The History of Silver Lakes: Volume One

THE HISTORY OF SILVER LAKES, VOLUME ONE It started with a raindrop.....or, perhaps a snowflake.....millions of years ago. Yes, one could honestly say that Silver Lakes Resort, a high desert community within Helendale and in San Bernardino County, started with rain and snowstorms up in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. Those raindrops and snowflakes multiplied over and over again, created not only the Mojave River but subterranean streams and rivers from which land developers drew to create two lakes in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Yes, two lakes, surrounded by sand in the early 1970’s, where members of the Silver Lakes Resort could swim, fish, boat, or just look at with awe and admiration. Water then, made Silver Lakes but it was far more complicated than that. It would take five years to construct and cost $29 million dollars. It would include a 27-hole golf course, an Equestrian Center, a hotel, a Club House with tennis courts, and 2977 lots upon which homes, condominiums, and townhouses would be built. The History of Silver Lakes, Volume One will draw the reader into what transpired before the Silver Lakes Resort was created. It will include the first decade of its slow growth, its triumphs and tribulations. It will give testimonies from those early members who took a chance at what looked like a remote island with no commercial enterprises and only modest weekender homes built by the developer. Those members were the resorts’ “pioneers” who in spite of rattle snakes, scorpions, kit foxes, and coyotes, they stood firm and laid the foundation for a more attractive Silver Lakes that would one day be known as “The Jewel of the High Desert”.