Forest Lake | |
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Resort | |
![]() Forest Lake between Cobb (NW) and Whispering Pines (SE). Buildings on the SW side of Hwy 175, golf course and lake on the NE side | |
Coordinates: 38°49′05″N122°43′04″W / 38.81806°N 122.71778°W | |
Country | United States |
State | California |
County | Lake County |
Elevation | 2,631 ft (802 m) |
[1] |
Forest Lake Resort was a resort in the Cobb Mountain area of Lake County, California, in an area of wet meadows along Kelsey Creek. Originally a campground, it was developed into a resort in the 1930s to exploit the growing automobile-based recreation market. The resort was sold in 1963. By 1989 it was longer operational, and was being considered for development as a community park site.
Forest Lake is 0.25 miles (0.4 km) northwest of Whispering Pines. [2] It is at an elevation of 2,631 feet (802 m). [1] Forest Lake is dominated by wet meadow and waterway features. [3] Kelsey Creek, from Forest Lake downstream to around Glenbrook, is a federally designated flood boundary. That is, it is a floodplain that is expected to be inundated every 100 years. [4]
Originally the Forest Lake property was the home of James Hartford Smith, who bought the land in 1868. [5] His son Nate turned it into a campground, which he ran with his wife, which passed in turn to his son Will in 1900. [5] Will Smith sold the campground to Hugh Davey. [6] Jim McCauley had operated a brewery in Vallejo, but Prohibition in 1920 forced him to look for new sources of revenue. He lent money to Davey with the campground and Boggs Mountain as collateral. Davey defaulted in 1922 and McCauley's Calso Company became the owner. [7]
McCauley bottled "Calso Water" at the Camp Calso spring. It was thought to help relieve hangovers, and was popular between 1924 and 1942. [8] [lower-alpha 1] In 1926 he created the Camp Calso residential subdivision as a speculation. Many of the lots were very small, and there was no provision for water, sewer or drainage. [11] [lower-alpha 2]
McCauley decided to turn the campground into a resort, originally named Camp Calso. He put up the main building in 1930. [6] The resort was among the new automobile-oriented vacation resorts developed in the 1930s, others being Whispering Pines and Pine Grove. Many of the older resorts did not make the transition to automobiles and had to close down. [14] McCauley dammed a branch of Kelsey Creek to create Lake McCauley in 1935. He built cabins, and in 1937 made a swimming pool. [6] Guests at the resort played a game named Calso after the bottled water. similar to Bingo. Dance music was provided by entertainers such as Jimmy Catalano and his Band. [15]
McCauley renamed Camp Calso to Forest Lake Resort in 1938. [6] He and his niece's husband Vince Emerson ran the resort successfully until 1939, when Emerson took full responsibility. [7] McCauley died on 26 December 1942. [16] His property was divided between seven nieces and nephews, one of whom was Vince Emerson's son Don, who lived near the resort in Cobb. [17] [lower-alpha 3] Husband and wife Vince and Marian Emerson ran the resort until Vince died in 1946, when the resort continued to be run by Marian and their son Don. Don in turn owned and ran it with his wife Dorothy from 1950 to 1963, creating the Hoberg's Forest Lake Golf Course in 1954. [6] [lower-alpha 4] [lower-alpha 5] Many family activities were available, including horseback riding. Supervised activities were provided for children, including swimming in the pool, games, hay rides and special meal times. [21] The Emersons sold the resort to Joe Breen and Vic Tamera in 1963. [6] [18] Later Forest Lake became the property of Calistoga Mineral Water, a subsidiary of Nestlé. [6]
As of 1989 7.8 acres (3.2 ha) of vacant land beside the Forest Lake area was zoned for of low-density residential planned development. [22] Zoning allowed residential and commercial development along California State Route 175 north of the Forest Lake area to the Bottle Rock Road intersection, but half the commercial space was vacant or underutilized. [23] Some planned development commercial zoning applied to open space at Forest Lake on land with sensitive environmental resources adjacent to previously approved planned development. [23] Portions of Forest Lake were designated for resource conservation land uses. [23]
A plan for the Cobb Mountain Area issued in 1989 discussed developing Forest Lake as a park facility. [24] The 1989 Cobb Mountain Area plan recommended that its recreational development be limited to low-cost passive facilities such as picnic sites, trails and walkways, and should be improved for outdoors activities such as fishing and wildlife observation. It could be classified as a community park site. [3] The Cobb Area Council held a public meeting on 18 April 2019 where it was reported that the county was still not looking at changing Forest Lake into a park, although there was local support for the idea. [25]
Cobb is a census designated place (CDP) in Lake County, California, United States. Cobb is located 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of Whispering Pines, at an elevation of 2,631 feet (802 m). The population was 1,778 at the 2010 census, up from 1,638 at the 2000 census.
