Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec) Sites

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation authorized construction of the Agency Valley Dam, on the North Fork of the Malheur River, in 1933. The Hinman Brothers, of Denver, began work on the 110 foot high, earthen structure in March 1934 and the project was completed in December 1935. The reservoir capacity of the dam project is 59,200 acre-feet. Authorization of the dam was based on the needs of the Vale Project, an irrigation and water control plan serving the Malheur River area. It is the second of three dams serving the project and the only one constructed during the Depression. The Warm...

Beulah Reservoir, also known as Agency Valley Reservoir, was created with the completion of the Agency Valley Damn in 1935. Throughout 1939, the Bureau of Reclamation supervised enrollees at a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) spike camp. They built a stone parapet wall on the upstream crest of the new damn. The spike camp was CCC Camp Vale, or Company BR-45 which worked on the Vale Project. The basalt stone wall runs on both sides of the road that crosses the top of the damn. The stone signature plaque left to commemorate their work is located on the eastern end of the...

The Bureau of Reclamation built the Boca Dam in Nevada County CA in the late 1930s.  It is an earth fill dam and part of the Truckee Storage Project, and it is located one mile north of the confluence of the Little Truckee River and the Truckee River.   Also pictured is the original bridge crossing the Truckee River.  All men and materials had to pass over this bridge for work on the dam. The Boca dam is on the National Register of Historic Places.

"The present construction features of this project are the raising of Arrowrock Dam and spillway for additional storage, and the building of the canal system for the Payette Division. Work has been in progress on Arrowrock Dam during 1936 and is scheduled for completion the latter part of 1937. Contracts have been awarded for eight tunnels on the Black Canyon canal of the Payette Division, four of which are practically complete. Bids have been received and contract will soon be awarded for canal excavation from Station 0 to Station 157. Specifications will soon be issued for canal excavation from...

"Riverton Project, Wyoming - Bull Lake Dam, an 800,000 cubic yard earth and rock fill structure is under contract and is scheduled for completion in January 1938. Some canal and lateral work will probably be done in 1937. H. D. Comstock is superintendent." "The earthen dam was constructed between 1936 and 1938 by the United States Bureau of Reclamation with a height of 81 feet. It impounds Bull Lake Creek for irrigation storage and flood control, as part of the Riverton Unit of the extensive, multi-state Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program. The dam is owned by the Bureau and is operated by...

In 1933, the Bureau of Reclamation, in cooperation with the State of Oregon, investigated the possibility of developing a storage structure on Burnt River to provide a late summer water supply. The project was constructed following the plan developed from this investigation. Authorization The project was found feasible by the Secretary of the Interior on September 25, 1935 pursuant to section 4 of the Act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 836) and subsection B of section 4 of the Act of December 5, 1924 (435 Stat. 702). Funds were provided by the President on August 13, 1935, under the Emergency Relief...

"Caballo Dam, Rio Grand Project, New Mexico -- Caballo Dam on the Rio Grande is now being constructed by the Bureau to provide (1) flood control and river regulation, (2) the development of firm power at Elephant Butte Dam, and (3) additional storage for the Rio Gande Irrigation Project. Construction of the dam was commenced in June 1936 and is scheduled for completion in May 1938. It is a 1,250,000 cubic yard earthfill structure with a maximum height of 90 feet and a total length of 4,500 feet. The reservoir will have a storage capacity of 350,000 acre feet of...

Built in the summer of 1935 and operated through October 1940, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Vale served as the base for CCC enrollees working on the Vale Project's irrigation system. The Bureau of Reclamation's Vale Project involved construction of the Agency Valley Dam, located along the Malheur River and Willow Creek in east-central Oregon. At the dam's completion, the work of the enrollees at Camp BR-45/Camp Vale began. They finished the necessary means of furnishing irrigation water to area ranchers by building the lateral irrigation system to farm tracts in the area. These "soil soldiers," as the Bureau of Reclamation...

The Central Valley Project (CVP) was originally conceived of in the 19th century, but took shape as the "State Water Project" in 1919.  The federal government turned it down in the 1920s, after which it gained approval from the state legislature in 1933.  The Great Depression made it impossible for the state to sell the bonds to finance the system, however, so the federal government stepped back in. Initial financing was provided under the Emergency Appropriations Act of 1935 with the Army Corps of Engineers in charge, but control and construction passed to the US Bureau of Reclamation in water project legislation by Congress in 1937. The...

