History of the Canyon
Lake
Sabrina was named for Sabrina Hobbs, whose husband, Charles M.
Hobbs, was the first general manager of the Nevada California Power
Company, which dammed the lake during 1907-1908. Built primarily to
hold back the spring run-off and thus for flow regulation for the
Bishop Creek Hydroelectic System, the BCHS is considered significant
for it's roll: (1) in the expansion of hydroelectric power
generation technology, (2) in the development of eastern California
and (3) in the development of long-distance electrical power
transmission and distribution.
The Bishop Creek Hydrolectric System consists of five sets of
independent, high-head-impulse water wheel, electrical
power-generating sub-systems (plants) established at various
elevation along the north, middle and south forks of Bishop Creek on
the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Inyo County,
California. Five powerhouses, one control station, two guaging
stations, ten flowlines, ten intakes, seven penstocks, four
diversions, four resevoirs, four dams, worker housing and other
associated support buildings make up the system structures. Lake
Sabrina, the most distant resevoir is located approximately eighteen
miles southwest of Bishop.
Bishop Creek is a run-of-the-river type system whereby stream water
is diverted at various points, transported through flowlines at a
gradient far less than the stream channel, and ultimately dropped
this elevational distance through penstocks, or pressure pipes, down
to the impulse wheels in the powerhouses.
The headwater of the South Fork of Bishop Creek are confined in
Bluff Lake and South (Hillside) Lake. Lake Sabrina impounds water
from the Middle Fork of Bishop Creek, and Longley Lake collects a
portion of the McGee Creek flow that is diverted into the Bishop
Creek System. The reservoirs of Bishop Creek all collect and store
snow-melt from the high Sierra crest keeping it ready for release
when needed. Thus, water stored during high flow, which is usually
during winter and spring, can be release during summer and fall low
flow periods.
Waters from Green Creek and Bluff Lake are diverted to South Lake on
the South Fork of Bishop Creek. From the South Fork Dam to
Coates Meadow (a distance of seven and one half miles), the stream
travels the natural channel toward its confluence with the Middle
Fork. The South Fork Bishop Creek dam and flowline diverts a portion
of this water from Coates Meadow around the east end of Table
mountain into a stablizing resorvoir (Intake2). Water from Lake
Sabrina flows the natural channel from the dam outlet into Intake 2
(a distance of approximately four miles). Waters from Birch and
McGee creeks enter the system below Intake 2.
From this point on, the water transportation pattern is repeated
from plant to plant: water is taken from an intake or equalizing
pond and tranported via flowlines and penstock to the next plant. In
this way, the water of Bishop Creek is used five times on it's
journey down the steep canyon to the edge of Owens Valley. From
Intake 2 to the tailrace at Plant 6 the water drops 3,590 feet.
After leaving Plant 6, the water is used for irrigation before final
disposition into the Owens River.

For most of its history, Bishop Creek was a fairly remote place, and
as initially conceived, the electrical generators of the Bishop
Creek System required the constant presence of operators. The
need for large operator/maintenance crews coupled with the remote
location led to the development of communities of worker housing
around the plants. By the 1960s, two things occured that portended
irretrievable change to the character of worker life on the Bishop
Creek System. First, in 1965-66 a new two lane all weather highway
(new Highway 168) was constructed between Bishop and Lake Sabrina.
Old Highway 168 (the County Road) was the through access road for
the Bishop Creek Hydroelectric System; it passed directly through
the community of worker housing and operating headquarters
surrounding Plant 4. Sections of this road, especially those between
Plants 3 and 4, were one lane with no turnouts. The new Highway 168
is an all-weather two lane road with wide shoulders and minimal
curves that completely bypasses the treacherous parts of the old
road between Plants 3 and 4. This new road provides a much quicker
and safer commute between the town of Bishop and the Bishop Creek
facilites, and prompted many of the System workers to relocate to
Bishop where schools, shopping and other "urban" amentites were
available. Also about this time, measures to enable a more automated
System operation were intiated; these changes would eventually lead
to the 1994 Eastern Automation Project. The new road and the move
toward automation combined to eliminate the need for worker housing
at the powerhouses, and in 1978-79 houses at Plants 2, 3, and 5 were
removed. A substantial community of worker housing is still present
at Plant 4 along with most of the System operations headquarter
offices and support facilites. A smaller community of wokrer housing
is present at Control Station, and a single home is present at Plant
6.

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Although numerous additions, modifications, and deletions of
ancillary structures have occured, the Bishop Creek System looks and
operates much as it did in 1913 when the last powerhouse (Plant 6)
was completed. Some modification to the exterior appearance of
several of the powerhouses, and replacement of the original
wood-stave flowlines has also ocurred.
The visual character of the System owes much to the dramatic
backdrop of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains and the glaciated
terrain of Bishop Creek. The System itself is less visible to the
visiting public because most of the more interesting buildings were
nestled down in the canyon adjacent to Bishop Creek and have been
bypassed by the new highway. Nevertheless, the System is now an
integral paret of the local landscape and remains today an useful
power generation contributo the the Southern California market.
Lake Sabrina was drained in the Fall of 2004 so the outflow
structure at the northeast end of the dam could be rebuilt. In the
Spring of 2006, the lake was once again empty so redwood facing
could be covered with a pvc membrane to prevent leakage.