Shaver Lake is an

artificial lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

on Stevenson Creek, in the Sierra National Forest of

Fresno County, California 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 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most popu ...

. At elevation , several smaller streams also flow into the lake, and it receives water from the tunnels of Southern California Edison's Big Creek Hydroelectric Project. The town Shaver Lake is located on its south-west shore.

Background

In 1917

Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (SCE), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electric utility company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximate ...

purchased the lake which had been owned by the Fresno Flume and Lumber Company for transporting lumber down to the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

. The lake was formed with the construction of Shaver Lake Dam, which was built by

and completed in . The dam was built in blocks, with a keyway to hold it in place and a

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

sheet to make it watertight. Its capacity is . Some water from the lake is discharged into Stevenson Creek for

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

and other

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

, but the rest is diverted to Big Creek, where it powers several hydroelectric plants in succession. The area now covered by the lake was extensively logged before the dam was built, and an extensive

log flume A log flume or lumber flume is a watertight flume constructed to transport lumber and logs down mountainous terrain using flowing water. Flumes replaced horse- or oxen-drawn carriages on dangerous mountain trails in the late 19th century. Loggi ...

system several miles long was constructed to bring logs down the mountain. The town to this day maintains a nostalgic logging theme. Several buildings in town are in fact old, converted sawmills. Adjacent to the lake is Camp Edison, built and operated by SCE. On August 13, 1943, Grace Craycroft (née Shaver), the daughter of pioneer lumberman Charles B. Shaver after whom the lake and town is named, drowned after suffering from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

whilst attempting to save a 12-year-old boy from drowning. The

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

shows ''Endurance: High Sierras'' and ''Capture'' were filmed at Shaver Lake in summer 2006 and summer 2013, respectively. The lake was also the filming location of the

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

reality show ''

Karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

'' during the summer of 2019. The Shaver Lake Trophy Trout Project is a non-profit organization to educate the public on fishing and make Shaver Lake a fishing destination. Camp Chawanakee, a Scout camp, is located on a peninsula on the southern shore of Shaver Lake. BSA troops from all over California attend each summer. The camp's facilities include canoeing, sailing, row boats, kayaking, swimming, hiking, rifle shooting, shotgun, archery, horse riding, rock wall, zip lining, fishing, crafts, and many other activities.

References

External links

Shaver Lake Trophy Trout Project
Reservoirs in Fresno County, California Lakes of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Sierra National Forest Reservoirs in California Reservoirs in Northern California {{FresnoCountyCA-geo-stub

Background

See also

References

External links