By Ken Brafman, Image from the ROWHS Collection

TITLE: PAPOOSE LAKE SAVED THE DAY: One of the questions we regularly get at the Mountain History Museum is regarding the small lake across from the marina on Highway 173, on the way to Mountains Community Hospital. Visitors to the museum are puzzled, as it seems like a very pretty spot, but there’s nothing there. No recreational facilities. The story of Papoose Lake begins with the Sylmar earthquake in 1971, which had the potential to cause loss of life and heavy property damage. Following this near disaster it was discovered that that the dam was hydraulic-filled, and that such dams could be subject to failure in the event of a strong earthquake. Main construction of the dam which would eventually produce Lake Arrowhead took place between 1895-1915 and the original plan was for a rock, or masonry, dam like the Big Bear Dam completed in the 1880s. But upon excavation it was found that the bedrock was decomposed granite, which was unsuitable for construction. A hydraulic-filled, or earthen, dam was built instead. In 1971 the Department of Water Resources, Division of Safety of Dams inspected Lake Arrowhead Dam, and the conclusion was the dam needed to be strengthened or replaced. Following several years of legal wrangling, hearings, public meetings, and an ownership change, in June 1974 the Division of Dams ordered that the lake be lowered 70 feet at a minimum rate of two feet per month. In August, the Board of Supervisors authorized a pair of ballot measures using the campaign slogan ‘Give a Dam’ which voters approved that created a $7,000,000 bond. The solution would be to build a new, higher dam, able to withstand an 8.0 earthquake. Papoose Lake was created with water from Lake Arrowhead and has stood as sentinel for nearly 50 years. This week’s image is a view from Papoose Lake west towards Lake Arrowhead.