Doble, California: The Boom Town That Refused to Live
Albert E. Snyder, Anita Baldwin, Anna B. Crane, Bairdstown, Baldwin Lake, Big Bear, Big Bear City, Budd Doble, Cactus Flats, Captain J. R. La Mar, Carter's Mountain, Charles Doble, Clara Baldwin, Clara Baldwin Stocker, Doble Cemetery, Edith Daniels, Elias 'Lucky' Baldwin, Frank Doble, Gold Mountain, Harry B. Stocker, Holcomb Fire, Holcomb Valley, Jim Keene, Josephine Earp, Lou Perkins, Lucky Baldwin mine, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Pacific Crest Trail, Rose Budd Doble, Rosebud Doble Mullenger, Sadie Earp, Samuel Baird, Santa Anita Racetrack, Stuart Harold, Verona Baldwin, Vinnie McCormack, W.R. Doble, Walter T. McGinley, William Doble, William Fallon, Wyatt Earp
Lynda Miller
Loved it . Grew up in Big Bear Lake in the 1950’s and was on a large cattle ranch and ran cattle all over this area. Many many memories love that some one is keeping track of this area. Thank you Lynda Dean Miller
Jaylyn
You’re very welcome, Lynda! It’s a beautiful area and very accessible from the desert. You may also want to check out our other Big Bear articles titled Wilbur’s Grave: Death and Taxes in Belleville and Big Bear: Hollywood Super Star. P.S. There’s a horizontal blizzard here in Big Bear right now! Total white out. Love!
Anonymous
I can remember riding motorcycles in the late 60’s and early 70’s in this area and holcomb valley and there still being many old buildings about the back country. I can also remember in the mid 70’s when the forestry service bulldozed it all. I can remember finding hundred year old empty whiskey bottles by the hundreds (which we left where we discovered).
Judimccurdy@gmail.com
As a child we hunted pinion nuts from the trees in that area .I’m old enough to remember the houses that were dilapidated but not yet torn down and lined with Sunday comics from the twenties and earlier for wallpaper. We camped in Holcomb valley every summer and looked for square nails in the old site of Belleville .
Jaylyn
That’s awesome, Judi. Thanks for sharing your memories with us for all to enjoy.
Frank Bell
a long time family friend, Bob Dolch,gave me 10 ledger books that belonged to his grandfather E Dulch who owned the Doble Market. In the ledgers are the names of each customer and what they purchased on each visit along with the amount paid. The ledgers are dated 1900, 1901. Some of the customer names include James Waterman, possible the Waterman family related to Ca Gov Waterman who had a brother named James?
I would love for these to be appreciated by someone or some entity who might be interested in these ledgers?
Jaylyn
Hi Frank! I’m positive the Big Bear Historical Society would love to look at your ledgers! If you don’t want to donate outright, you could always lend them to the museum. We will be glad to put you in touch with the right folks. Thanks for your consideration. Here is a link to their site: https://bigbearhistory.org/
Joy
I’ve been coming to Big Bear since I was a child in the 80’s. Now I live here with my family. We came across this today. We were very interested in discovering who could have been out there and how long ago. All the buildings are gone now. There is no evidence of the past except for this cemetery, a hole in the mountain and rock paved paths. We noticed many patches where trees were cut down some time ago. It appeared as it was inhabited before, but that was just our assumption from what we saw. I want to thank you SO MUCH for your extensive research and information. We LOVE Big Bear and learned so much. We would appreciate any direction you can point us to learn more.
Anonymous
I remember some old buildings still standing on the edge of the lakebed as recent as 2001. They were later demolished when all those mobile homes were built in 2003-2004.