Rye Patch Dam and Reservoir - Lovelock NV

City:: Lovelock, NV
Site Type:: Dams, Infrastructure and Utilities
New Deal Agencies:: Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec), Conservation and Public Lands, Work Relief Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Started:: 1935
Completed:: 1936
Quality of Information:: Very Good
Marked:: Yes
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

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 and putting stone rip-rap on the spillway slope.

The operation and maintenance of the project were transferred from the Bureau of Reclamation to the Pershing County Water Conservation District in 1941.

A rehabilitation program in 1975 enlarged Rye Patch Dam to 78 feet high, with a crest 1,074 feet long. Improvements increased the reservoir`s storage capacity by an additional 23,000 acre-feet, bringing its active capacity to 213,000 acre-feet. It is not clear what visible parts of the present dam are original.

Rye Patch Reservoir became a Nevada State Recreation Area in 1971 and is operated jointly by the Pershing County Water Conservation District and Nevada Parks Department.