[1][2] The large dam created a reservoir over the site of a small natural lake, called Lagunita, that already existed along the course of Temescal Creek in that location in the 19th century, and appears in an 1860 Temescal Survey Map.

[3] In May, 1886 the South Riverside Land and Water Company was incorporated, and it purchased the lands of Rancho La Sierra of Bernardo Yorba, and the Rancho Temescal grant where the colony of South Riverside (later Corona) was laid out.

They also secured the water rights to Temescal Creek, its tributaries and Lee Lake.

Dams and pipelines were built to carry the water to the colony.

[5] Recently it has been called Corona Lake by a fishing enterprise that operates there.