| 1880’s |
Timber claims made on Green Valley area by
Highland Lumber Co. |
| 1891 |
Highland Lumber builds City Creek Toll Rd.
(Hwy 330) Took lumber from Fredalba to Molina Box Factory to make orange
crates. |
| 1892-4 |
Horse trail from Fredalba lumber
camp to Big Bear widened into toll wagon road by Bear Valley Wagon Rd. Co.
Eleven-room Toll
House was near entrance to campground. They gave the name of Green Valley
to the area. |
| 1893 |
San Bernardino National Forest "Reserve" created. |
| 1894 |
Ben Pitts operates tollhouse each
summer. Grows huge potatoes to serve guests. Leaves in 1902 to open hotel
in Redlands. |
| 1899 |
Highland Lumber Co. bought out by
Brookings Lumber Co. |
| 1900 |
Brookings begins laying narrow
gauge railroad tracks in Running Springs.
|
| 1903 |
Tillitt family settles in Green
Valley to run the tollhouse for Bear Valley Wagon Road Co. George and
Demaris (May) have three children. For 17 years they run tollhouse, general
store, garage, and maintain the road. Send Jefferey Pine seeds to South
Africa for British government. They spend winters at house on Del Rosa. |
| 1904 |
Brookings hauls 27 ton locomotive
up mountain by 6 wagons pulled by mules. |
| 1911 |
County purchases toll road. Brookings rail reaches almost to Green Valley. (Lighteningdale) |
| 1912 |
Green Valley area clear-cut except
for Tillit’s homestead area (now campground) |
| 1913 |
Brookings sells out and moves to
Oregon. Most of the land bought by Marion Shay for cattle grazing. |
| 1915 |
Trading Post and gas station built
next to tollhouse. Tillitt improves Fawnskin road for automobiles for
the county. |
| 1923 |
Deep Creek Cutoff completed (Hwy
18) to Big Bear. Nicknamed “Arctic Circle”. Cuts off Green
Valley. |
| 1924 |
Harry McMullen (Green Valley Mac)
buys up property with idea of the dam; he sells the idea and the land
to DeWitt-Blair Co. who are financed by Union Bank. Contractors Clinton,
Code, & Hill design the dam, the subdivision, and a water system. Mac was a
fishing guide that led parties on horseback to the Deep Creek area. |
| 1925 |
Dam construction begins along with roads. Financing was for $85,000.
Also in 1925:
San Bernardino National Forest created. “Inholdings” remain private
property. |
| 1926 |
Dam finished. Lake is 8.5 acres.
First lots to sell were the Tillits homestead lots that were saved from the
logging in 1912. |
| 1928 |
Lake stocked with trout for members
of “Top of the World Club.” Clubhouse burned down in 1959 and site is now
Community Center. |
| 1929 |
Developers went bankrupt and Union
Bank sold out to Bank of America in 1932. Capital Land Co. took over
aggressive promotional campaign. |
| 1934 |
So. Cal Edison ran power lines into
the valley. By late 30’s land sales were good. |
| 1935 |
GVL Mutual Water Company formed |
| 1938 |
Flood almost destroys dam. Jim
Reid clears debris from spillway averting disaster. |
| 1939-40 |
Les Salm operates ski run on “Suicide Hill” on south side of the
campground. Had 300 ft. rope tow powered by 7 hp. engine. |
| 1940-41 |
Additional rope tow 150 yards east added using an automobile engine. |
| 1942-45 |
Mountains closed to all but local residents because of WWII. |
| 1945-46 |
Joe Fox and Laurence Ferguson move ski run equipment to present
location. |
| 1950 |
Bob and Doris Wubben buy the
original rope tow and set up 2 toboggan runs on Suicide Hill.
They were about 500 ft long. The Wubbens commuted every snow season
weekend from Torrance. |
| 1953 |
Toboggan runs close due to cost of
liability insurance. Wubbens used the equipment to build a small private
ski run in back of their property; closed in 1962. |
| 1973 |
Don and Ann Howe
and Lyle Ferguson run the ski area. It was called
the Snow Bowl. They continued to own it for the next 25 years |
2006
|
Roger Lee competes in the
2006 Paralympics in Turin, Italy. He and 230 other Olympians are
honored in a ceremony with Pres. Bush at the White House.
Click here for photos.
On Oct. 22, the Slide Fire, pushed by
severe Santa Ana winds, burns 12,759 acres and surrounds Green
Valley Lake, destroying over 100 homes and three businesses,
including Fox Lumber and the ski hill out buildings and ski lift.
The cause was embers from the Sept. 14-21 Butler II Fire, which
began from embers of the Butler I Fire, which was caused by a
lightning strike on Sept. 1.
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2007
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2008
|
On Jan. 4, Dean
Christy, 62, becomes disoriented and lost while hiking in the forest NW of GVL. An all-out effort was launched to find him, but rescue crews
were unable to locate his body until April 4. Dean was a part-time
GVL resident, an experienced and avid hiker, and had been a counselor at
the old YMCA camp at Little Green Valley.
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Jim Reid of Green Valley Lake (Photos courtesy of the
Lilleberg Museum)
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