Dams 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...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) constructed a dam in Agnes Township, Grand Forks County, North Dakota, just north of Orr. A geographic feature resembling the exact description below can be observed in satellite imagery today, although the impounded reservoir appears to be nearly dry and is most likely not in use. "The Agnes township dam is located near the city of Orr and will be used as the center of a recreational park, for which the city has purchased 40 acres of land. It drains 1.5 square miles, contains 2.5 acres in the reservoir, which is 1,100 feet long and...

Completed in 1936 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, what is now known as Amsden Lake was developed as a reservoir during the Great Depression. The dam "was built at a cost of $207,000 of clay faced with stone. The Federal Government supplied $150,000, the county $45,000 and the city of Aberdeen $12,000." (NYT) South Dakota Magazine: "Amsden Dam near Andover is a pretty little lake with humble roots. The 235 acre lake sits behind a Works Progress Administration dam. The dam was started in 1934, while South Dakota was in the grip of the Dust Bowl and the nation was mired...

A Works Progress Administration project improved a natural swimming pool in Barron City Park—today Anderson Park—on the Yellow River in Barron, Wisconsin, adding rip-rap and concrete as well as building a bathhouse and a kitchen on the peninsula overlooking the swimming area. Workers also built a foot bridge connecting the peninsula to the main park, where they graded and resurfaced the parking lot and added tennis courts. All of this was completed with Works Progress Administration labor and funds in 1937-38. Federal contributions came to a total of $3,477 with $3,070 in labor and $407 in other costs, and local contributions...

Refurbishing of Reading, Pennsylvania's former Angelica Dam was made possible by the WPA. The dam was damaged in 2001 and is no longer extant.

"Anita Dam and Reservoir, features of the Huntley Project, are located 6 miles southeast of Ballantine, Montana near Billings. This offstream storage dam was completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937. Water is released from Anita Reservoir into the Reservoir Canal which flows across Fly Creek to the vicinity of Pompeys Pillar . As the first representative of the United States in the Upper Missouri Valley, Captain Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition scratched his name and the date of July 25, 1806 on Pompeys Pillar, a large rock landmark overlooking the Yellowstone River. The Crow Indian Reservation...

Refurbishing of Reading, Pennsylvania's Antietam Dam, which created the Antietam Reservoir, was conducted by the WPA.

Also known as Wild Horse Creek dam, the dam impounding what is now Apache Lake in Wild Horse Canyon was one of many dams the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) created in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. Per The Daily Oklahoman, Jul. 1934: "Wild Horse creek dam, since it is within the large buffalo pasture, will not be open to the public soon." (A permit was required to visit the lake.) "It has been stocked with fish. Located at the base of Mount , this lake should prove popular when it is possible to open it for use of the public. The...

"Apalachia Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The dam is the lowermost of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to provide emergency power for aluminum production during World War II. While the dam is in North Carolina, an 8.3-mile (13.4 km) underground conduit carries water from the dam's reservoir to the powerhouse located 12 miles (19 km) downstream across the state line in Polk County, Tennessee."   (wikipedia)

The Arkabutla Dam and reservoir project was the second of three projects for flood control management of the Yazoo-Tallahatchie-Coldwater river systems in Mississippi. The Army Corps of Engineers directed the $10,000,000 project. In order to construct the dam and reservoir, the town of Coldwater had to be relocated a mile further south. Approximately 700 residents were relocated at a cost of $250,000. The earthen dam is 11, 500 feet long, average of 67 feet high, and 482 feet wide at the base. Contracts were let to H. N. Rodgers & Son, Forcum-James, and Pioneer Contracting. Patton-Tully Transportation was awarded a...

Built 1938-39 under the Flood Control Act of 1936, following catastrophic local floods in 1935, and still in use. Federal cost was $1,910,000. C.C.C. built a camp nearby for the construction workers,

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) developed the Atlantic City Reservoir in Absecon, New Jersey. At one point 1,200 WPA employees were working on the project.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Glade Creek Dam in Babcock State Park in Clifftop WV. Babcock State Park contains 46 New Deal/CCC era resources on 4,127 acres near Clifftop, Fayette County, West Virginia. The land was purchased from the Babcock Coal & Coke Company to create a state park. CCC Company 1522 established Camp Beaver on 14 May 1934 lasting until 14 August 1937. Camp Lee was occupied by CCC Company 532 on 10 July 1935, and remained active until late 1941 or early 1942.  

The Winooski River Local Protection Project in Vermont, a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) undertaking, entailed "replacing an old timber dam at Montpelier by a small concrete dam (now called Bailey Dam) with tainter gates." The project is located on the Winooski River west of Main Street.  It was built sometime between 1934 and 1938.

