Hume Lake is a
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
in the
Sierra Nevada, within
Sequoia National Forest
Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundari ...
and
Fresno County
Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cali ...
, central
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
.
Hume Lake is on Tenmile Creek, which is a tributary of the
Kings River, and adjacent to the unincorporated community of
Hume.
The surface elevation of the lake is . It is accessible from California Route 180, via Forest Service road 30, and is about east of
Fresno
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...
, not far from the west entrance to
Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California. Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park was greatly expanded and renamed to King ...
.
The lake lies behind the world's first concrete reinforced multiple
arch dam
An arch dam is a concrete dam that is curved upstream in plan. The arch dam is designed so that the force of the water against it, known as hydrostatic pressure, presses against the arch, causing the arch to straighten slightly and strengthe ...
, designed by
John S. Eastwood and constructed in 1908 by the
Hume-Bennett Lumber Company
The Hume-Bennett Lumber Company was a logging operation in the Sequoia National Forest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company and its predecessors were known for building the world's longest log flume and the first multiple-arch ...
. During lumber operations, the lake stored logs for an adjacent mill and supplied water for a flume used to transport the cut lumber to
Sanger, California.
Since the cessation of logging in 1924, Hume Lake has shifted from primarily industrial use and is now mainly used for recreation.
History
Formation
![Hume](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Hume.Dam.Structure.JPG)
The
Hume-Bennett Lumber Company
The Hume-Bennett Lumber Company was a logging operation in the Sequoia National Forest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company and its predecessors were known for building the world's longest log flume and the first multiple-arch ...
was formed in 1905 when Thomas Hume and Ira B. Bennett purchased the
Sanger Lumber Company.
Little uncut lumber remained in the vicinity of the mill in the
Converse Basin
Converse Basin Grove is a grove of giant sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees in the Giant Sequoia National Monument in the Sierra Nevada, in Fresno County, California, 5 miles (8 km) north of General Grant Grove, just outside ...
so a new location was sought closer to uncut stands of timber.
This meant that the company would have to move deeper into the mountains. Tenmile Creek was the next tributary of the Kings River, east of Converse Basin. The creek flowed through an area known as Long Meadow. This location was promising for the company because it could be converted into a reservoir that would serve two functions for the company.
[Donald C. Jackson. ''Building the Ultimate Dam: John S. Eastwood and the Control of Water in the West''. University Press of Kansas (1995) p. 86.] First, it would provide storage for logs cut from surrounding virgin groves. From this body of water, floating logs could be drawn into an adjacent mill to be cut. Second, the rough cut lumber could then be transported out of the mountains in a
flume
A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...
filled with water from the reservoir.
To create this reservoir,
John S. Eastwood was hired in 1908 to construct a dam at Long Meadow.
Eastwood proposed constructing the world's first reinforced concrete multiple arch dam. Although unprecedented, at a cost of approximately $46,000, the dam's design was a less expensive alternative to a conventional rock fill dam that would have cost about twice as much to construct. The dam was completed in only 114 days, by the end of 1909, along with a mill immediately adjacent to the dam. Logs were dumped into the reservoir by rail and floated to the dam where they were drawn up into the mill, cut and then dried in kilns next to the mill on the west bank of Tenmile Creek. From this location, lumber was floated to
Sanger, California, in a flume filled with water from the reservoir. The flume was the longest ever created, eventually stretching from Hume Lake to Sanger. Designed and built by James Carroll Goss, the flume was used by both the lumber company and tourists. Thrill seeking tourists would occasionally ride in the flume down from the Sierras in special boats designed with an open prow so that water would help keep the boats from flying off into the air. The flume was also reputedly utilized in 1893 by the bandit
Chris Evans, of the Evans-Sontag Gang of Train Robbers, who hid along the flume to evade capture after escaping from the Fresno County Jail with his accomplice
Ed Morrell.
[Hank Johnston. ''They Felled the Redwoods: a Saga of Flumes and Rails in the High Sierra''. Stauffer Publishing (1996) p. 34-6.]