The Coachella Canal is a 122-mile (196 km) aqueduct that conveys Colorado River water for irrigation to the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, California.  It is effectively a branch of the All-American Canal, which was completed in the 1930s.   Both are arms of the gigantic Colorado River Storage Project, anchored by Boulder Dam, built under the Bureau of Reclamation.  The contract for both canals went to the so-called Six Companies – an alliance of big western construction firms including Kaiser, Bechtel, Utah Construction and Parsons. Contracts were signed in 1936-37 and work began in 1940 but was interrupted by the...

The Colorado-Big Thompson Project (C-BTP) is a massive water storage and transfer project for agriculture, cities and power generation. It involves dams and reservoirs on the west side of the Rocky Mountains' Front Range to collect water from the upper Colorado River system; a tunnel through the mountains under Rocky Mountain National Park; and a series of storage reservoirs, power plants and distribution aqueducts on the eastern side of the Rockies. The project extends over a large area of Grand, Larimer, and Weld counties, and portions of four others.  The C-BTP was built and is still managed by the US Bureau of...

Several New Deal agencies contributed to the construction of the Deerfield Dam in the vicinity of Hill City and the Black Hills National Forest, SD. Construction began before the Roosevelt Administration, continued during the New Deal, and finished after World War II. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, "Construction was started on July 7, 1942, by the Farm Security Administration and was later continued by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Civilian Public Service Camp under the Works Projects Administration during World War II. The facilities were completed by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1947."

"Chain Lakes Project - Montana - Contract for the construction of Fresno Dam across the Milk River has been awarded but no work will be done until the spring of 1937. The dam, for storage and flood control purposes, is of the earth and rock fill type. It will be about 80 feet high and 2,000 feet long, and will contain 1,870,000 cubic yards of material. The storage capacity will be 126,000 acre feet."

The Friant Dam is one of three major dams in the giant Central Valley Project in Northern California, along with Shasta and Folsom, built by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. Initial funding for the CVP came through the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. Friant was aided by funds from the Public Works Administratin (PWA).  The concrete dam, which impounds the San Joaquin River, is 320 feet high and 3,500 feet long at the crest.  The reservoir, Millerton Lake, holds about one-half million acre-feet of water at capacity. The chief purpose of the dam is irrigation water supply.  Water from Millerton Reservoir is shipped...

Hoover Dam, originally called "Boulder Dam", is the anchor of the entire Colorado River water storage and management system.  It lies in Black Canyon (not Boulder Canyon) at the southern tip of Nevada, on the Arizona border, and creates the massive Lake Meade reservoir, the largest in the United States.  It was the first high-arch concrete dam in history, becoming the model for thousands of dams built round the world.  It was constructed under the US Bureau of Reclamation by a joint venture of 8 construction companies (called "The Six Companies"), led by Henry Kaiser and including Bechtel Corporation, Utah...

Imperial Dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation during the New Deal as a feature of the Boulder Canyon Project, along with Hoover Dam and Parker Dam, on the lower Colorado River.  It lies 17 miles above Yuma, Arizona. It is the diversion structure for the All-American Canal, which serves the Imperial Valley and Coachella Valley in Southern California and for the Gila Project in Arizona. The dam is 3500 feet along the crest and 41 feet high at overflow point. The All American Canal headworks has a maximum diversion capacity of 15,000 cfs. The length of the All American canal – so-named because it did not...

The US Bureau of Reclamation built the Moon Lake dam and reservoir in 1935-38. Water supply from the reservoir began in 1938.  The curb and parapet were added in 1940-41. Funding came from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Moon Lake Dam is an earth-fill, rock-faced dam, 101 feet high and with a volume of 513,000 cubic yards.  It dams the west branch of the Lake Fork River and the reservoir covers a former natural lake, also called Moon Lake.  The Uinta Mountains rise dramatically upstream of the lake. Moon Lake reservoir is the principle storage facility for the Moon Lake Reclamation Project...

The US Bureau of Reclamation built the Moon Lake Reclamation Project in 1935-41, with the assistance of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  It provides irrigation water for the the Moon Lake Water Users Association in the Duchesne Valley of northeastern Utah. The CCC established a camp, BR-11, under the sponsorship of the Bureau of Reclamation.  It was located near Bridgeland, a hamlet between Duchesne and Myton, on the north side of the Duchesne River.  There is no recognizable trace of the camp left that we could find. Moon Lake Dam and reservoir, built by the Bureau of Reclamation, is the principle element of...

The US Bureau of Reclamation built the Moon Lake Reclamation Project 1935-41, with the assistance of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  It provides irrigation water for the Moon Lake Water Users Association in the Duchesne Valley of northeastern Utah Moon Lake reservoir is the principle storage facility for the project. Moon Lake Dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation. A secondary storage reservoir, now called Lake Boreham, was created by the CCC-built Midview Dam, The three main distribution canals for the project were built by the CCC:  •The Duchesner Feeder Canal (1934-35), running north-south for 15 miles from the Duchesne River to the...

