Newlands Project Improvements, CCC Camp Carson River – Fallon NV

Description

“The Newlands Project (originally the Carson Truckee Project) is considered Nevada’s greatest reclamation project. The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District has operated the irrigation system since 1926. By the 1930s, the Newlands Project needed to be enlarged and overhauled if Fallon Farmers were to stay in business. The bureau was also concerned with the efficiency of irrigation systems in the Pershing County Water Conservation District in Lovelock, the Washoe County Water Conservation District in Reno, and the Walker River Irrigation District in Yerington.

By 1935, five Bureau of Reclamation CCC camps had been established to store water and enlarge and upgrade existing irrigation systems. Concerned farmers were relieved by the prospect of receiving federal help. After falling on hard times, few of them were able to repay their construction loans to the bureau, let alone maintain the canals and ditches that delivered water to their land. The Newlands Project had particularly serious problems. Poor drainage and alkaline fields hindered crops on lower Lahontan Valley farms. Saturated fields hindered crops on lower Lahontan Valley farms. Saturated fields meant poor crop yields and net operating losses. Since farmers were unable to shoulder the costs of the improvements, the Civilian Conservation Corps was the answer to their prayers.

Camps Newlands and Carson River worked primarily in the Fallon and Fenley areas. While Camp Carson River concentrated on improving the spillway at Lahontan Dam, Camp Newlands took on downstream canals and ditches. Camp Newlands also provided the labor force for the Walker River Irrigation system in Smith Valley. At Topaz Lake, the CCC constructed the levee along the east bank of the intake canal, adding an additional twenty thousand acre-feet of water storage. Camps Newlands and Reno also maintained a summer camp at Boca Dam where enrollees worked on the Truckee Storage Project – a Nevada and California joint undertaking.”

–The Civilian Conservation Corps in Nevada

“In addition to the camps associated with the original construction of project features, camps were also built to house the Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees working on the Newlands Project in the 1930s and early 40s. Camp Newlands, BR-34, was located in the city limits of Fallon on a portion of the Newlands Project Facility Yard at 6th and Taylor. This is documented in a Historic American Engineering Record report completed on the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District Facility Yard in 1984. Camp Carson River, BR-35, was located one quarter mile west of Fallon. Both of these camps were year around and housed about 200 men. Among the buildings were barracks, mess halls, kitchens, recreation halls, officers quarters, infirmaries, and headquarters.”

–Evaluating the National Register Eligibility of Cultural Resources in the Newlands Project, Nevada