By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Editor
What is now known as Lake Arrowhead was once called Little Bear Lake. But how did this lake come about?
That was the topic of historian Russ Keller’s second in a series of history talks at the Lake Arrowhead branch library. Those talks are sponsored by the Lake Arrowhead New Friends of the Library.
The story begins, Keller said, with the dam at Big Bear Lake. That dam was constructed as Frank Brown, the founder of Redlands, thought if they could get water there, the town would bloom. Construction began in 1883 and was completed the next year.
A San Bernardino city engineer thought it was a great idea and wondered if he could do that same thing. The only problem was he had no money. In the late 1880s he went to Cincinnati and convinced some millionaires to contribute to a fund to create Little Bear Lake. The Arrowhead Reservoir Company was formed by James M. Gamble, Adolph Wood and James Edmund Mooney (who was most responsible for what would later become Lake Arrowhead).
Their plan was to build a series of lakes connected by tunnels. One tunnel – between what is now Lake Arrowhead and Grass Valley Lake – still exists. Remnants of other tunnels have been found.
Their project got started around 1890; the dam was to be built in the same style as the Big Bear dam: granite blocks stacked in a semi-circle.
Wood was killed in a buckboard accident. The investors began to wonder when they would get a return on their investment. Mooney came to California to get the project moving – and he did.
However, in 1902 homeowners on the Mojave realized the Arrowhead Reservoir Company would dam up all the water that came to them naturally and sell it to San Bernardino. They brought litigation; under English law, the water belongs to the people on the banks of where the water flows. It didn’t flow to San Bernardino.
In 1904 Mooney was gold the original design of the dam would not work as the bed rock would not support the blocks. He had to change to a reinforced concrete core wall with earth filled in on either side.
The Arrowhead Reservoir Company took ownership of the Old Waterman trail and enhanced it. They put toll gates at the top and bottom. That did not sit well with the people who had been using it for free and now had to pay. They kept burning down the toll gates, creating more trouble for Mooney.
When the design for the dam changed, Mooney thought he would replicate the incline he owned in Cincinnati to deliver the concrete up the mountain. They started construction on the incline in 1906 but had to abandon it in 1907 as the hillside was too steep and the concrete was too heavy.
Keller said the upper terminus of the abandoned incline can be seen in the Skyland section of Crestline.
In 1905 Mooney formed the Arrowhead Reservoir and Power Co. Keller was able to procure an original stock certificate and researched who the original officers were.
Mooney was a very successful businessman, owning the largest tannery in the world, a coffin manufacturing company, lumber yards, railroads, gas companies, banks, electric companies. All told, he owned 40 to 50 businesses in his lifetime.
Mooney’s relatives contacted Keller, asking why there was no monument to him on the mountain. Keller talked to the owners of Lake Arrowhead Village and looked for a spot to put a monument. Keller designed a plaque, which the Rim of the World Historical Society was going to pay for. However, the relatives would have to get financing for the monument itself. They balked at that, saying everyone who lives in Lake Arrowhead is a millionaire – why should they have to pay for it. No monument was ever erected for Mooney.
In 1913 a decision was rendered on the Mojave suit in favor of the landowners on the Mojave. Not one drop of water could be taken from Little Bear Lake and sent to San Bernardino. That did not deter Mooney. He then envisioned a recreational lake, which it became.
Mooney had a resort built on the shores of the lake in 1919. It had a pavilion, a lunchroom, 26 rental cabins and boats for rent. Little Bear Resort flourished.
In 1919, at the age of 87, Mooney died from the flu – an epidemic that killed 50 million people worldwide. He never married, had no children. His estate was monumental but his nieces and nephews wanted nothing to do with this property in California. The entire holdings of the Arrowhead Reservoir Company went on the market
Next month, on March 20 at 2 p.m., Keller will talk about Lake Arrowhead.
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