By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Historian
They say April showers bring May flowers, reflecting the fact that April is the month of seasonal change. Historically up here, April often witnessed new projects beginning, as the snows of winter diminished and the flowers began to bloom. The 20th century brought more people up to the mountains.
In April 1905, a big push began in the construction of the Little Bear Dam (which created Lake Arrowhead) that had begun in 1891. Cement hauling for the dam’s cement core was stepped up. About 400 tons of new machinery was hauled up the mountain by oxen, including two narrow gauge locomotives, 45 dump cars and four miles of tracks, plus two steam shovels and a steam hammer. To complete the dam in a projected three years, 150 men were hired.
On April 28, 1909, Dr. John Baylis, who was just opening the Pine Crest Resort, loaded the county supervisors into automobiles and drove them up the mountain roads to convince them that autos, which until then were banned, should be allowed on the Arrowhead Road. Unfortunately, as April weather often is, it was foggy, forcing Baylis to eloquently describe the views over the rim to them. The supervisors changed their minds, opening county roads three days a week to autos, beginning the auto age on the mountain.
On April 4, 1910, the Incline Post Office’s name was changed to Skyland Heights. This name change acknowledged that the Incline Railway was defunct and the Skyland Inn resort was the community center for the mountain’s west end.
The Little Bear Lake Post Office opened in 1917 but, when J. B. Van Nuys’ Arrowhead Lake Company bought the fishing village and lake from the James Mooney estate, it desired a upgraded image. The first proposed name for the post office was Sagital, the Latin word for Arrow. The Lake Arrowhead post office officially opened April 29, 1922, legally naming Lake Arrowhead.
Frank Nardi opened the Cedarpines Park Post Office on April 29, 1927. Nardi owned the general store in the five-year-old Cedar Pines Park subdivision developed by Patterson and Dillon. The Postmaster General had accepted the post office name as two words only, “Cedarpines Park,” causing confusion ever since. Decades later the CPP Post Office was moved to a small cabin on Nardi Lane (its current location) about 100 yards away. Since 1985, the post office has been a branch of the Crestline post office, but has retained its 92322 zip code.
In April 1928, Dale Gentry and Ralph Swing took Fish and Game commissioners to choose locations for fish hatcheries, since the streams were being fished out. They needed to be restocked with trout, resulting in several hatcheries being established in the mountains.
During the 1920s, usually in April, after most of the snow had melted, the dirt roads would have a new layer of oil spread upon them for better traction and dust control.
Rim Of the World High Gear Road with a white line
Surveying for the High Gear Road began in April 1925. Five years later, on April 2, 1930, Grace Williams, a Lake Arrowhead Women’s Club member, wrote to Highway Superintendent E. Q. Sullivan requesting that a white line be painted down the center of the completed asphalt sections of the High Gear Road to make it easier to drive on in the fog. By July 4, a line was painted, just in time for summer tourists.
An April Fools’ Day joke was pulled off in Sky Forest in 1950. The residents tied thousands of oranges to the cedar and pine trees along Rim Highway and sent photos and news releases to all the radio stations. The San Bernardino Sun and Los Angeles Times picked up the story, sending Associated Press (AP) and United Press (UP) photographers to document the strange and unusual phenomenon. It was designated the “neatest April Fools’ Day gag” in the nation, receiving a positive reaction, which led to more tourists visiting the mountains that spring and summer.
The beautiful daffodil gardens of the Bauers in Running Springs
April 2009 was the last year that Gene and Dale Bauer opened their five-acre daffodil garden in Smiley Park to the public. After 50 years of “painting the hillside with flowers,” the Bauers decided to relax and not plant the 50,000-plus bulbs that were required to maintain the exquisite garden.
A Snow Valley ad in 1957
In April 2023, residents on the mountain were just beginning to recover from Snowmaggeddon, which snowed in many residents for two to three weeks with six to 10 feet of snow in March. After 85 ski seasons, Snow Valley Ski Resort, which had been owned by W.R. Sauey for 52 years since 1971, closed on April 16 and was sold to Alterra Mountain Company.
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