By Bill Pumford, Image from ROWHS Collection
TITLE: SQUIRREL INN – BEGINNINGS: One of the earliest and perhaps most mysterious of the resorts in the western San Bernardino Mountains would have to be the Squirrel Inn located on Highway 189 on the western edge of Twin Peaks. In the early 1890s a group of men purchased property under the company name of Arrowhead Mountain Club. Early investors included familiar names in the history of the San Bernardino Mountains including Wood, Fishburn, Baylis, Mooney, Fleming, and Marshall. Wood and Mooney were also part of the Arrowhead Reservoir Company. In 1893 the lodge and several cabins had been completed, with the cabins having no kitchens since members were expected to dine in the lodge (this week’s image). This was a private and exclusive club where the $500 membership fee kept most people out and memberships were by invitation only. An article in the August 1898 edition of the House Beautiful magazine indicated that ‘the smoking room is ceiled with gray building paper and paneled by means of split alder limbs … case of stuffed birds … granite chimney, blue denim lounges, chairs, tables, and the telephone connecting the Inn with the outside world.’ In addition to the described smoking room there was a large assembly room, dining room, pool room, guest rooms, and library. In 1893 a tradition was started as a result of the Frank Stockton book published in 1891 where every August a large dinner affair was held with upwards of 75 people in attendance that retired the squirrel from the previous year and inaugurated the new squirrel. The Squirrel Inn sign outside the lodge was also the same as the one depicted in the Stockton book. Most members only stayed during the summer since the roads in the winter were very difficult due to the heavy snows. There was a caretaker that stayed at the Inn during the winter. Next week more on the Squirrel Inn.