This being Memorial Day Weekend, it only seemed fitting for an Eagle Lake topic, since there is a lot of activity around the lake that weekend.

Leon Bly spent five years to put together a project to tap Eagle Lake to irrigate land in Honey Lake Valley. He had a lot of obstacles to contend with. First there was the initial study of lake to see if it was feasible. Then he had to convince the farmers of the Honey Lake Valley that it was indeed worthy. This was not an easy task since there had been attempts to tap the lake since 1875. Then public irrigation districts had to be formed to be able to put together a $1.25 million bond measure to finance it. Then there was all the detail work to obtain rights-of-way for the necessary canals and ditches, that would also have to be surveyed. One would of thought when the initial work began in the fall of 1921, there would be some kind of celebration, but it started off quietly with no fanfare.

Tim

1935 was a pivotal year for the Tule & Baxter Creek Irrigation Districts concerning the Bly Tunnel. Not only had they exhausted what limited funds on the annual extension of the inlet, but the level of the lake continued to go lower. The district’s engineer, Harry S. Riddell came up with last minute plan.

In 1932, President Herbert Hoover’s administration established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). This agency was designed to facilitate economic recovery during the Great Depression.  In 1935, Riddell, submitted an application on behalf of the districts for $1,465,000.

Riddell’s plan was two-fold. The bulk of the loan would be used to reach a settlement with the bondholders for fifty cents on the dollar.  The second portion was to get the irrigation system in operation.  Instead of proceeding with the costly work of continual digging to extend the intake channel, he proposed a pumping plant. Riddell estimated the cost of a plant at $45,000.

The application to the RFC was denied. With no solution at hand, Riddell resigned and moved to Sacramento. In the 1940s, W. Coburn Cook resurrected the project, but that is another story.

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With all the effort put in during 1928 with work on the Bly Tunnel inlet, it did not make that much difference during the 1929 irrigation season. As a matter of fact to make things worse the districts doubled their rates for water from $2 to $4 per acre-foot.

For the next few years, the districts hired C.F. Staheli, a contractor to deepen the cuts and extend the inlet. It was an exercise in futility.  Compounding matters was the lake in 1932, had dropped twenty-four feet since the tunnel had opened. Another tragic part of the story, the system was designed to irrigate 25,000 acres, when in reality in a good year only provided water for 5,000 acres. At the conclusion of 1934, that the project be abandoned. However, the districts engineer Harry Riddell came up with a last ditch effort to salvage the operation and account on that next week.

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Last week on ongoing  Eagle Lake’s Bly Tunnel saga of 1928, the Tule and Baxter Creek Irrigation Districts needed to raise some $50,000 to correct the defective inlet as suggested by  the consultation with Engineer Wise. On August 12, 1928 a special meeting of the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce was held for the sole purpose to devise ways and means obtaining money urgently needed by the irrigation districts. It was important to have the work done as quickly possible to assure that water would be available for next year’s crops. Chamber President A.J. Mathews stressed without the water there would be a loss of some $60,000 in crops and some 3,000 acres would be fallow. Mathews continued it was a vital interest to every taxpayer in Lassen County. Without the water, these land would be abandoned, thus a loss on tax roll. The ripple effect the county would probably have raise taxes elsewhere to make up for the deficit.  It was decided to have a subscription drive to raise the funds, in the similar manner how the community did to attract the Fruit Growers Supply Company to locate its sawmill in Susanville.

After delays, work commenced on the Bly tunnel on October 15, 1928, when the assembled  supplies, equipment and work force were in place. Dynamite blasting was the first priority. Work progressed better than anticipated, especially with the weather cooperating. By Christmas the work was completed and under budget, too.

Next Week: The water quality issue.

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Desperate times, calls for desperate measures. This was the predicament the Tule and Baxter Creek Irrigation Districts were dealing with in 1928, with the problems associated with the Bly Tunnel at Eagle Lake. What had transpired was when Leon Bly contracted with Grant Smith Company the inlet was to be eight to nine feet below the lake surface. That company encountered solid rock and only did three below the surface, thus not an adequate supply of water.

On the first go around the districts hired a contractor to correct the problem by lowering the inlet by five feet, but the contractor failed to do so.

In the summer of 1928 the districts consulted with Alex Wise, the superintendent of the three largest mines at Virginia City, Nevada. Wise agreed to examine the Bly Tunnel, and was sympathetic about the district’s plight and waived his standard $200 a day fee, but asked the districts to pay for his travel expenses.

Wise said it was feasible to lower the intake by ten feet. He estimated the cost at $35,000. Before the work could move forward the districts and the bondholders would have to agree and on top of that figure out how to finance it.

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