Midview Dam was constructed between 1935 and 1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), working under the supervision of the Bureau of Reclamation.  It was built as off-stream storage for the Moon Lake Reclamation Project in the Duchesne Valley of northeastern Utah.   Midview Dam is an earthen dam with a height of 54 feet and length of 1900 feet at its crest. The CCC also built a dike 21 feet high and c. 2,500 feet long to secure the reservoir along its northeastern flank.  The dam is owned by the Bureau of Reclamation, but the reservoir is operated by the local...

The Ogden River Project provides irrigation water for 25,000 acres of land along the Wasatch Front around Ogden UT, as well as supplemental water for the City of Ogden. The anchor of the project is Pineview Dam in Ogden Canyon and the resulting reservoir created from the waters of Ogden Creek.   Pineview Reservoir feeds a system of distribution canals to water users on the plains in and around Ogden.   The system is fed by the 5-mile long Ogden Canyon Conduit running down the north side of the canyon wall.  From there, a 25-mile long Ogden-Brigham Canal runs north toward Brigham...

The Ogden River Project provides irrigation water for 25,000 acres of land along the Wasatch Front around Ogden UT, as well as supplemental municipal water for the city of Ogden. The anchor of the project is Pineview Dam in Ogden Canyon and the resulting reservoir created from the waters of Ogden Creek.   The project includes a distribution system of canals branching off from Ogden Creek where it leaves the canyon: the Ogden-Brigham Canal, the South Ogden Highline Canal, and the lesser irrigation ditches that supply the farmers of the Weber Basin Conservancy District. The Ogden River Project was officially approved by...

Parker Dam is diversion dam to channel water from the Colorado River into the Colorado Aqueduct traveling across the Mojave Desert to greater Los Angeles and San Diego. The later are served by a huge wholesale water agency, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD).  MWD contracts for the water from the Bureau of Reclamation and resells it to a multitude of cities and local water districts.  Parker Dam was built by the Bureau of Reclamation from 1934 to 1938, at the same time as it was finishing Hoover (Boulder) Dam and constructing Imperial Dam on the lower Colorado River. "The metropolitan water district...

The Provo River Project was initiated under the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of  1933 (almost surely as a Public Works Administration (PWA) funded project) and approved by President Roosevelt in late 1935.  The Salt Lake Aqueduct was approved in 1938.  Construction began in May 1938 and built by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Most of the features were begun during the New Deal but completed after the Second World War. The key structure of the project, Deer Creek Dam, is located on the Provo River east of...

The Rye Patch Dam lies in the Humboldt River valley, which crosses Nevada from east to west.  The California Trail went along the Humboldt River and the Lovelock Valley has been a gateway for gold and silver prospectors since the 1860s. It has also been home to irrigated farming, which benefitted greatly from the New Deal of the 1930s. The Bureau of Reclamation constructed Rye Patch dam in 1935-36, as part of the larger Humboldt Reclamation Project.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did ancillary work during the final stage of construction of the dam, clearing acres of brush in and around the reservoir...

Casper-Alcova Project, Wyoming - The Casper-Alcova Project is being developed initially to irrigate 35,000 acres of land in the vicinity of Casper Wyoming. The more important features are the Seminoe Dam and power plant, the Alcova Dam and the canal system. The revenues from the power plant are expected to repay a large portion of the cost of the project. the Seminoe Dam is of the concrete arch type, with a volume of about 161,000 cubic yards and a maximum height of 161 feet. The storage capacity of the reservoir will be 1,000,000 acre feet. The Alcova Dam on the...

Shasta Dam is the keystone of the Central Valley Project, a complex of several dams, reservoirs and canals across Northern California.  It is a high-arch concrete dam over 600 feet high and almost 3,500 feet wide at the top, situated in the former Iron Canyon. At the time it was built, it was the second largest dam in the world, after Grand Coulee on the Columbia River (another New Deal project), and it is still the 8th highest in the United States.  It impounds the largest reservoir in California, with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet. Shasta Dam had been originally conceived...

"Carlsbad Project, New Mexico - The Alamorgordo Dam is being constructed on the Pecos River to supply additional storage for the Carlsbad Project. It is an earth and rock fill type of dam with a maximum height of 135 feet and a volume of 1,700,000 cubic yards. The storage capacity of the reservoir will be 115,000 acre feet. Construction of the dam was started in May 1936 and the river was diverted through the completed outlet outlet tunnel in November. The dam is to be completed by January 1938. Wilfred W. Baker is engineer." "Sumner Dam and Lake lie 250 miles...