RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Historian
Enjoying the summer of 1910 in the San Bernardino Mountains was fun for the tourists, but change was about to occur on the mountaintop.
The incline rail system that had been built in 1906 to bring up the cement for the Arrowhead Reservoir and Power Company’s dam project was never functional due to a construction error and had been abandoned. The Incline Post Office at the railway’s crest was renamed the Skyland Heights Post Office in April 1910 to reflect its location at the Skyland Inn Resort. The resort also secured a new water source, as did the Squirrel Inn that year.
One of the tent cabins at Pinecrest for the campers.
In May 1910, Arrowhead Reservoir and Power Company (ARPC) financial supporter James Mooney sent his secretary, C.A. Gordon, out from Cincinnati as Walter Hy Brown arrived with his lawyers and witnesses to complete a transfer of management from Brown to repair the cracks found in the earth-filled dam. Those cracks created a major economic concern for Mooney.
Contractor Drew’s contract and all his equipment were purchased for $50,000 and Brown was freed from future penalties for lack of completion. F. E. Trask was appointed new chief engineer for the Arrowhead Reservoir and Power Company.
After a complete inspection, the ARPC determined the “temperature cracks will not vitally affect the integrity of the wall.” Another new foreman, W. J. Blair, was selected by ARPC to continue the dam work and workmen finally began to arrive by way of the Lyman Stage Company by July. James Mooney arrived from Ohio to oversee the over-budget and decades old water project.
The San Bernardino Sun newspaper wrote on Aug. 3, 1910, “Load after load of long, twisted steel rods are being hauled up the Arrowhead Grade and taken into Little Bear Valley to be used in reinforcing of the dam for the irrigation reservoir being constructed there. A curtain wall is to be carried … beyond the point where the cracks developed, clear across the lower side of the core wall toward either end, and as deep as excavation shall develop to be necessary.”
The amount of water around the water outlet tower in the Arrowhead Lake reservoir in 1910.
Since the Rim of the World Road was now open to buggy and stage traffic, more vacationers came to the mountains that summer. New cabins were being built along the rim of Horseshoe Bend with a glorious view of the valley and to the ocean 100 miles away. The fishing was excellent all summer.
Summer vacationers at the Squirrel Inn included the families of Mrs. Thaddeus Lowe, Arthur Halsted, Miss Margaret Smith, Rosalind Fleming, Perry Jones and the Al Frantz family.
The Baylis family arrived in June to set up the Pinecrest Resort for the public. During the Fourth of July festivities, the Milton Vale Orchestra played in the Pinecrest Pavilion’s octagonal dance hall. Many vacationers stayed at Pinecrest that summer, including San Bernardino City Engineer Sloane and George Cooley. The Robinson family stayed in Pinecrest’s Cliffhouse and Mrs. George Young stayed in Cabin 77 all summer. A “quasi-grocery store” opened across from Pinecrest’s gates to serve all the guests. Pinecrest had to quickly erect tent cabins to house the overflow of campers that summer.
The Jeff Daley family was camped under two huge oak trees nearby at Strawberry Flat and the Baca family was camped next to Lower Strawberry Stream. Camp Blue Jay had hundreds of campers, fishermen and others filling the camp and buying at the store all summer long. Fred Heap opened his ranch house for guests and led them into the forest on hunting trips.
Leotine (Mrs. Thaddeus) Lowe had their Hi-Lowe Ranch in Twin Peaks in 1910. Thaddeus was a famous inventor, aeronaut/balloonist during the civil war and the creator of the 1890s Mount Lowe incline railway above Pasadena in the San Gabriel Mountains.
This was a great summer for resident-entertainer Professor “Uncle Billy” Stephen, who played his concertina as he toured the many summer resorts and camps, writing glowing articles for the Index newspaper in the valley, inspiring even more visitors to visit the mountains. He was camped under a giant sugar pine tree near the Huston Road, choosing to needle the Arrowhead Reservoir and Power Company because of all the debris it left when cutting trees for power transmission lines. He continued to chide them in print, week after week, as the ARPC apparently were ignoring the ugly situation.
Finally, in August, an ARPC construction crew arrived and cleared some of the debris from the Incline to the dam, and invited anyone to come take fuel wood for the forthcoming winter. Crews from Pinecrest and the Squirrel Inn took advantage of the offer, and the Henry Guernsey Sawmill processed salvageable leftover wood. However, debris still remained and was drying out, creating a possible future fire hazard.
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