Rimrock Lake is a lake along the course of the

Tieton River The Tieton River is a tributary of the Naches River, in Yakima County, Washington in the United States. The Tieton River begins in two forks, the North Fork Tieton River and South Fork Tieton River. The North Fork originates at McCall Glacier on ...

, in

Yakima County Yakima County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 256,728. The county seat and largest city is Yakima. The county was formed out of Ferguson County in January 1865 and is named for the Yakama t ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

state, US. The lake is used as a storage

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 ...

for the Yakima Project, an irrigation project run by the

United States 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 ...

. An impoundment of the Tieton River, Rimrock Lake's capacity and discharge is controlled by

Tieton Dam Tieton Dam is an earth and concrete type dam on the Tieton River in Yakima County, in the U.S. state of Washington. The dam began operation in 1925. Its reservoir, Rimrock Lake, has a total capacity of with a normal operating capacity of to provi ...

, a high structure built in 1925. Rimrock Lake's active capacity is .Yakima Project
,

. Upstream from the lake, the Tieton River is impounded by

Clear Creek Dam Clear may refer to: *Transparency and translucency, the physical property of allowing light to pass through Arts and entertainment Music Groups * Clear (Christian band), an American CCM group from Cambridge, Minnesota * Clear (hardcore band), a ...

, another element of the Yakima Project. About downstream from Rimrock Lake the Tieton River is tapped by the Tieton Diversion Dam, supplying water to the Tieton Main Canal. The canal supplies irrigation water to the Tieton Division of the Yakima Project, with excess and agricultural runoff draining into

Ahtanum Creek Ahtanum Creek is a tributary of the Yakima River in the U.S. state of Washington. It starts at the confluence of the Middle and North Forks of Ahtanum Creek near Tampico, flows along the north base of Ahtanum Ridge, ends at the Yakima River near U ...

, west of

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninco ...

. Near the lakes are the communities of Rimrock and Silver Beach. The lake flooded the site of a

Yakama The Yakama are a Native American tribe with nearly 10,851 members, based primarily in eastern Washington state. Yakama people today are enrolled in the federally recognized tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Their Yak ...

village named Miya’wax and portions of the Yakama-Cowlitz Trail which connected the Yakama people east of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

to the

Cowlitz people The term Cowlitz people covers two culturally and linguistically distinct indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest; the Lower Cowlitz or Cowlitz proper, and the Upper Cowlitz / Cowlitz Klickitat or Taitnapam. Lower Cowlitz refers to a southwe ...

west of the mountains.

References

External links

* * Reservoirs in Washington (state) Lakes of Yakima County, Washington Protected areas of Yakima County, Washington Tributaries of the Yakima River {{YakimaCountyWA-geo-stub Wenatchee National Forest Yakama