Five Early Views of Hemet Lake and Dam. by (PHOTOGRAPHY: CALIFORNIA) - 1902

Hemet: N.p., 1902. Five original Silver gelatin photographs. Images measure 8 1/2 v 6 1/2 inches on mounts an inch greater on all margins. Each image has a printed slip above reading - "Photographed April 2, 1906". There are larger printed captions pasted below the images with these titles; Lake Hemet, Riverside county, California; The Great Hemet Dam; Hotel Hemet; Lake Hemet ; Lake Hemet, Riverside county, California; The Great Hemet Dam; Hotel Hemet; Lake Hemet; The Great Hemet Dam. There are no duplicates. Some minor wear to mount corners but overall very good images."In the early 1890s, Lake Hemet Dam, one of the engineering marvels of its time, was constructed in the San Jacinto Mountains, above todayÕs city of Hemet... The San Jacinto River did not supply enough water to support farming and settlements throughout the San Jacinto Valley, and the existing city of San Jacinto already was struggling with its water supply. Further development required a new, reliable source of water.In January 1887, a group of investors, which included Edward L. Mayberry and William F. Whittier, decided they had found a way to rectify the situation. That month they formed both the Hemet Land Company and the Lake Hemet Water Company.The primary purpose of the land company was the subdivision and sale of property in the San Jacinto Valley. This included lots in a town site called South San Jacinto. The town site was later moved and the new town was named Hemet. The purpose of the Lake Hemet Water Company was the purchase of several hundred acres of land on the west end of Garner Valley in the San Jacinto Mountains. This purchase came with a water right that allowed the capture of water at its source in the mountains. In turn, the water could be brought to the dry valley below. The San Jacinto Register gushed ÒÉ this grand work É will make our mesa land blossom like a rose. ÉÓ The plan was to collect the flow of the South Fork of the San Jacinto River. To do this, a dam would have to be built in the mountains to create a reservoir and make water available year round. The creek ran through a narrow granite gorge, which offered a suitable site for the construction of a dam.This major construction project required the movement of men, machinery and materials to the dam site. Before work on the dam could begin, Mayberry and Whittier first had to construct a road into the San Jacinto Mountains. Work began on the road late in the summer of 1888; it was finished less than a year later. The dam was to be constructed from large blocks of granite cut from sites near the location of the dam. The type of cement needed for construction was not available in the United States, so it was imported from Belgium. The first stone was place on June 6, 1891, and construction was completed four years later. The finished height of the dam was 122.5 feet. The height was later raised another 12.5 feet in 1923. From its completion in 1895 until the construction of the Roosevelt Dam in Arizona in 1911, the Lake Hemet Dam was the largest solid masonry dam in the world." (Press Emterprise)/