Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-07-28
DAILY HERALD
A BIG DAM
Up in the. San BernardinO
Mountains.
HUNTING AND FISHING NEAR 1T.
The Attractions of the Bear Valley
1rip-What it COsts-Hints
AS to Outfit.

gave some description OF trip to Bear
Valley, in the San Bernardino noun.
tains. A number Of inquiries have been
made as to the exact cost of such trip,
the outfit which is desirable and the at.
fractions which are to be found when one
gets there. The fare to Rsdlands by the
California Central is $2.55-round trip
So Is, limited to ten days. The stage to
Thurman's charges $3.50 a passenger.
The charge for burro and guide from
Thurman's to the valley is $500.
This makes total of travelling
expenses from Los Angeles to the valley
and back of $3.50. The train which
was spoken of in the previous article as
leaving here early in the morning and
getting to Redlands in time to meet the
stage at 9 O'Clock, has since been taken
OF, and it is now necessary to get to
Redlands the day before and remain
there over night at one of the very good
hotels, which that enterprising little city
affords.
The tourist will have nothing to fear
in the way of unlooked-for fees, such as
are sprung upon the victim of the wiles
OF a Yosemite agent, ner are the hotel
charges In the mountains at all exorbi-
tant. Both at Lewis & Townsends and
at knight & Metcalf's the charge is $40
week, and the rate for short space Of
time is calculated on the same basis.
Horses for travelling about in the noun.
tains can generally be had at from fifty
cents to one dollar a day. When the
hotel people have horses that are not in
use they are disposed to be very liberal
with them. The accommodations are
crude but comfortable, and the fare is
plain but appetizing.
As to the outfit, it must be such as
anyone who has ever made a mountain
trip will readily devise. 1t should, of
course, be as limited as possible. and
bags and bundles are more readily packed
on burro-back than valises. Climbing
about among rocks and brambles means
boots or leggins for foot wear and strong,
rough clothing. One effect of the high
attitudes during the first day or two is
chapped lips or nostrils, and box Of
cold cream is indispensable.
One can easily carry shotgun, or deer
rifle of smaller caliber, and if he chooses
to ramble about in the mountains he
will find some game-not very much at
this season of the year. In the pine
woods about Bear lake there are plenty
of doves, some gray squirrels and quail.
During the season there are ducks in large
numbers on the lake. For the expert,
enced hunter there are deer to be had,
although during the summer they are
high up on the mountain.
The best fishing is in the mountain
streams like Bear creek and the upper
waters of the Santa Ana. The current
is generally too swift for successful fly
fishing; they rise very we'll to angle
worms or small frogs or even meat. As
the banks are grown with brush and the
tree branches interlace above, the
angler finds it easier work if he
is fixed with pair of rubber
boots, so that he can 60 along the bed of
the stream if he chooses. The trout are
the usual mountain variety, some Of
them Of exceptional size. In the places
near the camps, where the streams have
been steadily whipped since the begin
ming of the season, one must be content
with very light catch, but places can
always be reached in few hours ride or
walk where fishing almost ceases to be
sport from its too great ease.
There are plenty of enormous trout in
Bear lake, but they are not to be had.
Each new fisherman who comes into the
locality cherishes belief that he will
succeed where all others have failed,
but he comes away to tell the same story
with those who have gone before him.
The lake, it must be remembered, is
merely an artificial reservoir formed
by the retaining of the water from the
mountains by the great dam. Tall trees,
dead and decaying, stand up out of the
water with their trunks and lower
branches submerged and rotting in a
tangle of seaweed. Every part of the
lake teens with insect life and as a re-
suit the fishes are great, lazy, over.fed
fellows who have no possible use
for the most alluring bait that
ever dangled from a high priced patent
pole. They drift about listlessly in the
clear water in plain sight and in large
numbers, but they are perfectly con-
speculate on fancy flies, spoon hooks, or
man has devised. The reader, if he is
think that if he could only get chance
at these fellows, he would have them out
in short order. He is quite welcome to
Everyone who visits the valley goes to
look at the big dam at the foot of the
lake, which is regarded as one of the
most remarkable pieces of engineering of
its sort in the country. Its protector,
Mr.. F. E. Brown, of Riverside, was the
first American engineer to make use oil
the arch principle in a structure OF this
sort. Just as the arch over doorway
by the resistance against crushing of the
material used, supports great weigh
above, so this dam, braced against the
weight of the water, supports it, not BY
the gravity and mass Of the materials
but by their solidity and strength agains
crumbling. 1t curves toward the wate
with radius of 335 feet, much less thar
the curvature of the arch used in archi
lecture.
At the point where the dam is LOCATED
the solid stone walls of the canon ap
proach to within ninety feet of on
another and extend up at genera
angle of about 25 degrees-a place admir-
ably suited by nature for the function
which it is made to perform. The dan
is sixty feet in height and is 300 feet il
length at the top, including the piers
In general way, for it is not possible t.
compare dams except in specific dimen
sions, it may be said to p'
the largest dam in the State ant
one Of the largest in the country. Th,
Sweetwater dam near San Diego is mucl
larger, but has only about one-fourth tn,
canacitv of the Rear Valley strncture