The Old Mission Dam is a historic water impoundment structure in

Mission Trails Regional Park Mission Trails Regional Park is a open space preserve within the city of San Diego, California, established in 1974. It is the sixth-largest municipally owned park in the United States, and the largest in California. Description The park cons ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. It was built about 1803 to impound the

San Diego River The San Diego River is a river in San Diego County, California. It originates in the Cuyamaca Mountains northwest of the town of Julian, then flows to the southwest until it reaches the El Capitan Reservoir, the largest reservoir in the river's ...

to provide water for irrigation of the fields associated with the

Mission San Diego de Alcalá Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá ( es, Misión San Diego de Alcalá) was the second Franciscan founded mission in The Californias (after San Fernando de Velicata), a province of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, California, it w ...

, the first Spanish mission in what is now The State of California. It was the first major colonial-era irrigation project on the Pacific coast of 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 ...

. The surviving remnant of the dam was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1963.

Description and history

The Old Mission Dam is located about northeast of the site of

, in the hills northeast of San Diego. It spans the

, which was historically a seasonal body of water which dried out in the summer. The dam is built out of stone and cement, and was , at its base and as originally built. The dam created a body of water behind it, which would undergo controlled releases when the river otherwise ran dry. A tile channel to the mission fields was also built, in order to minimize water loss in the sandy soil, but only fragments of this work still survive. Mission San Diego de Alcalá was founded in 1769 by Father Junipero Serra, and was moved to its present surviving site in 1774. By 1800, the mission was a thriving community with 1,500 Christianized Native Americans. The mission suffered three years of drought in 1800-1802, which likely prompted construction of the irrigation project. The works probably reached their greatest extent in 1817, including the tiled aqueduct and other features lost to time and vandalism. The dam and aqueduct were reported to be in ruins in 1867, but the dam was repaired in 1874 and again put to use for a time. The dam is now part of

, the largest municipal park in California. Old Mission Dam is also a registered state historic landmark.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Dams in California San Diego River Buildings and structures in San Diego Dams completed in 1803 National Historic Landmarks in California National Register of Historic Places in San Diego 1803 in Alta California 1803 establishments in Alta California

Description and history

See also

References