Names of places changed quickly when the gold seekers rushed into Honey Lake Valley. This stream was a prime example. It was first called Commanche Creek, then Irishman’s Creek, and, in 1860, became known as Lakes Creek. Sometime in the early 1860s, it finally became Baxter Creek named for John Baxter (1812-1880), a native of Dundee, Scotland, who came to California in 1849 and to Honey Lake Valley in 1857. Baxter located along the lower end of the creek, about a mile east of Buntingville. On May 27, 1867, Baxter sold his place to Bartlett and Hayden and moved to Janesville.
In 1911, Baxter Creek came to the forefront when the Baxter Creek Irrigation Company was formed. The company intended to construct a dam, just a short distance east of where Highway 395 crosses the stream. For distribution there would two canals one along Sunnyside for fifteen miles heading towards Standish, and other on the south side, also fifteen miles heading towards Milford. In essence it was a paper company, and never materialized.
On February 8, 1917, the Baxter Creek Irrigation District was created, a public district, not private entity. While similar in scope of the irrigation company, the district proposed comprised of 9700 acres. When they went to secure a bond measure, the State Engineer’s Office intervened, citing the district’s main water supply was insufficient.
The neighboring Tule Irrigation District was encountering a similar problem to secure bonds for Leon Bly’s Eagle Lake irrigation system. A solution was found where the two districts agreed to pro-rate the costs and secure the bonds for Bly’s irrigation system.
Bly’s project ultimately failed, and in 1952 the Baxter Creek Irrigation District was dissolved.
