Dams Sites

The Leominster State Forest area was purchased by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1922. The area was the site of many historic settlements and cellar holes from the 1800s. With the implementation of the New Deal, Leominster State Forest was selected for a number of improvements by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). In particular, Crow Hill Pond, a ten-acre pond located on state Route 31 on the western side of the forest, was the site of many projects. Crow Hill Pond was the work site of the 197th company of the CCC during the years 1936-1938. Captain Dixon led the 197th...

One of the first PWA-funded projects to be approved and completed in Montana was that for a new reservoir for Beaverhead County. The project involved the damming of the Red Rock River, resulting in the formation of the Lima Reservoir. Big Timber Pioneer, a Montana newspaper, reported in January 1934 that the county received a 30% PWA grant toward the completion of the project. The newspaper announced the project's completion by September 1934. The dam was reported to have cost $75,000.

Lincoln State Park was occupied by three New Deal agencies from 1933-1942. The first agency to occupy Lincoln Park was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC Company 1543 was active in Lincoln State Park from 1933-1934. The CCC laborers planted trees and constructed a fire tower, shelters, and a ranger cabin. After the CCC laborers were relocated in 1935, Federal Emergency Relief Administration laborers arrived and continued to build improvements for the park. FERA workers developed numerous fish rearing ponds. Later the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was stationed at Lincoln Park. WPA workers built hiking trails, a service building,...

"At Seneca State Forest, Little Thorny Creek was dammed to form Seneca Lake. The original dam stood 24 feet wide at the top, 16 feet high, and 162 feet long. The CCC constructed the original dam in three months using 116,000 feet of cribbed logs and 4,000 cubic yards of clay."

The first of the four known New Deal dams constructed in the Wapsipinicon watershed, the Littleton Dam, started as a locally funded project. Its construction was supported by the State Fish and Game Commission because the dam fit into the state’s 25-year conservation plan. As originally proposed in August 1933, the state would supply the materials for the dam and a local committee would raise the funds for the labor. Construction of the dam started around November 1, 1933, using locally funded labor. Within days, however, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) was established, and by the third week in November...

Lockhart State Park is located at the southwestern edge of Lockhart, Texas and is administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The park consists of 263.7 acres of land that was purchased by the State of Texas on December 14, 1934. The park was constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 3803 between 1935 and 1938. The park was leased to a local country club until 1948 and then opened to the public as a state park. The CCC built the park residence, the combination building, Park Road 10, a stone arch bridge, a swimming pool, a concrete water storage...

CCC crews built this small recreational lake on Mill Creek in Mark Twain National Forest in 1940. It is at least partially spring-fed and tends to be clear. The dam has a simple concrete spillway. In addition to the lake, the project consisted of a trail around the lake, a campground, and picnic ground.

The Public Works Administration funded construction work at the London Locks and Dam on the Kanawha River, approximately 25 miles south of Charleston. The project was authorized through the River and Harbor Act of 3 July 1930. The Cost of construction was $3,269,800. The locks became operative in September 1933 and were completed in May 1934. The locks contain two parallel lock chambers. The project is currently operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.

“In Oklahoma 326 conservation and flood control dams and hundreds of ponds were built with WPA dollars. Several dams in Oklahoma were built for the primary purpose of conserving water that could be used for multiple purposes. Lake Texoma and Grand Lake both became realities before the end of WPA. The Lugert Dam to create Altus Lake had the initial purpose of providing irrigation. In order to begin work in that location, a CCC camp had to be dismantled, and WPA workers were brought in to ready a camp for the influx of workers anticipated. Creating Altus Lake also made...

"Mansfield Dam (formerly Marshall Ford Dam) is a dam located across a canyon at Marshall Ford on the Colorado River, 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Austin, Texas. The groundbreaking ceremony occurred on February 19, 1937 with United States Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes attending. The dam was a joint project by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and the United States Bureau of Reclamation, with the company Brown and Root the prime contractor. The dam was completed in 1941. Originally called Marshall Ford Dam, the name was changed in 1941 in honor of United States Representative J.J. Mansfield."...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) spent three years developing a dam and attendant reservoir west of Manter, Kansas that was never completed, also known as the "Stanton County lake." Local farmers had also intended to use overflow waters from the dam for irrigation purposes. The dam was intended to impound the waters of Bear Creek. The project underwent setbacks, including a flood that deposited nine feet of silt into what was supposed to be the lake's bed, and even a laborers' strike, which protested the use of machinery that was reducing the man-hours available for the job. According to Rural Kansas,...

