Remembering when Modesto had high hopes of being a water resort

On a unseasonably cool July Fourth morning, downtown Modesto was filled with 20,000 local residents who were watching a parade. The festivities featured the governor of California, who was in town to dedicate the new Tuolumne River Bridge and Lake Modesto, also on the Tuolumne River.

Lake Modesto and Dennett Dam, construction of which helped create the lake, had an auspicious debut; it was envisioned as the beginning of a future water resort. But the lake and its dam would never reach that potential and instead became a nightmarish creation, with the remains still haunting the region.

Modesto’s 1933 celebration of the Fourth of July started at 10 a.m., when Gov. James Rolph, who sat atop a bright red and yellow stagecoach doffing his straw hat to the crowd, got the parade underway.

The procession lined up on “Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets facing north toward G street” according to the July Fourth, 1933 Modesto News-Herald, and took about an hour to arrive at the point where Ninth Street meets the river, where the bridge over the Tuolumne was dedicated.

Once there, Rolph presented 13-year-old Millard (Ginger) Dean with a medal for his rescue from drowning, on Memorial Day, of his twin sister Kindred and his 7-year-old brother Herbert. Herbert wasn’t eager to be rescued that day and Millard had to punch him in the jaw to get him to cooperate with his rescue, but they were saved.

The governor then gave a speech covering a lot of American history from the Boston Tea Party, the Civil War and the sinking of the Maine to the World War and his recent trip to Virginia. After a few more dignitaries spoke, 4-year-old Sarah Jane Paradis cut the ribbon and the Tuolumne River Bridge was officially open. Then it was time to open Lake Modesto, which was below the new bridge.

The lake was created by the building of the small Dennett Dam, which could be raised and lowered depending on the flow of the Tuolumne River.

The dam created a 97-acre water park that was envisioned as a magnet for area residents seeking to escape the valley’s oppressive summer heat.

Former Modesto Mayor Lincoln L. Dennett, for whom the dam was named, said in his speech: “The dam is only a beginning and possibilities for future development of Lake Modesto as a recreational center are unlimited.” (Modesto News-Herald, July 5, 1933).

Then acting Mayor Roy Pack added that the dam “will create a body of water for several miles up this beautiful river of sufficient depth to accommodate boating and other water sports providing the city of Modesto and the surrounding community with a magnificent playground.”

The next day’s Modesto News-Herald further quoted the mayor as saying: “I can assure you now that it is the intention of the present city government to proceed with this work. Within a very few years this will be one of the most beautiful spots anywhere to be found in the State of California.”

The rest of the day at the lake was occupied with water sports ranging from swimming competitions to kayak races along with a planned dive from the bridge into the lake. Stanley Freeman was the first to jump, followed by Tom Upton of Stockton. The evening culminated when “More than twenty-five boats, illuminated with bright red flares, cruised around on Lake Modesto in the Venetian boat parade early in the evening.” (Modesto News-Herald, July 5, 1933).

The new dam and recreational magnet only lasted two years before it was washed out and the lake disappeared without its dam. In 1937, the city rebuilt the dam and hopes were renewed; this time it took three years before it was washed out again. The city did not rebuild it given the material demands made by World War II, which began only a year later. In 1947, the state of California condemned it and 68 years later the remnants of the dam still remain. It occasionally catches those who try to swim the river, and drowned three people over a recent five-year period. The dam remains a hazard to swimmers, boaters and the variety of fish that use the Tuolumne. Groups such as the Tuolumne River Trust are working to get the dam removed, but so far to no avail.

This story was originally published May 21, 2015 at 7:10 PM with the headline "Remembering when Modesto had high hopes of being a water resort."