Dry Lake, October, 1963

The photos below were taken by Claude Suttle and developed in October 1963.

Here's Mr. Suttle's shot from 1961 for comparison:

In Mr. Suttle's prints made two years later, the lake was dry.

 If you look carefully at the car in the center photo you'll see an early 60s or possibly late 50s auto parked beside Mr. Suttle's house. This suggests the photos of the dry lake were taken about the time they were taken-- meaning the eastern half of the lake was dry in the early 1960s.

Compare Mr. Stuttle's pictures to the ones below, showing the berm as it was being built. The photos appear to be from the 1930s or 1940s-- and apparently the lake wasn't drained as the berm was being made.

A letter in the old Pine Lake Scrapbook that's knocking about somewhere notes the northeastern section of the berm was reinforced in 1953 at a cost of $1000.00. It's possible these photos were made during the reinforcement, but they rather seem to show the initial construction of the berm.

All of this makes me wonder... Why was the lake drained in 1963?

I'd be interesting in hearing from anyone who knows the history of the 1963 draining of Pine Lake.