Located on the southern portion of the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno is a long concrete dam and irrigation canal that travels east/west through the campus. The dam is located at the southern portion of Manzanita Lake on campus. On the northern wall on the east side of a bridge that spans the canal leading north onto campus is a bronze plaque that reads: 'BUILT BY W.P.A. - 1940 - SPONSOR - UNIV. OF NEV.'. No other information about the canal and dam's history has been located by the Living New Deal. A survey of Google Maps revealed that...

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) helped to create Marquette Lake at Fort Indiantown Gap, PA. "The 15 acre lake is fed by Indiantown Run and was built in 1939 by Pennsylvania National Guard engineers, the Work Project Administration (WPA) and the Pennsylvania Work Administration." "The lake itself was constructed in 1939 to serve as a training site for water landing drills."

Marrowbone Lake, located in the northwest reaches of Nashville, was created by Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers.

The CCC constructed four low water-diversion dams along Martin Creek in Humboldt County, NV. The projects were described as being "in the Winnemucca vicinity," though further clarification of the location of these dams along the long creek is needed.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed what is locally known as the "Mathews Drop structure" northeast of Caliente, Nevada. Its construction was meant to "stop gully erosion along the Meadow Valley Wash, slowing floodwaters and stopping head-cutting along a portion of the Meadow Valley Wash north of Caliente."   The Mathews Drop Dam was so effective that, after many years, Panaca Meadows replaced the huge erosion gully cutting through the valley.

McCormick's Creek State Park received the first Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp in Indiana. The 589th CCC company was active from December of 1933 to July of 1935. After the CCC laborers were relocated in 1935, WPA laborers arrived and continued to build improvements for the park. In 1940 a handful of CCC laborers returned to the camp. The CCC and WPA laborers contributed to a wide range of projects. The New Deal agencies helped create trails, shelters, a bridge, telephone wires, an amphitheater, dams, clearings for campgrounds, cabins, and more. To enhance the outdoors experience projects exhibited designs that...

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees from Company 841 built Meadowlark Lake Dam in 1936, creating both an essential infrastructure project and a community recreation site. While little information exists on the architectural methods used in construction of the dam, the structure “required significant engineering, planning, coordination, and work hours” (Cassity, 74). The dam is located in Bighorn National Forest, where it remains a prominent feature. Today, people utilize the lake created by the dam for picnics, swimming, and recreation.   .

Meridian State Park is located along the 98th meridian on the edge of a natural transition zone between prairie and hill country. The land was acquired from private owners between 1933 and 1935 and the 505.4-acre park opened to the public in 1935. The park is currently administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Meridian State Park was developed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1827(V), comprised of World War I veterans. The CCC developed the park using local limestone and timber, primarily oak and cedar. The CCC built the entrance portal, roads, vehicle bridges, culverts, the concession building, which...

"The Minidoka Project is a series of public works by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to control the flow of the Snake River in Wyoming and Idaho, supplying irrigation water to farmlands in Idaho. One of the oldest Bureau of Reclamation projects in the United States, the project involves a series of dams and canals intended to store, regulate and distribute the waters of the Snake, with electric power generation as a byproduct. The water irrigates more than a million acres (4,000 km²) of otherwise arid land, producing much of Idaho's potato crop. Other crops include alfalfa, fruit and sugar...

Franciscan Monks established the Spanish Mission San Francisco de los Tejas in what is now East Texas in 1690. The monks were forced by the local Indians to abandon the mission in 1693. The monks burned the mission when they left. The discovery of a Spanish cannon barrel led to the park's development near the village of Weches, where the CCC set up a reforestation camp in 1933. The Texas Forest Service developed San Francisco Mission State Forest as a tourist attraction and commemoration of early Texas history, just in time for the Texas Centennial celebration in 1936. Those individuals involved in...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of a dam on the Missisquoi River in Richford VT. Docket No. 827-Vt. The PWA supplied a $59,000 loan and $22,823 grant for the project, whose total cost was $87,177. Construction occurred between Oct. 1933 and Oct. 1935. The exact location and the status of this dam are unknown to the Living New Deal.

From the National Register of Historic Places nomination file: "The 114.24-acre Lock and Dam No. 11 Historic District is made up of a navigation lift lock, a nonnavigable dam, and 37 associated resources. Two general contractors and numerous subcontractors, all employing the maximum number of people possible for a relief work project, built most of the main features of this district between 1934 and 1937. Eagle Point Bridge was already in place when this work began."

