In the early 1900s there was a new battle as to who would gain control of Eagle Lake to tap it via a tunnel to irrigate the Honey Lake Valley. To be quite honest, attorneys benefited the most. While sifting through the archives, during a very cold and dry January, I came across a most unusual 1906 report about how the Lassen Willow Creek Water Company and its plans to exploit Eagle Lake. More about that in a future post. However, there was a certain aspect about water diversions that were never made public. If you happened to be named Martin, this story will particularly appeal to you.

In 1905, the Lassen Willow Creek Water Company was formed and unlike their predecessors they viewed Eagle Lake as a reservoir. In the fall of 1906, the company consulted with San Francisco Civil Engineer, Marsden Manson, who was involved with Hetch Hetchy. In Manson’s report of October 29, 1906 he wrote that to permanently increase the flow into Eagle Lake it would be necessary to divert portions of the headwaters of Susan River into Pine Creek. It was his opinion the run off of the Susan River is wasted flowing into Honey Lake. It would cost less than $10,000 to construct the diversion canal. Manson’s report was never made public, the water users of Susan River would never allow it.* Of course, this never materialized and by this time the Lassen Willow Creek Water Company was on the verge of imploding.

Support

*Thanks go to Hardin “Finn” Barry and his daughter, Betty Barry Deal for preserving this document, and so much more.