In 1886, a group of Michigan lumberman, headed by L. P. Swift, C. B. Shaver and the Mussick brothers, began acquiring thousands of acres of rich timberland in the Stephenson Creek area of Fresno County.

In the spring of 1891, the company began constructing a dam on Stephenson Creek, thus creating Shaver Lake, then a logging pond several miles long. The construction of the famous flume was begun at the base of the dam.

First, several hundred feet of the 25-foot high, V-shaped flume were completed, then enough water turned in to float the lumber down to the end to build the next section. In this way, it carried lumber to build itself 48 miles down to the 60 acres of hot drying yards in Clovis. Much of the flume actually hung on the sides of the cliffs on the Tollhouse mountains.

With its completion in 1891, a huge lumber industry was spilled on the grain fields 11 miles northeast of Fresno, an industry employing some 200 men with no place to eat or sleep. Soon a planing mill, box factory, warehouses, dry kiln, offices, work-horse stables, pastures and cottages were built. (these actually had sinks, bathrooms and hot and cold water for the company executives.) Such were the first buildings of Clovis, named after Clovis Cole (1858-1939), the largest grain grower in the area.