Salmon Dam

The developers named the project for a bigger river than they had. The Twin Falls Salmon River Land and Water Company called it the Salmon River Tract because the name sounded better; its water came from Salmon Falls Creek, a far smaller stream. The concrete arch, finished in 1910, backed up a reservoir of 180,000 acre-feet that the creek could not fill and the lava walls could not hold. Water first reached Hollister on May 26, 1911, and some 19,000 acres were watered by 1912. The dam is on the National Register.

What the plaque says

Salmon Dam Constructed in 1910 about 8 miles west of here, Salmon Dam was a spectacular early irrigation structure. 220 feet high, it blocks a narrow lava gorge of Salmon Falls Creek. Intended to create a large reservoir to irrigate desert lands north of here, it was only a partial success. Porous lava canyon walls let water escape around it, and lack of rainfall in Nevada's desert above here provided less then enough moisture for this reservoir. It did not fill up until 1984. 240 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Jackpot — 12 mi
  A casino town made by an Idaho law, a mile inside the Nevada line, that still keeps Idaho's clock.

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