In the 1800s and early 1900s there were a lot of dreamers and schemers whose desire to transform the sagebrush lands of eastern Honey Lake Valley into productive farm lands. It first began with Capt. Charles A. Merrill, who in 1878, proposed to use water from Honey Lake to irrigate the same. It should be noted that this is the same Merrill who worked relentlessly for twenty-five years to tap Eagle Lake for irrigation of the Honey Lake Valley. By 1891, there were so many reclamation projects underway, it was remarked that the Eagle Lake water would not be needed for irrigation, but it could be used to keep Honey Lake full for the pleasure of the members of the Amedee Yacht Club, among others.
In 1910, the Standish Water Company built a pumping plant on the east shore of Honey Lake that they believed would transform the region into a major sugar beet production. It went bust. Then, in 1916, the Honey Lake Valley Irrigation District thought that they had a viable plan to tap Eagle Lake that went nowhere. Last, but not least was the Southern Irrigation District that was to transform the region with water from the Little Truckee River. By the 1920s, after so many failed attempts for reclamation the entrepreneurs gave up.