The Lahontan Dam is a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

situated on the

Carson River The Carson River is a northwestern List of Nevada rivers, Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is long although the addition of the East Fork makes the total length , traversing five co ...

in the

Carson Desert The Carson Desert is a desert in the Lahontan Basin and the desert valley of Churchill County, Nevada (U.S.), which receives an average annual precipitation. The desert is the low valley area (including the Carson Sink in the north of the valley ...

between

Carson City Carson City is an Independent city (United States), independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the List of cities in Nevada, sixth largest ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

and Fallon,

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Its impoundment is known as the

Lahontan Reservoir Modern Lake Lahontan is a reservoir on the Carson River in northwest Nevada in the United States. It is formed by the Lahontan Dam, built in 1905 by the Bureau of Reclamation as part of the Newlands Reclamation Act and is located between Fallon, ...

or Lake Lahontan. It is currently operated by the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District. The Lahontan Dam was built by the

Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

as part of the Newlands Project. It is an earthen structure, high by long and contains of fill. When it was completed in 1915, it was the largest

earth-fill dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...

in the United States. The reservoir receives water from an area of and provides a storage capacity of at spillway crest. An additional can be stored by raising the gates, bringing the total capacity to . The primary purpose of the dam is to impound water for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

use. The site also includes hydroelectric generators with a total capacity of 4,000 kilowatts.NV10123 - Lahontan Dam - Nevada
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History

Construction began as part of the Truckee-Carson Project in 1911 and Lahontan City, Nevada, a

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

, was built for the workers. Water distribution for irrigation began in 1916 and in the same year the project was renamed to the Newlands Project.

References

{{Nevada State Historic Places/Churchill Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada Earth-filled dams United States Bureau of Reclamation dams Dams completed in 1915 National Register of Historic Places in Churchill County, Nevada