From the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: “The administration building and four log cabins built by the CCC at Mohawk Trail were featured in Albert Good’s 1938 book, Park and Recreation Structures, as outstanding examples of CCC rustic design and are still used today.”

The Mono Debris Dam was Built by CCC Co. 2928, Camp Mono, in Los Padres National Forest CA, in the vicinity of Santa Barbara. This debris retention dam was built to protect the Gibraltar Reservoir from sedimentation. Gibraltar Reservoir, on the Santa Ynez River is a major source of municipal water supply for the City of Santa Barbara.  

"Montauk State Park is located on 633 acres of land in the southern portion of Dent County, twenty-one miles southwest of Salem, Missouri. The outstanding natural feature of the park is a spring that forms an excellent trout stream near the head of the Current River. An old mill, rehabilitated by CCC enrollees, is an important historical feature of the park. In addition to working on the old mill, Veterans Company 1770 constructed a dam and bridge, tourist cabins, and other park buildings. Fire, heavy use, and modernization have taken their toll at Montauk, leaving few of the original CCC...

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...

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...

" was originally created from the Morris Sheppard Dam, a project of the Brazos River Authority and the Works Progress Administration. Construction was begun in 1938 and completed in 1941. The dam is 2,700 feet long and 190 feet high. The construction is unique with buttressed arched wings on either side of the nine spillway gates rather than the usual filled concrete." (Wikipedia)

Water Supply for Big Spring TX built by the Works Progress Administration.

WPA funded the construction of a dam and bridge north of the town of Mountain Lake, Minnesota. The dam created what became Mountain Lake itself. The original bridge, with 1938 WPA plaque, is still in use, though now for pedestrians only.

Municipal reports from 1938 and 1939 reported the following WPA activity in Gorham: 1937 Storm drains Alpine St & Promenade St. Water mains Alpine St and to the Island on the east end of Washington St. The town is now able to get W. P. A. assistance and it has been suggested that the following sewers be built: Alpine Street, Promenade and Church Streets, and the Leblanc-Willis sewer. Estimated cost of these projects is material furnished by the town $2907.60 and we recommend this amount be appropriated and raised. All labor for these projects will be furnished by W. P. A. 1938 The new dam at the...

The WPA constructed this "arch hollow type dam" in what is now Murphy Park in Taylor, TX, during the mid-1930s.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)'s Camp Fernow, which housed Company #183, was stationed at Natchaug State Forest in Eastford, Connecticut. The camp was established June 29, 1933 and was discontinued May 28, 1941. Among other projects independently listed on other pages, work included: "tree planting, 8 miles of truck trails, improvements to the Forest Ranger's house, and construction of the Eastern District sawmill, a sawdust and plainer shed, a warehouse, a machine shop, and the 3 lumber sheds that supplied the entire eastern half of Connecticut."

The Norris Dam and reservoir were constructed by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933-1936. It was the TVA's first major project.  It was built in a "modernist style, which was controversial and advanced for the era of construction." In addition to the TVA work on the site, "The Civilian Conservation Corps built recreational facilities and aided in the removal of various structures. The town of Norris, Tennessee was initially built as a planned community to house the workers involved in the construction of this dam."   (wikipedia)

Two New Deal work relief programs: the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) were responsible for the construction of a dam north of Black Mountain, North Carolina, part of a massive project to improve the water supply for Asheville. Work at the site also included construction of a chlorination plant and caretaker's house for said. The status of the structures is unknown to Living New Deal. Asheville Citizen-Times: "Begun Under CWA In 1933, Resumed By FERA In 1934 With completion of the North Pork water line project by forces of the North Carolina Emergency Relief administration recently, the supply...

"Zoo Lake was originally known as Northeast Lake. It is located in the northeast quadrant of Oklahoma City, on Grand Avenue, east of Martin Luther King Blvd. This is a 68-acre lake which is a mecca for bird watchers and fisherman... The lake and the dam were constructed by the WPA in the 1930s. The dam is located on the north side of the lake, and the coordinates shown above are from the dam. A rock spillway is located just south of the dam. In the 1940s, the lake was used for swimming, and folks would come from all over the...

"Nottely Dam is a hydroelectric and flood storage dam on the Nottely River in Union County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The dam is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s as a flood control structure and to help regulate flow at nearby Hiwassee Dam."   (wikipedia)

"Ocoee Dam No. 3 is a hydroelectric dam on the Ocoee River in Polk County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is one of four dams on the Toccoa/Ocoee River owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to meet emergency demands for electricity during World War II."   (wikipedia)

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...