Lahontan Dam

Finished in 1915, this earth-fill dam was the largest of its kind in the country—one hundred sixty-two feet of packed gravel across a narrows on the Carson River. It was the keystone of the Newlands Project, one of the first federal reclamation works, which pulled Truckee River water through a canal to store it here and water the valley below. The reservoir turned dry Fallon into farmland known for cantaloupes, turkeys, and alfalfa. The same diversions drained Winnemucca Lake and lowered Pyramid Lake—a bargain still argued over today.

What the plaque says

Lahontan Dam, completed in 1915, is the key feature of the Newlands Irrigation Project which has turned Lahontan Valley into one of Nevada's most productive farming and ranching areas. With completion of the dam's powerhouse, the electrical energy needs of Churchill County and the surrounding area were met. The project was one of the first authorized under the Federal Reclamation Act of 1902 and the 1903 construction contract for Derby Dam and the Truckee Canal was the first entered into by the U.S. Reclamation Service, later the Bureau of Reclamation. This undertaking, originally named the Truckee-Carson Project, was renamed the Newlands Project in 1919, in honor of U.S. Senator Francis G. Newlands of Nevada, an ardent supporter of federal reclamation projects and legislation which made them possible. Operations were transferred to the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District in 1926.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Grimes Point — 23 mi
  Hundreds of desert-varnished boulders carved over eight thousand years — the Great Basin's most accessible rock art

More markers nearby

• Hazen — 6.8 mi
• Ragtown — 8.5 mi
• Buckland’s Station — 15 mi
• Churchill County Courthouse — 16 mi