By Bill Pumford, Image from ROWHS Collection
TITLE: CREATION OF LAKE GREGORY: In the early 1930s, despite the nationwide depression, civic leaders in Crestline were anxious to find new and creative ways to increase tourism for the area. In the early 1900s a dam and lake were proposed for the Huston Flats area that included a survey but never went any further. Thirty years later Arthur Gregory was ready to proceed with a dam and lake. Gregory shopped the concept around the Crest Forest community and received great support. In 1935 a lake committee was formed for the construction of a dam and lake for that same Huston Flats area. Donations for most of the required land for the lake were made by Arthur Gregory and Bessie Cathcart. An application was submitted in 1936 to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for support in building the dam and lake and upon approval work began on clearing Huston Flats and creating a diversion tunnel. More than 100 men worked for 4 months on preparing Huston Flats for a lake. The building of the dam ran into some cost overruns which temporarily stalled the project until Arthur Gregory was able to raise more funds. The bad winter of 1036/37 did not help the project, but it did continue with a scheduled completion date of January 1938. On September 18th, 1937, a dedication of the Lake Gregory Dam was held and many of the Crestline merchants participated. Early in 1938 heavy rains filled the lake by the first week of March. The attached photo, taken shortly after the lake filled, shows an area pretty much devoid of structures. The numbers shown on the photo attempt to give the viewer a perspective of things today with the lake in 1938. Number 1 is the dam. Number 2 is the San Moritz Club area. Number 3 is the recreation beach area and Number 4 is near where Goodwins is located today.