Blue Jay
Mr. Stoney L. DeMent founded the Blue Jay Resort in 1934 on the old
Wixom ranch and homestead site. Mr. And Mrs. DeMent purchased this twenty-two
acres of land with eight cabins, and from that beginning built a modern
village, which is now the shopping center for the whole Lake Arrowhead
area. One of the novel recreational facilities here is the outdoor ice rink,
where thousands of vacationers skate, not only in the winter but also
on the warmest summer days. Mr.
DeMent has a picture of what is now Blue Jay, taken in the mid-1880’s,
showing that the old sawmill once stood where the drug store is today.
At that time, the surrounding mountainsides were completely denuded
of timber, which of course, has since grown back.

Snow Valley Snow
Valley, one of the best-equipped popular skiing centers in San Bernardino
Mountains, is located between Running Springs and Big Bear
Lake on the “Rim of the World” highway. Large parking areas have been provided and when the snow is deep, you
will find thousands of people enjoying the skiing thrills at Snow Valley.
An elaborate chair lift runs up the side of Slide Peak, capable of moving
over four hundred skiers per hour.

Running Springs Running
Springs is located at the junction of the new City Creek highway and
the “Rim of the World” drive is a natural center for
vacationers. Here we find a complete business section and several
hundred rental units available to mountain lovers. Rainbow Lake was
washed
out by the 1951-52 storms.

Cedar Glen Back
in the 1800’s, the late John Suverkrup, pioneer San Bernardino
lumberman, started a sawmill at Cedar Glen on the shores of what is now
Lake Arrowhead, and hauled his lumber into the Valley with x teams. Today
Cedar Glen is a modern mountain resort, with its own business center,
post office, and subdivisions where hundreds of people spend their vacations.
The Cedar Glen Company is owned by the late John Suverkrup’s
three sons, Herbert, Edward and Frank Suverkrup. One
of the largest riding stables in the Lake Arrowhead region was
near Cedar Glen.

Dr. Baylis and Pinecrest Dr. John Nathaniel Baylis, one of the charter members of the Squirrel
Inn Club, founded Pinecrest in 1904 on the grounds of the old J. B. Smithson
ranch, where the waters of Lake Gregory originate. Of
the original four San Bernardino Mountain resorts in operation at that
time, only Pinecrest remains. Pinecrest has often been referred
to as one of the most picturesque resorts in the whole mountain area.
It is located just off the “Rim of the World” highway,
midway between Crestline and Lake Arrowhead.
 The
fabulous career of Dr. Baylis is one that may never be equaled again.
For sixty-five years, he was an outstanding medical and community
leader,
and for fifty-seven years, physician and surgeon for the Santa Fe
Railroad. Yet he found time to father the program that made the San
Bernardino
Mountains one of the nation’s most popular resort areas. Because
he loved the mountains, he established Pinecrest that he might share
this love with others. He fought and won the battle for better
mountain roads, and he gave the “Rim of the World” its name.
Baylis Park and the great Baylis Oak were named in his honor. Even when
eighty-seven years of age, he continued his medical practice; his one
desire above all others was to die ”in the harness.” On
Saturday morning of June 14, 1952, he spent two hours at his San
Bernardino office.
Death overtook him that evening as he stood on his front porch facing
the mountains he loved so well. Only a few weeks before that, the
winter storms had toppled the great Baylis Oak, which for centuries
had so
majestically overlooked the valley from its vantage point just below
Crestline. As the years roll by, there will be more and more memorials to Dr. John
Nathaniel Baylis. |