Modern Lake Lahontan is a

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 ...

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 northwest

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 ...

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 ...

. It is formed by the

Lahontan Dam The Lahontan Dam is a dam situated on the Carson River in the Carson Desert between Carson City, Nevada and Fallon, Nevada in the United States. Its impoundment is known as the Lahontan Reservoir or Lake Lahontan. It is currently operated by ...

, built in 1905 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 Reclamation Act The Reclamation Act (also known as the Lowlands Reclamation Act or National Reclamation Act) of 1902 () is a United States federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the American West. The act at first covere ...

and is located between

Fallon, Nevada Fallon is a city in Churchill County in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 9,327 at time of the 2020 census. Fallon is the county seat of Churchill County and is located in the Lahontan Valley. History The community was first populate ...

and

Carson City, Nevada Carson City is an independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the sixth largest city in Nevada. The majority of the city's population lives in Eagle Valley, on the ...

. The flows from the Carson River is augmented by the diversions from the

Truckee River The Truckee River is a river in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river flows northeasterly and is long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 20, 2012 The ...

. The reservoir is maintained by the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (TCID). The lake is named after ancient

Lake Lahontan Lake Lahontan was a large endorheic Pleistocene lake of modern northwestern Nevada that extended into northeastern California and southern Oregon. The area of the former lake is a large portion of the Great Basin that borders the Sacramento Rive ...

, which covered much of northwestern

during the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

. Lake Lahontan is 17 miles (27 km) long and has 69 miles (111 km) of shoreline. It consists of several lobes connected by narrow straits. When full, it has approximately 10,000 acres (40 km²) of surface area, although it is usually less than half full by late summer. As no

water rights Water right in water law refers to the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentious ...

have been allocated for

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...

, the TCID could completely drain the lake to supply its

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 ...

customers. Submerged beneath the water were parts of stagecoach routes which existed during the 1800s including Williams Station, the scene of the

Battle of Williams Station The Battle of Williams Station was a minor skirmish during the Pyramid Lake War of 1860. The fight took place following the defeat of Major William Ormsby at the First Battle of Pyramid Lake as U.S. Volunteers entered the war. Battle When Major ...

, a minor skirmish during the

Paiute War Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic languages, Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set ...

. A small settlement called "Lahontan" once stood near the reservoir, which in 1940 the

Federal Writers' Project The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. It ...

reported had a population of 25.

Recreation

The lake sits within the

Lahontan State Recreation Area Lahontan State Recreation Area is a public recreation area surrounding Lake Lahontan, a impoundment of the Carson River, located approximately west of Fallon, Nevada. The reservoir features of shoreline and of water when full. Much of the p ...

. Recreational uses include

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, pleasure

boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether Motorboat, powerboats, Sailing, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sp ...

and

camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...

. Much of the shoreline is

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

y and makes for good camping. As it is contaminated with

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

from the Comstock and other mines, consumption of fish from the lake should be limited as per posted guidelines. Primary game fish include wipers (white bass x striper hybrid), white bass, walleye, channel catfish, white catfish, largemouth bass, spotted bass, and crappie. It is stocked with walleye fry and fingerling wipers nearly every year. The best fishing occurs from April through July and October.

Variations

The Carson River enters the lake at its southwestern end. The lake is very shallow there, and the shoreline can vary drastically as the lake empties and fills. The

Derby Dam Derby Dam is a diversion dam built from 1903 to 1905 on the Truckee River, located about east of Reno, Nevada, Reno in Storey County, Nevada, Storey and Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe counties in Nevada, United States. It diverts water into the Tr ...

diverts part of the Truckee River into the Truckee Canal which enters the lake at the northeastern end, immediately adjacent to the Lahontan dam. During the 2017 California floods, the highest inflow in history filled the lake, and a

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

was made to handle outflow. Oversized culverts were quickly put under US95 and lined with

riprap Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. ...

s to let the water cross the road and protect Fallon from flooding.

References

{{authority control Lahontan Lahontan Buildings and structures in Churchill County, Nevada Buildings and structures in Lyon County, Nevada Lahontan 1905 establishments in Nevada