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  • Agency Valley Dam - Vale OR
    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...
  • Amsden Dam and Lake - Andover SD
    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...
  • Angelica Dam (demolished) - Reading PA
    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 - Pompeys Pillar MT
    "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...
  • Antietam Dam Refurbishing - Reading PA
    Refurbishing of Reading, Pennsylvania's Antietam Dam, which created the Antietam Reservoir, was conducted by the WPA.
  • Apalachia Dam - Murphy NC
    "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)
  • Arkabutla Reservoir Project - Coldwater MS
    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...
  • Arkport Dam and Reservoir - Arkport NY
    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,
  • Atlantic City Reservoir - Absecon NJ
    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.
  • Babcock State Park: Glade Creek Dam - Clifftop WV
    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.  
  • Bailey Dam - Montpelier VT
    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.
  • Bangor Dam, Fish Spillway (demolished) - Bangor ME
    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....
  • Bankhead Lock and Dam (Lock 17) - Black Warrior River AL
    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.”
  • Barkhamsted Reservoir and Saville Dam - Barkhamsted CT
    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...
  • Beaver Dam Lake Diversion - Cumberland WI
    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...
  • Beaver Lake Dam - Admiralty Island AK
    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...
  • Bellota Dam - Linden CA
    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...
  • Bemis Pond Reservoir - Chicopee MA
    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."
  • Blue Mounds State Park Improvements - Luverne MN
    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...
  • Bluestone Dam - Hinton WV
    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...
  • Boise Project - Blacks Creek ID
    "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...
  • Bonham State Park - Bonham TX
    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...
  • Breakheart Reservation - Saugus MA
    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...
  • Brimfield State Forest - Brimfield MA
    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."
  • Brown County State Park: Ogle Lake - Nashville IN
    The CCC laborers completed Ogle lake between 1934 and 1935. The workers also created an earth dam and spillway.
  • Buffalo Creek Park Dam - Coggon IA
    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....
  • Bull Lake Dam - Wind River Indian Reservation WY
    "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...
  • Caballo Dam - Truth or Consequences NM
    "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...
  • Cacapon State Park - Berkeley Springs WV
    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...
  • Camas National Wildlife Refuge - Hamer ID
    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....
  • Cat Creek Dam and Reservoir - Hawthorne NV
    "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."
  • CCC Camp - Valentine NE
    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...
  • CCC Camp Greene - Xenia OH
    CCC Camp Greene was located on W. 2nd St. in Xenia, OH from 1935 to 1942. CCC boy Harold Kilgore's CCC papers (pictured below) lists some of the activities the CCC engaged in from Camp Greene, including: fence construction, timber stand improvement, tree planting and building temporary dams.
  • CCC Dam and Pond - Culloden WV
    "SCS-10 Camp Cabell was located in Cabell County about two miles east of Milton on bottom land of the Thomas Joseph Berkeley farm, south of US Rt. 60 and between the highway and the railroad tracks... Due to its location, the camp was able to obtain water service from the Town of Milton. The camp was occupied July 31, 1939 by CCC Company 1512 which had been transferred from Camp Crawford, SCS-2, Elizabeth, WV. Work on local farms included fence construction, gully treatment, surveying and land preparation for strip cropping. A major project was the construction of a dam, creating a one...
  • CCC Reservoir - Vernal UT
    CCC crews (Camp G-31) conducted work in the vicinity of Vernal, including building this small reservoir, or "CCC Tank."
  • Central Valley Project - Northern California CA
    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...
  • Chabot Reservoir CCC Camp - San Leandro CA
    This New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps camp was built to house CCC laborers as they assisted with infrastructure development and upkeep for the East San Francisco Bay Area water system. In addition to work on water infrastructure, CCC workers at Chabot built fences and managed second growth stumps in the nearby eucalyptus grove.
  • Chadron State Park - Chadron NE
    According to CCC alumnus Charles E. Humberger, quoted in the Nebraska History journal, “guest cabins were constructed and improvements made at the swimming pool and picnic and recreation area. Roads and trails were improved and drainage structures built. Brush dams were built to control soil and stream bank erosion, and the water supply system at the headquarters area was improved. They also carried out extensive rodent control and soil erosion programs on private property north of Chadron.” According to the city of Hemingford, “, one of Nebraska’s most beautiful, was developed to a large degree, by Civilian Conservation Corporation (CCC) forces…”
  • Chatuge Dam - Hayesville NC
    "Chatuge Dam is a flood control and hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Clay County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The dam is the uppermost of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s for flood storage and to provide flow regulation at Hiwassee Dam further downstream. The dam impounds the 7,000-acre (2,800 ha) Chatuge Lake, which straddles the North Carolina-Georgia state line."   (wikipedia)
  • Cherokee Dam - Jefferson City TN
    "Cherokee was built to generate hydroelectric power during the World War II emergency, but it also plays an important role as one of the chain of TVA-managed reservoirs that have prevented billions of dollars in flood damage over the years... Construction of Cherokee Dam began in Aug. 1, 1940, and was completed on a crash schedule on Dec. 5, 1941."  (www.tva.gov) It is located on the Holston River between Grainger County and Jefferson County.
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