The workers had many social events and recreation at their fingertips, but led an isolated life. Holidays were well celebrated with parties and big dinners prepared by the wives. On Christmas Day at Clipper Gap in 1915, the three shifts of tunnel workers in that area, 125 men, were fed a dinner of creamed oyster soup, roast pig, sage dressing, mashed potatoes, creamed carrots, sugar corn, green peas, hot rolls, raisin biscuits, plum pudding with hard sauce and wine sauce, pumpkin, apple and mince pies, sunkist oranges, assorted nuts, cheeses and coffee. The office and dinning hall were decorated with holly and red and green electric lights with green and red bells in the rafters.
There were also mishaps. An accident report at the Lake Spaulding Development in August 1912 states that a pack mule lost its footing on the trail and fell over the bank and was killed. The mule was being rented from Vic Matthews of Towle and was packing in a crate of cabbage from headquarters to Power House Camp which seemed to have been packed wrong. The mules were tied together and when the pack turned under him, he was pulled off the trail. Matthews was paid $75.00 for the mule.
Ditch capacity was expanded by the construction of Lake Arthur and Lake Theodore. The construction of Lake Arthur was supervised by Jim Martin. The work camp was established March 15, 1909 and actual work time was from May 28 to July 23rd. The work camp was abandoned August 10, and the lake filled by September 1st. Dam construction was completed by 119 men, 76 horses, 3 plows, 12 four-horse fresno-scrapers, 6 two-horse fresno- scrapers, 14 wheel scrapers, 10 dump-wagons, 1 roller, 1 road grader, 1 harrow, and 2 road wagons. All surface rocks and brush were removed. Dirt was taken from the nearby hillsides, packed and watered from a water tank 30 feet above the final crest of the dam. A 2 ½ inch pipe was suspended on uprights from bank to bank for sprinkling. The floor was cut into V shapes to hold tamped dirt and was tamped by hand near the outlet and elsewhere by a large horse-drawn revolving cylinder bristling with tampers. Small rocks were rolled upstream for rip-rap. The larger rocks were rolled downstream for the finished wall of the outside of the dam. The rock face was laid by hand. Repeated samples of dirt were taken by hydraulic engineer James Wise to determine if the dirt would tamp well and hold water. The finished dam was 45 feet high 300 feet long and cost $4,000. The lake had a surface of 8 acres to an average depth of 25 feet, capacity of 6 million cubic feet of water. The dam was 8 feet thick at the top and 168 feet thick at the bottom. The pot hole in the center was filled with rock with a drain pipe outlet covered with 12 inches of concrete around the rim. The outlet pipe was 30 inches in diameter, the gate was concrete. On the upstream face a painted gaugeboard sloped to the bottom with marked figures to show the depth of the water. A row of posts were set along the crest of the dam from bank to bank. The tops were cut to the same height so they could see if the dam settled and by how much. Lake Arthur was the beginning of the Fiddler Green Ditch, and was named for W. R. Arthur, who was Assistant Manager of Placer County Water District. Arthur came to Auburn as a boy and knew the George Reamer family. Mrs. Reamer (Reamer St. in Auburn is named for this family) was his Sunday School teacher.
During the construction of the lake, about a half a mile of county road was built around the side of the lake. This later became part of the Lincoln Highway.
Halsey and Wise powerhouses were started together in 1913. At Halsey, one million dollars was spent in four months, with 30% of the work done in April 1913. The powerhouse was of steel frame reinforced concrete. The projects seven tunnels were begun in December 1915 and employed 150 men. Aggregate length of the tunnels was 9,430 feet with steel penstocks 72" in diameter. Power was generated by a Francis type 18,000 HP Allis-Chalmers turbine and 12,500 KVA electric generators with a maximum static head of water of 342 feet. The turbine was a variation on the Pelton wheel for maximum power.