Shaver Lake (Shaver lake, Musick Mountain) (37.12597°N 119.29075°W)
Shaver Trail-7,362' (Huntington Lake) (37.1710569, -119.2134548)
Shaver Lake Point-5,417' (Musick Mountain) (37.1371690, -119.3051253)
Description:
C. B. Shaver, Michigan lumberman, of the Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company,
which built a sawmill and reservoir in the early ’90s in what was
originally known as Stevenson Basin and Meadows. The property is now
owned by the Southern California Edison Company, which will use the enlarged
reservoir for its water-power system. (L. A. Winchell.)
From Place Names of the High Sierra (1926) by Francis P. Farquhar
Donkey engines , carwheels and track rails and a small locomotive were freighted up the mountains for the plant construction notably of the Fresno Flume and Lumber Company for its lumbering enterprise in the region about the dammed artificial Shaver Lake , and later as far back in the timber forests as Dinkey Creek . From History of Fresno County, California, With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present by Paul E. Vandor, Historic Record Company, pg 100
It was in 1892 that the F. F. & I. Company commenced damming of Stephenson Creek to create Shaver Lake , and to build the flume to Clovis , and the next year it was in operation , cutting more timber and bringing out more lumber seasonally than all mills combined , with possible exception of the Herman Peterson mill run by a stock company and formerly the Smyth & McCardle mill . The Fresno railroaded logs from the forest . From History of Fresno County, California, With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present by Paul E. Vandor, Historic Record Company, pg 159
Evidences of the new blood are to be seen also in the many changes in the Pine Ridge mountain region , once monopolized by the saw mills . Apple and fruit orchards and berry and vegetable patches now mark the meadows and plateaus ; there's Ockenden , popular mountain resort ; Shaver , the lumber mill village with its Sulphur Meadow as a favorite summer camping ground , and beyond it on lake the headquarters of the Shaver Lake Fishing Club , unique organization of trout anglers . From History of Fresno County, California, With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present by Paul E. Vandor, Historic Record Company, pg 257
During the week of June 8-14 , 1919 , the announcement was made of the close of the deal , under a renewal of option that had expired in January , for the purchase of the Shaver Lake milling and timber property in the Sierras , by the Southern California Edison Company , as an electric power generating project , from the Fresno Lumber and Irrigation Company which , with the deaths of C. B. Shaver and Harvey W. Swift , had undergone several stock ownership changes and was in the market for sale after the last absorption by a syndicate of Michigan lumbermen . At the time of the last sale the mill property had been inoperative since the season of 1914. .... Confirmation of the deal was given June 18th by the filing of incorporation papers by the Shaver Lake Lumber Company . It took over the interests of the Fresno Lumber Company and its virgin timber lands in the Dinkey Creek district , capitalized for $ 1,200,000 , in 1,200 shares , the incorporators holding for the electric company being Southern Californians . The sale involved 30,000 acres of land and the milling plant at Shaver Lake . The sale was said to have been for $ 2,000,000 . The project is to develop an $ 8,000,000 electric- power generating - plant to supply Los Angeles with cheaper power , and as an adjunct , the enlargement of the Big Creek - Lake Huntington plant , and making of the combined units the largest power - generating enterprise in Central California . The outlined plans involve a notable enlargement of Shaver Lake by means of a dam 215 feet high , for the conservation of water , considerable land to be submerged , and the enterprise to vie with nature itself to change the aspect of the Shaver Lake vicinity , in the creation of a new fish- ing and scenic region , with twenty - one miles of railroad to the lake for construction material and transportation from Auberry . The forty - five miles of flume for floating lumber to the yards at Clovis will be abandoned , the Shaver Lake plant and another , a few miles further back in the Sierras at Big Creek and Huntington Lake , ultimately serving to supplant the steam- operated plants . ... Popular disapproval followed the policy announced by the Edison Company , to exclude campers and fishermen from the territory surrounding Shaver Lake , and to close it as a public resort and playground , a privilege that the people of the county had enjoyed for a quarter of a century under the regime of the former owners of the mill property . The supervisors and other public bodies took measures to combat this policy and secure a continuance of the privilege in an exchange of concessions , the Edison Company being desirous of diverting the water from Pitman Creek by means of a tunnel across the ridge from Shaver , to the lake , to make the latter a larger water- impounding body for the operation of its power - generating plant . From History of Fresno County, California, With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present by Paul E. Vandor, Historic Record Company, pg 465
CB Shaver was the brother-in-law to Harvery W Swift. From History of Fresno County, California, With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present by Paul E. Vandor, Historic Record Company, pg659
Abot Lewis P Swift: Arriving in Fresno , Cal . , February 5 , 1893 , Mr. Swift erected a sawmill in the mountains , sixty miles northeast of Fresno , with Charles B. Shaver as partner , this being the eighth mill Mr. Swift had erected ; it was called the Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company , and Mr. Swift brought thirty families from the East , the men to work in the mill and lumber yards , many of them having worked for him in eastern cities . The town of Shaver was established on this spot , Mr. Swift became known as the father of the town , and erected a school , dwellings , a general store , and other necessary buildings for a growing community . It took two years to complete the mill in the mountains and there abundant timber of sugar and white pine was found . Oxen were used at first to haul the logs , next electric power was installed , and now railroad locomotives and cars , tugboats and booms are used . The capacity of the mill is about 40,000,000 feet of lumber annually and during the time when Mr. Swift had charge of the immense plant there were more than 500 men employed in the mill and timber during the busy season . When the town was first established and a postoffice asked for some of the men who had been with Mr. Swift for years wanted him to have it called Swift , but his innate modesty forbade it , although he was prevailed upon to write to Washington , D. C. , but was informed there were other names of Swift and it could not be allowed , so it was called Shaver , in honor of his partner . From History of Fresno County, California, With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present by Paul E. Vandor, Historic Record Company, pg740
Trips:
- January 9, 2022 - Rachel, Steven, Korra, Sherri and Gary snowshoe off of Dinkey Creek Road to Shaver Lake.
- March 8, 2024 - Steven, Korra, Sherri and Gary snowshoe Nivens Penisula to Shaver Lake
References:
Pictures:
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