The Bangor dam "was built on the site of Treat Falls in 1875. It about 1,006 feet long with 800 feet of timber crib spillway and 200 feet of concrete spillway on the easterly end. The timber spillway being 2 feet lower than the concrete spillway was fitted with flashboards. The first fish way was built around 1923 between the timber and concrete spillways. The second fish way was constructed in 1936 with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) office funds."   (www.maineatlanticsalmonmuseum.org) The dam and the associated water works fell out of use in the 1960s and have since largely deteriorated....

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Bankhead Lock and Dam (Lock 17) on the Black Warrior River in the vicinity of Birmingham. “Dam no. 17 on the Warrior River has improved the navigability of the river. This dam is being constructed by PWA.”

In 1927, the Metropolitan District Commission, which is the water works agency for the city of Hartford, Connecticut, purchased land on the Farmington River, northwest of the city, to construct a dam and reservoir. In order to build the dam, many people had to be moved off of the land around the area where the dam was being built and surrounding areas that were to be flooded. This was a difficult and controversial process, but the dam was seen as more important to the greater good of the region. As it turned out, when the Great Depression hit, many families...

Surrounding the city of Cumberland, Beaver Dam Lake (or Che-wa-cum-ma-towangok, "Lake Made by the Beavers") is both the deepest lake in Barron County and had served as a hub for the sawmills in the area since 1880. Testimony by engineer K.C. MacLeish to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission revealed that by August 10, 1936, the elevation of Beaver Dam Lake had dropped from normal levels of approximately 96.0 feet to 85.8 feet. At MacLeish's recommendation, the Wisconsin PSC approved a Works Progress Administration to widen an old diversion ditch from nearby Duck Lake to help raise the level of Beaver Dam...

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the Beaver Lake dam in 1936. The dam is part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route. It was designed to raise the level of Beaver Lake and create a navigable channel that could be traveled by canoe between Beaver Lake and Lake Alexander. A registration form of the National Register of Historic Places reports on the condition of the dam as of 1992: "The Beaver Lake Dam was built on the outlet stream of Beaver Lake, 75 feet down stream from the lake outlet. Its purpose was to improve the navigability of the canoe route by raising...

In 1929 the Linden Irrigation District was incorporated and established plans to divert  water from the Calaveras River at Bellota, a community about five miles east of Linden,  and create a series of percolation dams to restore the depleted ground water table in the area.  There had been an early dam in the same vicinity, built in 1905, but it washed out within a year.  A Civil Works Administration (CWA) project was authorized late in 1933 to construct the Bellota Dam and clean out the channel of the Calaveras River.  Local opposition to the plan resulted in an injunction against the project, which...

WPA Bulletin, 1937: "A 12-acre pond is included on the land. WPA workmen have completed construction of a dike to hold in this water and in the winter the spot can be used for winter sport purposes."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) pursued a number of improvements at Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota in 1938. Initial improvement plans called for the “construction of a bathhouse, facilities for picnicking and camping and general recreation.” The WPA also built dams and other structures.  In what was then called Mounds Springs Recreational Reserve, “workers in the WPA (Works Progress Administration) built five structures: a latrine and the upper and lower dams on Mound Creek, which created Upper and Lower Mound Lakes. The rustic style of the structures features native materials such as locally quarried quartzite. Rustic-style architecture, as defined by...

The Bluestone Dam began by an executive order of FDR in 1935 with work beginning in 1941 on the dam itself. The Bluestone Dam is constructed with concrete reinforced by steel rods. A unique feature of the dam was the first use of blowing air bubbles into the concrete to help protect from freeze damage. The same technique was used in later dams throughout the nation. In 1997, the Bluestone Dam was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places for federal flood control program of the early to mid-twentieth century, its association to the New Deal programs. It...

"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...

The state acquired the land for Bonham State Park in 1933 from the City of Bonham. The Civilian Conservation Corps developed the 261-acre park, landscaping the rocky, hilly terrain for erosion control and recreational purposes, and constructing an earthen dam to impound a sixty-five-acre lake. CCC Company 894 constructed buildings of local cream-colored limestone and Eastern red cedar, working under the supervision of Bonham architect Joe C. Lair and San Antonio architect William C. Caldwell. The overall design exhibits a WPA rustic style. The CCC built the entrance portal, concession building (currently the park headquarters and storage facility), waterfront storage building...

Between 1935 and 1936, approximately one hundred check dams were constructed in Brand Park in Glendale, CA by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The dams were built in response to a devastating 1934 flood which caused loss of life and severe property damage in Glendale.  One of these dams, a thin arch dam measuring 170 feet long and 28 feet high, was believed to be one of the largest stone dams in the country at the time of its construction in 1936. As of 2024, many of the check dams are extant or partially extant along several of the hiking trails...

The CCC conducted extensive work on Breakheart Reservation to turn it into a public park. From the Friends of Breakheart Reservation website: “undreds of men lived and worked here, paid $30 a month, out of which they kept $5 and sent the rest home to their families. It was the CCC who helped develop this land into a recreational area with bridle paths, trails, and picnic areas.” From Wikipedia: "In 1934 the executors for Johnson and Clough sold the Breakheart Hill Forest to the Metropolitan District Commission for upwards of $40,000. The MDC then turned the land over to the Civilian...

