National Register of Historic Places

Lake Tahoe Dam

Tahoe City, Placer County, California
Listed
March 25, 1981
Type
Structure
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
81000713

About this property

Lake Tahoe Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Truckee River, at the outlet of Lake Tahoe in Placer County, California. Tahoe Dam regulates the top six feet of Lake Tahoe, and distributes the water into Tahoe's primary outflow, the Truckee River. The dam is located in Tahoe City and serves as the main storage facility for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Newlands Project that also includes the Lahontan Dam and two diversion dams, providing irrigation water for 55,000 acres (22,000 ha) of cropland mainly in the Lahontan Valley of western Nevada. The present Lake Tahoe dam replaced an older, privately owned dam built in 1870 at roughly the same location. The dam was built between 1909 and 1913 and stands 18.2 ft (5.5 m) high and 109 ft (33 m) long, raising Lake Tahoe by up to 10.1 ft (3.1 m). Outflows from the dam are regulated by a gated spillway with 17 bays, with a maximum release capacity of 2,100 cubic feet per second (59 m3/s). It is situated 400 feet downstream from the lake's natural shore. This is meant to help hydraulic control during a dry season with low water levels. The reservoir receives water from a catchment of 505 mi2 (1,310 km2) and has a maximum storage capacity of 732,000 acre⋅ft (0.903 km3).

Location

Tahoe City, Placer County, California
39.16702, -120.14492

Categories

AGRICULTURECONSERVATIONENGINEERING
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Outlet Gates and Gatekeeper's Cabin
Listed
0.1 mi
Watson Log Cabin
Industrial
0.4 mi
Chapel of the Transfiguration
Industrial
0.9 mi
Sugar Pine Point State Park
Modern
8.1 mi
Summit Soda Springs
Listed
11.1 mi

Questions about this property

When was Lake Tahoe Dam listed on the National Register?

Lake Tahoe Dam was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 25, 1981.

What type of historic resource is Lake Tahoe Dam?

Lake Tahoe Dam is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Lake Tahoe Dam?

The period of significance for Lake Tahoe Dam is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Lake Tahoe Dam?

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