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The History Mystery #23

Here at the Fresno Flats Research Library, we sometimes find packages left on our doorstep anonymously. On one such occasion we found an envelope containing old photos of local logging operations which we recognized. and could identify.

However, one photo looks out of place, and we are unable to identify the location. The image shows men standing on logs floating on what appears to be a slow moving river, or a millpond. Can anyone out there in Cyberland tell us where and approximately when the photo was taken?

Please send your ideas to Roger Mitchell, Librarian & Historian, Fresno Flats Museum and Historic Park, 3mitch@sti.net, or call (559) 683-6984. You can also leave your comments here.

Follow-up on last month’s History Mystery #22

Thanks to Mary Sholler for this comment – “I believe this is the first dormitory at the old North Fork Indian Mission, ca. 1910-1915. I found similar pictures in our Madera County Native American Digital History Collection. There is a description in our Correspondence file as well that describes the old Girls Dormitory as being quite large.”

The Mono Museum can now follow-up with Mary to get more information about this building.

2 comments

  1. Sandra GilpinBlack

    History Mystery #23:

    I’m pretty certain this is a picture of the logging at what is now known as Bass Lake. Right after the dam was built, the lake was called Crane Valley Reservoir. A small logging company polluted the lake so badly, they killed all the fish and the government made them restock the lake. They restocked with bass, so the lake was renamed Bass Lake. The original dam was built in 1905 and added to in 1910. The logging took place in the early years. I have a couple

    Of picture postcards of Bass Lake logging.

  2. My greatgrandfather Henry Appling was the dynamite man when they first built the lake in 1905, at least according to my grandmothers stories.

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