The CCC assisted in the development of this state forest. From Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: "This rustic shelter is the only one of its type still remaining. Dingley Dell Dam was another important CCC project at this forest, where there are many CCC camp buildings still remaining."

The CCC laborers completed Ogle lake between 1934 and 1935. The workers also created an earth dam and spillway.

The New Deal dam in Coggon, located in northeastern Linn County, was replaced in 1967 by the current dam, known as the Buffalo Creek Park Dam.41 The New Deal dam was built in order to restore Manhattan Lake in Coggon. Construction began in September 1934 with labor supplied by FERA. Although the date of completion was not discovered, it was originally estimated that the dam would take four months to construct, suggesting an expected completion date in early 1935. However, just as with the FERA dam in Quasqueton, the construction of the Coggon Dam took considerably longer than originally estimated....

"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...

Panther Creek Dam, also known as Burford Lake Dam, was one of many dams the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) created or improved in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. Per The Lawton Constitution, Aug. 1933: "C.C.C. workers have moved the scene of their activity. Panther creek dam, located three miles east of the forest headquarters, is being raised 10 feet and the old dam is being strengthened. A new head gate is being installed. This job is about half completed. Approximately 50 men are being worked on this one job." The CCC structure was intended to replace the original Burford Lake Dam, which...

"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...

According to the West Virginia Department of Commerce: “Cacapon Resort State Park was the first CCC state park to be completed. Camp Morgan was established October 4, 1934 in what is now the main picnic area in the park. The land was devastated by clear-cutting of the timber and by poor agricultural practices of small subsistence farmers during the Great Depression. The men were responsible for the construction of 27 miles of roads and trails within the park, bath house, lake, dam and beach, picnic areas and shelters, stables, supply house, staff residences and rental cabins. The 12-room Old Inn was...

Caddo Lake Dam, originally known as Headquarters Dam, was one of many dams the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) created or improved in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. Per The Daily Oklahoman, Jul. 1934: "НEADQUARTERS dam was completed May 12 and has not had time to be filled with water. Plans have been made to stock it with fish as soon as possible. This structure is 150 feet in length and is 30 feet high. Located within a mile of the reservation headquarters, the lake to be formed will be near the main highway through the federal preserve." This description is consistent with...

Camas National Wildlife Refuge lies in southeast Idaho along the Camas River and just west of the Grand Tetons of Wyoming.  Its 10,000 acres are half lakes, ponds, and marshlands and half grass sagebrush uplands, meadows, and farms.  It is a major viewing site for swans, geese and curlews, among other birds and wildlife. Camas NWF was created under the New Deal in 1937.  Lacking further details, we can only say it is likely to have been enacted by a presidential Executive Order and carried out by the Bureau of Biological Survey, as were most wildlife refuges of the New Deal....

The Works Progress Administration / Work Projects Administration (WPA) conducted extensive construction and development work at what was Camp George West, now a historic district, outside Golden, Colorado. Per a DoD survey, the WPA did the following: Description: Construct and improve buildings and facilities; Project No. 165-1-84-113; Cost: $73,552.00; Sponsor: Colorado State Military Department Construct bridges, tables, benches, roads, garbage racks, and desks; construct water storage facilities, paint; connect ranges, refrigerators, and hot water heaters at Camp George West; 165-1-84-217; $78,276.00; Colorado State Military Department Construct garage; 165-1-84-87; $39,933.00; Colorado State Military Department Improve camp facilities; 65-1-84-2220; $27,769.00; Colorado State Military Department Make...

Both the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) contributed to the development of Canyon Lake Park in Rapid City, South Dakota. "Canyon Lake Park was developed around the 1890s by the Upper Rapid City Company, who planted the Lombardy poplar trees that still line the roads of the park. Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy was a partner in the company that planned to develop Rapid Creek and Canyon Lake as a resort with a hotel and a railroad from the downtown area. The lake flooded out in 1907, and thirty years later the WPA rebuilt the lake and dam, adding...

"One of the biggest undertakings took on was the building of Cat Creek Dam. Knowing water is a viable commodity in the desert, these men saw the uncontrolled use and abuse from being overgrazed and where deep-rooted sage was replaced with shallow rooted grasses and willows. The CCC men laid approximately 40,000 feet of pipe to carry the water from the back areas. They also built a dam to contain the water."

The Omaha World-Herald announced in the June 13, 1933 edition that Nebraska’s sixth Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp was approved in Washington D.C. and that it would be located near Valentine. Officials arrived in September to make arrangements for the establishment of the camp at the Federal Game Preserve, three miles east of town (the present Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge). The camp, as planned in 1933, would consist of seven buildings to provide comfortable quarters for the 200 men and camp officers who would reside there. The camp, designated for soil erosion projects, would house young men in barracks measuring...