute Trail is further south, and there are a number of trails north of Huntington in the wilderness. One of the main trade items was obsidian, quarried on the east side. People met at Mono Hot Springs, not just to trade, but to gather and visit.
The damming of Big Creek covered a lot of archaeological sites. The Native Americans are still here today and are very active in their communities and in the management of the forest. Traditional and cultural values of importance to contemporary descendants of Native peoples include: archaeological sites, prehistoric trails, natural features such as hot springs, and other places of religious or social importance, and native plants and animals used for food, building or craft materials, medicines, or that figure prominently in Native American myths or legends.
Early Settlement
In the early 1900's ranchers grazed their livestock in the forest during the summer. The seasonal pattern was to leave the valley in the winter and early spring, moving progressively higher into the mountains as the lower elevations dried out, and returning to the foothills and valley with the first snow of fall. Eventually, overgrazing by sheep contributed to the formation of the Forest Reserves in 1893 (the predecessor of the Forest Service). By 1905, sheep were excluded from the public forests, but not from private land such as the holdings of the logging companies. The stockraisers that stayed in business switched from sheep to cattle, which were considered less destructive.
The timber industry began in the southern Sierra Nevada in Madera County in 1852 when James Harms built a small, water-powered sawmill on Redwood Creek and sold the lumber to miners and settlers around Coarsegold and Fresno Flats near Bass Lake. By 1854, a steam-powered sawmill was operating at Corlew Meadows near Shaver Lake.
In the early days of the timber industry, the lumbermen established their mills and logged virtually wherever they wished, usually on the unsurveyed and unpatrolled public lands. After 1881, the General Land Office initiated surveys of forest lands, and by 1893 the Forest Reserve was established, thus extending government control to timber harvests on federal land.
Despite these controls, the late 19th Century and early 20th Century became the "golden age" of the timber industry in the Sierra National Forest. In 1891, the Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company was founded by C.B. Shaver and L.P. Swift. They hired John Eastwood to design a dam on Stevenson Creek (producing the original Shaver Lake), and a flume to carry lumber 47 miles from the Shaver Lake mill to Clovis. By 1912 the peak of the industry had passed, and in 1914 was forced to close down operations at Shaver Lake. The Shaver Lake assets of the Fresno Flume and Lumber Company were purchased by Southern California Edison in 1919.
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Hydroelectric Projects
Huntington Lake was named for Henry Edwards Huntington, the Southern California entrepreneur who financed the earliest work at the Big Creek-San Joaquin Hydroelectric Project. The lake was the first reservoir built in the project, which delivered electricity to southern California, some 240 miles away.
The earliest surveys of the Basin for hydropower use were made by John Eastwood in 1886. Eastwood recognized the great potential for power generation in both a tremendous water source and a 4,500 foot drop in elevation (from the basin to the San Joaquin valley).
In 1902, John S. Eastwood, engineer for the Pacific Light and Power Company, selected Big Creek as the site for new hydroelectric developments; and nine years later work got underway on one of the greatest water power developments in the world, the Big Creek-San Joaquin Project. In its' day, only the construction of the Panama Canal was a greater engineering achievement. By 1929 the development had grown to a composite of three major artificial lakes created by six dams, eight tunnels, a series of five power houses and 248 miles of steel tower high voltage transmission lines. Huntington Lake, Florence Lake and Shaver Lake were the front runners of man's vision, determination and intelligence.
East Heading, Camp 61, SCE Co., Florence Tunnel
A railroad, the San Joaquin & Eastern, was pushed through to carry supplies from the Southern Pacific Friant branch to Big Creek. Built in 1912, fifty-six miles of track were installed in 157 days, all the work done by team and the Fresno Scraper, wheelbarrows and hand drills, the men earning 27 center an hour. The result was a twisty, uneven road bed, but if offered faster service for both passengers and freight than team and wagon.
The road from Big Creek to the Basin was built in 1910 by ten men, one team, a plow and a Fresno Scraper. That road was 6 miles long. The first person to drive the first car over the road was Harry M. Allen, the owner of Allen's Lumberyard located above the Home Creek Trading Post, at Home Creek Bay-Huntington Lake.
Home Creek Resort
The surrounding area today known as Huntington Lake was simply called "Basin", the name taken from Basin Creek, originally a grain and cattle raising area, at the bottom of today's lake. A post office was established there in 1913, with the community of Huntington Lake being established in 1916, after it was named for Henry Huntington. Two other resort communities were created; Cedar Crest in 1923 and Lakeshore in 1924.
Cedar Crest Camp
Lakeshore Resort
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Physical Environment
Huntington Lake lies approximately 70 miles northeast of Fresno in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at 6,950 feet. Notable landmarks around Huntington Lake include Tamarack Ridge to the southeast at 7,582 feet, Kaiser Peak to the north at 10,320 feet; Black Point to the west; Red Mountain to the southeast; and Bear Butte to the east.
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Hydrology
In spite of its natural appearance, Huntington Lake is a reservoir created by three dams. The lake is four miles long by one-half mile wide, and has 14 miles of shoreline. Huntington Lake has a drainage area of 81 square miles and a surface area of 1,435 acres. It is in the San Joaquin River Watershed and impounds the waters of Big Creek, several tributaries, and water from Florence Lake that is diverted through Ward Tunnel. The lake has a storage capacity of 89,166 acre-feet of water.
Forest Service permit agreements with Southern California Edison maintain the water level at recreational levels during the summer months. Water from the lake can be sent to either Powerhouse No. 1 or to Shaver Lake via Balsam Forebay and Eastwood Power Station.
Spillway of Dam No. 1
Dam No. 2
Dam No. 3 (Edwards Hotel is in the background)
Dam No. 3
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Billy Creek Guard Station Museum
In 1905, with the transfer of the Forest Reserve from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service was established. Offices on the forest were typically rented rooms and portable dwellings like tents. In 1920, the Forest Service felt a need for more permanent structures. The cost limitation for Forest Service buildings was $650 and required Washington Office approval. The Billy Creek Guard Station residence was constructed in 1929 with a warehouse being completed in 1930. Orland Bartholomew, who completed the trans-Sierra winter trip in 1928-29, lived here from 1932 to 1952.
Huntington Lake Association (HLA) in an organization of owners of resorts, camps and recreation residences located in the Sierra Forest. It was established in 1923 and incorporated in 1952. In 1989, the board of HLA asked the Forest Service to preserve the Billy Creek Station structures. HLA helped establish the Huntington Lake/Big Creek Historical Conservancy to complete the partnership with the Forest Service.
Today the structures will be maintained to exhibit a "portrait in time." Photos, artifacts and narratives will tell the story of the Basin, as it was called in the early 1900's and onward.
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