Big Bear Lake - History

History

The region now known as Big Bear Lake was populated by the indigenous Serrano Indian tribe for approximately 2,500 years. They referred to the territory as "Yuhaviat" which translates into "Pine Place". They inhabited small villages of 10 to 30 round buildings located along fresh water sources and subsisted on berries, nuts, tubers, acorns, and plentiful game harvested along the lush valley. The Serrano looked at the native grizzly bears as ancestors and did not eat the meat or wear the fur of these massive animals. Several contemporary communities in the area feature place names reflecting the Big Bear region's rich Native history. These include Yucaipa, Cucamonga, and Muscupiabe.

The Big Bear Lake area was first discovered by American explorers when an Indian-hunting party was formed by Benjamin Wilson. Wilson moved to California during the days of Mexican territorial Alta California. He married into the Spanish landholder family, the Yorbas, and bought a portion of Rancho Jurupa (Riverside) from Juan Bandini. He became a local rancher statesman of great repute.

Wilson had signed on as Justice of the Peace of the Inland Territory and was commissioned by the territorial authorities to locate and pursue Native Americans suspected of raiding ranches in nearby Riverside. This group, led by the fierce Chief Walkara, drove the herd into the Lucerne Valley on the north side of the San Bernardinos. Wilson gathered a posse of 44 men, 22 of whom he sent through the Cajon Pass while he engineered a pincer movement with the other 22 men into the headwaters of the Santa Ana River, effectively cutting the Utes off at the other end of Lucerne.

On the trip Wilson came upon a broad watershed teeming with wildlife, particularly bear. His posse immediately became a hunting party where the men were split into 11 pairs, each pair bringing back a bear hide. Wilson dubbed the grassy expanse "Bear Valley" and one of the nearby shallow seasonal marshes "Big Bear Lake". This same ephemeral feature is today called Baldwin Lake after Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin of Rancho Santa Anita fame, who bought the nearby Gold Mountain Mine that was renamed for him in 1876. On Wilson's return trip (the posse had presumably lost interest in tracking renegade Indians), the party took 11 more bear pelts.

In 1859, the newly discovered valley became a venue for gold prospectors. Mr. William F. Holcomb, a prospector from Indiana, moved to Los Angeles from the Northern California mines where he heard about the prospecting at Big Bear. He moved to Starvation Flats, where he had little luck the first winter. Because of his marksmanship, he was hired by several of the other miners to hunt bear for meat. With his Indian companion, Holcomb tracked, shot and wounded a grizzly bear one ridge north of Bear Valley. There he noticed a vein of quartz flecked with gold. When this discovery was revealed, the Southern California gold rush was on, and Holcomb Valley quickly became the largest populated area in San Bernardino County.

In 1884 marshy, nearly flat Bear Valley was dammed with a single arch granite impoundment, which held back some 25,000 acre feet (31,000,000 m3) of water for irrigation purposes in the Redlands area. In 1912 a 72 foot (22 m) multiple arch dam was constructed about 300 feet (91 m) downstream of the old dam and increased the lake capacity to 73,000 acre feet (90,000,000 m3). A highway bridge (18) was built over the arches of the old dam, which still stands under water. Elevation at the surface is 6,750 feet (2,060 m), but this level fluctuates according to annual snowmelt and runoff. The dams are part of the Big Bear Municipal Water District.

The unregulated hunting of grizzly bear in the San Bernardinos took a heavy toll upon the once significant native population, and Ursus californicus was extirpated locally by 1906.

Logging in the San Bernardino Mountains was once done on a large scale, with the Brookings Lumber Company operation the largest. It operated on 8,000 acres (32 km2) between Fredalba and Hunsaker Flats (present-day Running Springs), and extending northward to Heap's Ranch and Lightningdale (near Green Valley Lake) between 1899 and 1912. It built a logging railroad to bring logs to the mill at Fredalba. The Shay locomotives had to be disassembled and hauled by wagon up the mountain, since the railroad operated in the high country but did not connect to other railroads in the lowlands. About 60% of the finished lumber was hauled by wagon down the steep grades to the Molino box factory in Highland, CA, which made packing crates for the citrus grown in the area. The remaining 40% went to the company's retail lumber yard in San Bernardino. In 1912, the company dismantled the Fredalba sawmill and moved much of the machinery to Brookings, Oregon.

Tourism began with the onset of the automobile and the eventual establishment of highways accessing the seemingly remote area. Hollywood soon discovered Big Bear, and several movies, particularly westerns, have been filmed in the region.