Lake Mohawk, the largest man-made lake in New Jersey, was created after the Crane Company purchased a 25,000 acre reservation in 1925 in the valley of the Wallkill River in Sussex County. The dam stemming the waters of the Wallkill River was completed on August 26, 1926, and on March 17, 1928, water flowed over the spillway, marking the birth of Lake Mohawk. Arthur D. Crane and Herbert L. Closs led the effort, with Edwin R. Closs and Robert Crane serving as architects and Harry C. Callahan as civil engineer. Herbert Closs said the work required perseverance, inspiration, and perspiration from start to finish. Arthur D. Crane, born in Hillside, New Jersey, on Sept. 7, 1877, died on Jan 6, 1945; founder of the Arthur D. Crane Company in 1905, he was regarded as a deliberate, self-educated man, a financial genius, and a veteran property developer who in 1925 joined with Herb Closs to transform farmland into what became Lake Mohawk. Herbert L. Closs, born in Scranton, Pa., on Feb. 18, 1898, and died on Jan. 18, 1983, was second president of the Arthur D. Crane Company and devoted his entire adult life to the cause of Lake Mohawk with courage, generosity, untiring zeal, and unflinching energy.