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Henshaw owes piece of history to Socins
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 2, 2003
All Al and Gwen Socin ever had to do was take a peek outside their office at Lake Henshaw to see what drew them back to the mountain retreat a second time.
One winter day a few years ago, Al said he took a walk in the season's first snow after it turned the Palomar Mountain foothills into a winter wonderland. He spotted three coyotes against the white background, and 30 to 40 turkeys scattered to get out of harm's way. All that, and a husky, pregnant doe hopped out of the brush with two yearlings in tow. Above them, geese and ducks dropped into the lake.
"And that's right here in downtown Henshaw," Socin said in 1998, three years after he and Gwen moved back from Oregon to operate the concessions at Henshaw for a second time. They had left in 1990 because the San Francisco-based Henshaw family, which controlled the concession lease until 1996, wasn't willing to spend the necessary money to improve the lake and its surrounding facilities.
Now, eight years after coming back, the Socins are off again, this time to Big Pine in the Eastern Sierra. Their last day at the lake was Wednesday, and now they're off for their new life and new property.
"We were here eight years this time, nine years the time before," Socin said. "We've been kind of attracted to this place."
This time the Socins leave the lake in much better condition and do so because the new concessionaires made an offer they couldn't refuse.
The new concession operators are Frank and Janis Mendenhall. Frank Mendenhall's ancestors were some of the early pioneers and settlers in the Lake Henshaw-Palomar Mountain area. The Mendenhall Valley was named for the family.
"My dad (Charles Socin) worked for Frank Mendenhall's great-grandfather," Socin said. "They worked on the Cuca Ranch, which was the Potrero Ranch before that."
The Mendenhalls have big plans for Lake Henshaw, according to the flier they passed out at the Fred Hall Fishing Tackle and Boat Show at Del Mar and Long Beach. It was part of a pitch for their "My Country" Club, a fee-based hunting and fishing club. The Mendenhalls couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
Lake Henshaw appears to be the centerpiece to a patchwork of property the club controls throughout the Henshaw, Palomar Mountain and Mesa Grande area. Members will fish for free at Henshaw and at private ponds, and they'll have hunting access to thousands of acres in the Palomar Mountain area and gain more access to thousands of acres more in the Cleveland National Forest. They also have holdings in northeastern Montana.
Henshaw's history is steeped in fishing and hunting lore. Clark Gable, John Wayne and Roy Rogers frequented Henshaw in its heyday in the 1930s and '40s. Socin remembers fishing Henshaw in 1937 when there were four 300-foot docks, enough for 400 boats. It was a southern version of Lake Crowley.
The lake lost a lot of its size and appeal when the dam was notched for safety and earthquake concerns. Fishermen stopped coming, and the facilities were neglected for several decades.
But Al and Gwen Socin came back in 1995 and began upgrading the lake and the facilities. They put $140,000 into repairs, upgraded the campground's sewer system and gave the place a good scrubbing.
Their big improvement, though, came when the state's Department of Boating and Waterways approved a $730,000 grant to replace an ungraded, unpaved launching ramp and parking area with a new four-lane launching ramp, boarding floats, parking lot, restroom, landscaping, irrigation, utilities, lighting, signs and an access road.
A new fishing float was added, and now the lake is in much better condition than when the Socins returned eight years ago.
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 2, 2003
All Al and Gwen Socin ever had to do was take a peek outside their office at Lake Henshaw to see what drew them back to the mountain retreat a second time.
One winter day a few years ago, Al said he took a walk in the season's first snow after it turned the Palomar Mountain foothills into a winter wonderland. He spotted three coyotes against the white background, and 30 to 40 turkeys scattered to get out of harm's way. All that, and a husky, pregnant doe hopped out of the brush with two yearlings in tow. Above them, geese and ducks dropped into the lake.
"And that's right here in downtown Henshaw," Socin said in 1998, three years after he and Gwen moved back from Oregon to operate the concessions at Henshaw for a second time. They had left in 1990 because the San Francisco-based Henshaw family, which controlled the concession lease until 1996, wasn't willing to spend the necessary money to improve the lake and its surrounding facilities.
Now, eight years after coming back, the Socins are off again, this time to Big Pine in the Eastern Sierra. Their last day at the lake was Wednesday, and now they're off for their new life and new property.
"We were here eight years this time, nine years the time before," Socin said. "We've been kind of attracted to this place."
This time the Socins leave the lake in much better condition and do so because the new concessionaires made an offer they couldn't refuse.
The new concession operators are Frank and Janis Mendenhall. Frank Mendenhall's ancestors were some of the early pioneers and settlers in the Lake Henshaw-Palomar Mountain area. The Mendenhall Valley was named for the family.
"My dad (Charles Socin) worked for Frank Mendenhall's great-grandfather," Socin said. "They worked on the Cuca Ranch, which was the Potrero Ranch before that."
The Mendenhalls have big plans for Lake Henshaw, according to the flier they passed out at the Fred Hall Fishing Tackle and Boat Show at Del Mar and Long Beach. It was part of a pitch for their "My Country" Club, a fee-based hunting and fishing club. The Mendenhalls couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
Lake Henshaw appears to be the centerpiece to a patchwork of property the club controls throughout the Henshaw, Palomar Mountain and Mesa Grande area. Members will fish for free at Henshaw and at private ponds, and they'll have hunting access to thousands of acres in the Palomar Mountain area and gain more access to thousands of acres more in the Cleveland National Forest. They also have holdings in northeastern Montana.
Henshaw's history is steeped in fishing and hunting lore. Clark Gable, John Wayne and Roy Rogers frequented Henshaw in its heyday in the 1930s and '40s. Socin remembers fishing Henshaw in 1937 when there were four 300-foot docks, enough for 400 boats. It was a southern version of Lake Crowley.
The lake lost a lot of its size and appeal when the dam was notched for safety and earthquake concerns. Fishermen stopped coming, and the facilities were neglected for several decades.
But Al and Gwen Socin came back in 1995 and began upgrading the lake and the facilities. They put $140,000 into repairs, upgraded the campground's sewer system and gave the place a good scrubbing.
Their big improvement, though, came when the state's Department of Boating and Waterways approved a $730,000 grant to replace an ungraded, unpaved launching ramp and parking area with a new four-lane launching ramp, boarding floats, parking lot, restroom, landscaping, irrigation, utilities, lighting, signs and an access road.
A new fishing float was added, and now the lake is in much better condition than when the Socins returned eight years ago.
