In 1882, Julius M. Howells, a civil engineer for Agassiz & Shaw, was hired to study the geological features of the Feather River country. The region left a lasting impression on him. First, there was the abundant watershed found at Big Meadows (now Lake Almanor). Then there was the dramatic elevation once the Feather River left that basin, descending some 4,350 feet in a distance of some seventy miles. Two years later, Howells left the region to work on other projects.
In the 1890s hydroelectric power was coming to the forefront. In 1895 his brother-in-law, J.J. Seymour, was a co-founder of the San Joaquin Electric Company in Fresno. In 1899 Howells accepted the position of consulting engineer for that power company to construct the Crane Valley Dam.
In 1901, in Los Angeles, Howells affiliated himself with noted engineer James Dix Schuyler. In November, Howells returned to Big Meadows to compile facts and figures for the potential development of a hydroelectric system utilizing the Feather River. Upon his return, with data in hand, Schuyler arranged a meeting between Howells and Edwin T. Earl—the latter had done very well in the citrus packing industry and was branching out into other endeavors.
Earl consulted with his brother, Guy C. Earl, an Oakland attorney. They concluded that Howells’ venture was worth pursuing. It was deemed that secrecy was the order of the day, so as not to alert the competition, as Plumas County resident George Cornell had a similar proposition in the works, but lacked financial capital.
Fast forward to the spring of 1913, after numerous hurdles and one failed dam attempt, Julius Howells went to work for the Earl Brothers who had formed the Great Western Power Company. By the summer of 1913 work was in full progress and the newly constructed reservoir known as Lake Almanor was completed in the summer of 1914.
Due to financial issues the original proposed dam was scaled back by half. In December 1924, Great Western Power announced its intention to raise the dam by forty-five feet. Julius Howells was brought back as consulting engineer.
In December 1926, the raising of the dam was complete. On April 22, 1927, Julius Meriam Howells passed away in San Francisco.