Frenchman Lake (California)
Frenchman Lake "(a.k.a. Frenchmen's Reservoir and several derivations thereof)" is located in Southeastern Plumas County, California and was created by the damming of Little Last Chance Creek. It was named after Frenchman Creek and Claude Francois Seltier, a French immigrant who settled in the area in 1858. Frenchman Dam. Frenchman Dam was completed in 1961 as an irrigation project of the California Department of Water Resources, a rock-fill and earthen dam 129 feet high, with a length of 720 feet at its crest. Normal water storage in the reservoir is 55,477 acre-feet. Geography. The  Frenchman Lake's elevation when full is above sea level. The surface area of Frenchman Lake is . The shoreline length is , the maximum depth reaches , averaging . The nearest community is Chilcoot-Vinton, California which is approximately south. National Forest Recreation Area. The United States Forest Service administers the Plumas National Forest land surrounding the lake as a National Forest Recreation Area, locally managed as part of the Beckwourth Ranger District. The Frenchman Lake Recreation Area offers a wide variety of summer outdoor experiences including: camping, picnicking, fishing, hunting, boating, jet skiing, mountain biking, swimming and water-skiing. In the winter , ice fishing, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing are favored activities. Public campgrounds are located on the south shore at Cottonwood Springs, Frenchman, Spring Creek and Big Cove. Additionally there is another campground located below the dam along Little Last Chance Creek.