By 1889, there was a dam building craze, like the region has never seen before or after. The Union Land & Stock Company proposed five reservoirs for the Madeline Plains. On the Susan River three dams were proposed, two were built—Hog Flat and McCoy Flat. There was the proposed Lake Greeno on Long Valley Creek and Skedaddle Dam on Skedaddle Creek. In addition, the tapping of Eagle Lake was still a work in progress.
In 1889, the Balls Canyon Reservoir Company was formed to build a dam on Secret Creek where it enters the Honey Lake Valley, about five miles west of Litchfield. The company employed surveyor, Frank Gates Ward (1857-1895), to survey a dam and reservoir site. In 1889-90, the first reservoir was constructed. In February 1890, a flood washed out that dam. As one observer noted, the waters of Secret Creek began rising at a rate of two feet an hour and within three hours the 27 foot high structure, that measured 150 feet in length, was swept away. The company planned to rebuild but never did. In 1895, Edward T. Purser took over the project and a new reservoir was constructed, along with a twenty-mile ditch to his property near Wendel.