The Ouachita National Forest is a vast congressionally-designated National Forest that lies in the western portion of Arkansas and portions of extreme-eastern Oklahoma, USA.
Duck Mountain Provincial Park is a provincial park, located in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) east of the town of Kamsack and stretches about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) eastward to the Saskatchewan / Manitoba boundary. The park covers approximately 150 km2 (58 sq mi). Road access to the park is via Highway 57, which connects Saskatchewan Highway 5 to Manitoba Highway 83.
Cobb Mountain is the tallest mountain in the Mayacamas Mountains of California.
Lake Pillsbury is a lake in the Mendocino National Forest of Lake County, California, created from the Eel River and Hull Mountain watershed by Scott Dam. Elevation is 1,818 ft (554 m) with 65 mi (105 km) of shoreline and covering 2,003 acres (811 ha). Activities in the Lake Pillsbury Recreation Area include powerboating, fishing, swimming, sailing, picnicking, hiking and hang gliding. There are two main access roads to the lake. At the north end of the lake is a small gravel airstrip. About 400 vacation cabins including National Forest Recreational Residences ring the lake.
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Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest is a state forest in Lake County, California that covers the northwest of Boggs Mountain. It was founded in 1949, and came into operation in 1950 when most of the site had been clear cut. The purpose was to demonstrate good practices in restoring and managing a forest. The state forest was open for recreational use, including camping, hiking, mountain biking etc. The 2015 Valley Fire destroyed 80% of the trees. The state forest as of 2021 was replanting saplings.
Adams is an unincorporated community in Lake County, California. It was formerly Adams Springs, a summer resort developed around a small group of mineral water springs.
Glenbrook was a resort in Lake County, California. It was located 10 miles (16 km) south-southeast of Kelseyville, at an elevation of 2293 feet.
Hobergs is an unincorporated community in Lake County, California. It grew up around the former Hoberg's Resort.
Seigler Springs is a set of springs in Lake County, California around which a resort developed in the 19th century. In the 1930s the resort was expanded, and in 1947 an airport opened nearby. The resort declined in the 1960s. Part of it was separated out and became a residential subdivision, while part became a religious retreat. The 2015 Valley Fire caused great damage.
The Valley Fire was a wildfire during the 2015 California wildfire season that started on September 12 in Lake County, California. It began shortly after 1:00 pm near Cobb with multiple reports of a small brush fire near the intersection of High Valley and Bottlerock Roads. It quickly spread and by 6:30 PM PDT, it had burned more than 10,000 acres (40 km2). By Sunday, the thirteenth of September, the fire had reached 50,000 acres (202 km2) and had destroyed much of Cobb, Middletown, Whispering Pines, and parts in the south end of Hidden Valley Lake. The fire ultimately spread to 76,067 acres (308 km2), killed four people and destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings, before it was fully contained on October 15, 2015, causing at least $921 million in insured property damage. At the time, the fire was the third-most destructive fire in California history, based on the total structures burned, but the Camp Fire (2018) and the North Complex fire in 2020, exceeded that total.
Boggs Mountain is a mountain the Mayacamas Mountains in Lake County, California. Part of the mountain holds the Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest. About 80% of the trees were burned in the September 2015 Valley Fire.
Kelsey Creek is a watercourse in Lake County, California, United States, that feeds Clear Lake from the south. The watershed was forest-covered. In the lower parts it has been converted to farmland and for urban use. Higher up the forests have been cleared, regrown and cleared again. The northern part of the creek flows through a geothermal field that feeds power plants and hot springs. The wooded Cobb area in the higher part of the watershed holds resorts and resort communities, some dating to the 1850s.
The Bottle Rock Power Plant (BRPP) is a geothermal power plant in the Glenbrook Area of Lake County, California, United States.
Hoberg's Resort was a holiday resort in Lake County, California. The unincorporated community of Hobergs grew up around it. The resort started out in the 1890s as a sideline where a farmer's wife offered meals to travelers, and it then became an economical place for campers and hunters to stay. It expanded, and after the founder's grandsons took over in 1934 it grew into a large and fashionable resort catering to weekend visitors who motored up from the San Francisco Bay Area. There was a swimming pool, dining hall, bar and outdoors dance floor, as well as amenities like hairdressers, a barber, resident physician, coffee shop and general store. Hollywood celebrities, politicians and businessmen stayed at the resort and were entertained by big-name musicians. By the 1960s, the resort had gone into decline, and it closed in 1971. The main building was destroyed by the 2015 Valley Fire.
The Paul Hoberg Airport, or simply Hobergs Airport is an abandoned airport in Lake County, California, United States. It was opened in 1947 for use by guests of the nearby Hoberg's Resort, and was busy until the 1960s. By 1982 it had been abandoned.
Seigler Mountain is a mountain in the Mayacamas Mountains of the Northern California Coast Ranges. It is in Lake County, California.
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