Captain Lorin Shaw Jenks, known as “Cap Jenks,” saw this area as a good place for a trout pond and in the 1870's built an earthen and log dam and diverted water from the South Fork of the Santa Ana River through a 1.5-mile ditch that legend says he dug by himself. He stocked the pond with fish and harvested them for sale in San Bernardino, a day’s wagon trip down the mountain, until the business ended in the early 1890's when the state outlawed the sale of trout from mountain streams and lakes. Jenks later lived in a cabin near Barton Flats, where he told tall stories to visitors until his death in 1900. The South Fork flows out of the San Gorgonio Wilderness about 3 miles from here, beginning at 9,100 feet at South Fork Meadows and running about 10 miles to meet the Santa Ana River at 5,000 feet, fed by melting snow and rain. In the 1920's, as people began coming to the mountains in large numbers, the lake became a rare Southern California place for swimming, fishing, and picnicking, and thousands of children from nearby summer camps used it for boating.