The Honey Lake Valley Irrigation District was an interesting creature, and one of many entities to reclaim the lands on the east side of Honey Lake. It was one of the last organizations to do so after others had tried for thirty years.
The district, like its predecessors, was faced with one gigantic problem, water. By 1916, when the district was formed, nearly all the water in the region had been claimed. After all the district claimed water from as a far away as Butte Lake, in Lassen Volcanic National Park to be diverted to Poison Lake, then a channel to Pine Creek, to Eagle Lake and so forth.
In addition, they examined one of the closets sources to them, Skedaddle Creek. The district’s engineer, William Wales, noted that even though the drainage covered a relatively small area, it would be imperative to rebuild the original dam that had washed out some twenty years prior, not just as a water source, but to prevent flooding. Wales estimated that the reservoir would cover some 231 acres and hold on the average 5,000 acre feet of water. Wales recommended a new dam be constructed of concrete, at an estimated cost of $63,631. This district, since its inception, was plagued with financial and legal problems and none of their projects materialized.