The nearest known native American settlements were at Indian Hill in Claremont (Gabrielino) and in Lytle Creek Canyon (Serrano) . Indians probably camped in or near IC. IC was said to have been the source of cedar beams for Mission San Gabriel (1771). The first documented activity in the canyon was mining: the first placer claim was recorded in 1892. In the ’90’s John Allison started a tunnel near Cabin 21. John Kelly staked a claim on Oct. 18, 1899, signing with an X ,and in 1905 claimed the site that became Kelly’s Camp. Henry Delker took it over in 1922, and the mine was worded until 1937. About 1915 then Strasser millsite was established near Cabin 26 to process gold, sliver and copper from the ores mined on the ridge. There was a wagon road as far as Columvine Spring as early as 1910. Concurrent with the mining was development by water companies in San Antonio and IC.
In 1908 the area from Pacoima Canyon to the Whitewater River was designated the Angeles National Forest by President Theodore Roosevelt; the San Bernardino N.F. was separated from the Angeles in 1925. The first cabin site lease was issued in 1906 for Bear Canyon. Soon the Forest Service was promoting “Summer Home Sites in Angeles National Forest at $15.00 a year.” A brochure (undated) states: “Portable houses may usually be purchased complete at prices ranging from $150 up. Local contractors and builders will supply building materials and all or part of the labor needed at market prices.” The first of these builders in IC was Chapman.
The Chapman family deserve a chapter of their own in the history of IC. Clarence Chapman built the Icehouse Canyon resort, cabins 15, 16, 17, 20 (with Henry Delker) and 28 and the fireplace at Cabin 21. (Cabin 16 was destroeyd by the Forest Service in the early 1970’s. ) Bob Chapman startred working with his father at the age of 7. The Chapmans operated the resort from 1922 to 1928, adding on to the main building and more cabins.
The same year the IC Resort was built, 1921, two other resorts — Bear Canyon and Eleven Oaks — joined Camp Baldy in the village area. All four resorts apparently did a brisk business during that decade. In addition there were the trail camps: Kelly’s Kamp, Fern Camp in the vicinity of Cabin 26, and Trail Inn (Cabin 44). The last had a horse corral where hikers could rent horses to ride up to Kelly’s. There was alos a tobaggan run nearby.
The Icehouse Canyon Improvement Association framed its first constitution in 1922. By 1938 there were 105 privately owned cabins in IC. That spring a heavy snowpack at Kelly’s and 2 days of warm rain combined to produce the Great Flood of 1938 on March 2. The folld destroyed all but 35 of the IC cabins plus 16 at the resort, changed the course of the stream and drastically altered the landscape. No permits to build or rebuild were issued thereafter.
The Great Flood was the biggest single disaster in the history of IC, but other events in recent years have but the canyon in the newspapers. In 1944 an avalanche from Sheep Flat buried Cabin 45, killing the owners who were asleep inside. Bob Chapman was the hero of the rescue effort. Another big rain in 1969 borugh floods and slides. Hikers have been lost and found. And of course there have been fires. The Forest Service has created a new trail and adopted a new plan for the area the impactof which remains to be seen.
September 1980 Alison Fuller ICIA Historian
[...] professor has two interesting posts, one small capsule history of the Canyon itself, and a great post on the Chapman Ice House Canyon Resort and Lodge, with some [...]
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