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Huntington Lake is located in the Sierra National Forest in California and is the premier recreational location in the Central Sierra Nevada.
Huntington Lake Association started in 1923 as a home-owners organization and incorporated in 1960. The Association has promoted numerous recreational pursuits, stewardship, fire protection and respect of natural resources to the American public on forest lands.
Huntington Lake and other high Sierra lakes were man-made lakes as a result of massive building of a hydro-power system that, at the time, was only rivaled by the building of the Panama Canal. The ingenuity and sheer determination of men such as John Eastwood, David Redinger and Henry Huntington brought electrical power to the masses of Southern California.
In 1914 Gifford Pinchot, the first American-trained forester, commissioned Dr. Frank Waugh, landscape architect, to plan the placement of cabins, resorts, camps and campsites around Huntington Lake to reduce the visual impact to visitors and to add to the beauty of the lake.
In 1989 the Huntington Lake Association realized "that without a heritage each generation starts over...Our lives are not stagnant, we are forever in motion. Events, perceptions, traditions and beliefs are what often is the foundation of culture and history, that of which is our heritage."
The Forest Service had intended the removal of the last remaining structure representing Forest Service history--the Billy Creek Guard Station, built in 1928, home to Orland Bartholomew. The Huntington Lake Association through a partnership with the Forest Service, requested adoption of the buildings and thus created the Huntington Lake Historical Society. Upon adoption, a 501(C)(3) non-profit corporation was formed, the Huntington Lake Big Creek Historical Conservancy.
The restored Billy Creek Museum opened to the public on July 20, 2001. Volunteers have served over 25,000 visitors to the Huntington Lake Basin with educational programs for children and seniors, campers and the community.
Mission Statement
The mission of Huntington Lake Big Creek Historical Conservancy is to educate the general public on the natural, native American and socioeconomic history and hydroelectric contributions of the Huntington Lake and Big Creek communities; to restore, maintain and protect natural resources through education, provide public interpretive facilities along with maintaining other historically significant buildings and sites; and to preserve the tradition of the Huntington Lake and Big Creek Hydroelectric System.
"Without natural resources life itself is impossible. From birth to death, natural resources, transformed for human use, feed, clothe, shelter and transport us. Upon them we depend for every material necessity, comfort, convenience and protection in our lives. Without abundant resources prosperity is out of reach." Gifford Pinchot
Huntington Lake Big Creek Historical Conservancy
PO Box 232
Lakeshore, CA 93634
559.347.0402
email: webmaster@huntingtonhistorical.org
Last update March 3, 2009
The articles and photographs on these pages may not be reposted or reused for any purpose without the written permission of HLBCHC. Copyright 2004-2009, Huntington Lake Big Creek Historical Conservancy.
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