Bass Lake lies within Crane Valley which is primarily fed by Slide Creek and North Fork Willow Creek. During 1854 a lumber mill was set up at Crane Valley which firmly entrenched it as a hotbed of the logging industry. Crane Valley was accessible via a spur of the Millerton-Fresno Flats Stage Road known as the Crane Valley Road. The Crane Valley Road was firmly developed and in frequent use by the 1860s.
The Crane Valley Reservoir (now Bass Lake) was constructed in 1901 as a San Joaquin Electric Company. The initial Bass Lake Reservoir was not deep enough to inundate the roadway through Crane Valley. Bass Lake Dam would be expanded during 1905 and 1910. These expansions forced to the roadway in Crane Valley uphill to the location presently occupied by modern Madera County Road 222. This blog will explore the history of the highway corridor through Crane Valley.
https://www.gribblenation.org/2025/05/madera-county-road-222-at-bass-lake.html?m=1