The dam and reservoir survive today little changed from their original appearance in 1908. The dam stands in height and extends in length. The dam is founded on granite bedrock and consists of twelve arches, which are supported by intervening
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es on the downstream side. The height was set at because of a tract of land ''not'' owned by Hume-Bennet along the reservoir's edge that would have been inundated by water if the dam had been built any higher. The water level was maintained at a level slightly lower than it typically is today, through the use of spillway openings in the dam structure, which have since been filled.
End of logging
Hume-Bennett thoroughly harvested the forests surrounding Hume Lake following completion of the dam, but paltry profits and a devastating fire in 1917 led to the end of logging operations. The fire completely destroyed the mill and surrounding facilities, with all logging ceasing by 1924. On April 8, 1935, the
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...
purchased the entire operation and its holdings, including the dam and forest surrounding Hume Lake, incorporating it into the
Sequoia National Forest
Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundari ...
.
Dam repairs
From 1953 to 1954, the lake was drained for a safety inspection. During the inspection, it was apparent the dam was unfit and the lake would remain empty. The board of
Hume Lake Christian Camps approached the
California Fish and Game Department suggesting the dam be resurfaced. A six-inch cement coating was applied to the front face of the dam. The repairs were completed in 80 days and the lake was refilled.
Current use
Since its purchase by the Forest Service, Hume Lake has become a popular destination, providing a variety of recreational opportunities:
*Camping at a United States Forest Service campground on the northern shore of the lake. The facility consists of 74 sites among four separate sections located at varying distances from the lake shore.
*
Hume Lake Christian Camps is the largest facility at the lake, which traces its origins to 1945, when the founders met in the nearby valley town of
Dinuba to discuss plans for a Christian Bible camp. On January 9, 1946, of lake shore property were purchased to create the camp, including the Hume Lake Hotel, store, service station, post office, 22 cottages, and 22 boats. Soon thereafter, in the summer of 1946, 670 campers and 15 volunteer staff attended conferences at Hume Lake. Since that first summer in 1946, more than 1,000,000 young people and adults have attended the camp for worship, religious studies, and recreation. Activities at the camps include:
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
,
disc golf,
boating,
hiking
Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
,
biking,
paint balling, high
ropes course
A ropes course is a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high and/or low elements. Low elements take place on the ground or above the ground. High elements are usually constructed in tr ...
,
climbing wall
A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet, usually used for indoor climbing, but sometimes located outdoors. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most often used i ...
, and a number of recreational games such as
Kajabe Kan Kan. Facilities include a dining hall, clothing company, a snack shop, two Hume-n-Beans coffee shops, the Ponderosa Pizza & Pizookie, a post office, a gift shop, a recording studio, swimming pool, beach access with rowboat, paddle board and kayak rentals, several lodges, a security booth, and public washing machines.
*Cabins available for private rental and private cabins owned by full-time and part-time residents
*Boating (non-motorized)
*Fishing: The main fishing at Hume Lake consists of trout
*Hiking
*Swimming and related beach activities
File:USA Sierra Nevada Hume Lake CA.jpg, Panorama of the Sierra peaks surrounding Hume Lake.
File:Hume Lake California Topo.png, Topographical map of Hume Lake.
File:Beetle Infestation Hume Lake, California.jpg, Hume Lake showing extensive mountain pine beetle
The mountain pine beetle (''Dendroctonus ponderosae'') is a species of bark beetle native to the forests of western North America from Mexico to central British Columbia. It has a hard black exoskeleton, and measures approximately , about the siz ...
damage as of April 2016.
In pop culture
* The 1922 film ''
The Sawmill
''The Sawmill'' is a 1922 American silent comedy film, comedy short film directed by Larry Semon and featuring Oliver Hardy. ''The Sawmill'' was shot at Hume Lake.
Cast
* Larry Semon as The dumb-bell
* Oliver Hardy as The foreman (credited as B ...
'' was filmed at Hume Lake.
See also
*
List of dams and reservoirs in California
*
List of lakes in California
There are more than 3,000 named lakes, reservoirs, and dry lakes in the U.S. state of California.
Largest lakes
In terms of area covered, the largest lake in California is the Salton Sea, a lake formed in 1905 which is now saline. It occupie ...
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Reservoirs in Fresno County, California
Lakes of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Sequoia National Forest
Dams in California
Dams completed in 1908
Historic American Engineering Record in California
Reservoirs in California
Reservoirs in Northern California
1908 establishments in California