On July 6, 1914, the Lassen County Board of Supervisors approved John S. Spalding’s subdivision for the Town of Spalding, on the west side of Eagle Lake. It was Spalding’s intent to develop a summer resort. The Susanville newspapers had extolled wonderful praise for the project.

Yet, momentum was difficult. First, there was competition of other developments taking place—the volcanic eruptions of Lassen Peak, the construction of Lake Almanor and the newly built company town of Westwood. Yet, one of Spalding’s biggest obstacles was access, or in this case, lack thereof. Even since 1900, considerable pressure was applied to the Lassen County Board of Supervisors to make road improvements to Eagle Lake, though very little materialized. The resort town was a failure. Only one lot was sold, of note it was a purchase by a retired Lassen County school teacher, Asa M. Fairfield.

In September 1924 the Spalding family petitioned the Lassen County Superior Court to dissolve the townsite and was granted.

This is a portal midway through Bly Tunnel near Eagle Lake. The fenced off enclosure is easily seen from the road going up to the Eagle Lake Youth Camp. There are still numerous ditches, cement diversions of the canal system, extending all the way to the Sunnyside District near Janesville to past Wendel in another direction from the failed Tule & Baxter Creek Irrigation District’s Bly Tunnel project.

Subscribe

Last summer I had good intentions to visit various sites to take photographs of what they look like today. The Eagle Lake Golf Course of the late 1920s was one of them, but I never made it. However, the Whaleback Fire did hinder some expeditions. John “Burt” Christie, one of the early operaters of the Eagle Lake Resort, was an interesting figure at the lake’s south shore. Besides the resort, he eventually became the caretaker of Gallatin House and the Gallatin properties at the lake. Continue reading The Eagle Lake Golf Course →

Eagle’s Nest is located in a small cove on the east side of the lake, about three miles north of Gallatin House. In 1956, the Lassen National Forest opened a small subdivision for summer home development. There are forty-two lots with long term leases with the forest service. In September 1956 the forest service held a random draw as the selection process to allocate the lots, as they had received 226 applications.

Donate

With the winter solstice upon us, I have been looking back when the days were longer and warmer. On an excursion to the east side of Eagle Lake provides for an interesting setting of the geology of Eagle Lake. This, of course, I am indebted to Michael Clynne of U.S.G.S who enlightened me. Continue reading Eagle Lake Geology 1.0 →

Located at the southwest corner of the lake, was an informal campground known as the Circus Grounds. During the early 1920s the big three lumber companies held a summer water carnival at Sunkist Lodge. The event drew thousands and this location became the overflow for campers. In the early 1960s, the forest service developed three campgrounds at the south shore—Aspen Grove, Eagle and Merrill. While the Circus Grounds, located on forest service property, was allowed to continue on, it having been a popular spot with the locals since the 1920s. By the 1970s, the writing was on the wall so to speak, and forest service converted the site as today’s Christie Campground.

Subscribe

In 1928, the Tule & Baxter Creek Irrigation Districts brought in yet another engineer to examine the Bly Tunnel, with a special emphasis on the inlet channel. Of course, they did like what they were told that it would take at least $100,000 to fix the problem, and it might only extend the life of the project by ten years. The Districts continued on with annual blasting through solid rock to deepen the channel. This exercise in futility finally ended in 1935 when they conceded.

Should you ever have the opportunity, it is well worth the visit to see the inlet channel. While I took this photograph August 9, 2018, it does not do it justice of the solid rock encountered. It also means, I either need a better camera, improve my photography skills or both!

Donate

Since it is December, I am busy filing and/or cataloging items in anticipation for a fresh start with a new year approaching. I came across the above photograph on an old trip to Tunnel Works No. 2 of the Eagle Lake Land & Irrigation Company. While the short-lived company only existed from 1891-1894, it did accomplish a lot.  While they knew it would take a very long time to complete the tunnel that Merrill had begun a decade earlier, they had a vision to provide necessary funds. They installed a pumping plant to pump water out of the lake, and sent water to the east side of the Honey Lake Valley. Thus, they were able to sell water for the 1893 irrigation season, while work continued on the tunnel. However, by the fall of 1893 with nation’s financial panic in full force, they were unable to sustain operations and went bankrupt.

Donate