H. V. Eastman Lake (commonly known as Eastman Lake) is an
artificial lake
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
in the Sierra Nevada foothills of
Madera County, California
Madera County (), officially the County of Madera, is a county at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 156,255. The county seat is Madera.
Madera County comprises the Madera, CA Metr ...
. A small percentage of the northwest area of the
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
is in
Mariposa County
Mariposa County () is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,131. The county seat is Mariposa. It is located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, north of Fresno, east of ...
. The lake was named in honor of Judge H. V. Eastman (1891–1972) who had served as Secretary Manager of the Chowchilla Water District.
The lake formed in from the construction of Buchanan Dam across the
Chowchilla River
The Chowchilla River is a river in central California, United States and a minor tributary of the San Joaquin River. It flows for from the western side of the Sierra Nevada Range to the San Joaquin River system in the San Joaquin Valley.
Most of ...
as a flood control and irrigation project of the
. The earthen dam, high with a length of at the crest, impounding a maximum capacity of 150,000
acre-feet
The acre-foot is a non- SI unit of volume equal to about commonly used in the United States in reference to large-scale water resources, such as reservoirs, aqueducts, canals, sewer flow capacity, irrigation water, and river flows.
An acre-f ...
of
Chowchilla River
The Chowchilla River is a river in central California, United States and a minor tributary of the San Joaquin River. It flows for from the western side of the Sierra Nevada Range to the San Joaquin River system in the San Joaquin Valley.
Most of ...
water in the reservoir, is owned and operated by the Corps.
The damsite was proposed for one of
Project Plowshare
Project Plowshare was the overall United States program for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes. The program was organized in June 1957 as part of the worldwide Atoms for Peace efforts. As ...
's nuclear excavation projects, with a 10-kiloton nuclear explosion proposed under
Project Travois for 1970 to create about of aggregate for dam construction. The proposal was abandoned, and the dam was constructed by conventional means.
See also
*
List of dams and reservoirs in California
Following is a list of dams and reservoirs in California in a sortable table. There are over 1,400 named dams and 1,300 named reservoirs in the state of California.
Dams in service
:''Please add to this list from the below sources.''
Former ...
*
List of lakes in California
There are more than 3,000 named lakes, reservoirs, and dry lakes in the U.S. state of California.
Largest lakes
In terms of area covered, the largest lake in California is the Salton Sea, a lake formed in 1905 which is now saline. It occupies ...
References
Yosemite / Buchanan Dam and Eastman Lake Madera County Film Commission
External links
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Eastman Lake
External links
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Reservoirs in Madera County, California
Reservoirs in Mariposa County, California
San Joaquin River
Reservoirs in California
Reservoirs in Northern California
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