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Crescent Lake Dam Project
State: Oregon
Region: Pacific Northwest
Related Documents
Crescent Lake Dam Project History (35 KB)
Related Facilities
Related Links
Crescent Lake
Weather Conditions (NOAA)
Precipitation
Deschutes River near Madras, Oregon (USGS)
Columbia River Snowpack Summary
Mountain Snowpack Maps for Colombia River Basin
Explanation of Palmer Drought Severity Index (Text)
Streamflows: Crescent Creek at Crescent Lake near Crescent, Oregon (USGS)
Little Deschutes River
Major Storage Reservoirs in the Deschutes River Basin
Palmer Drought Index Map
General
The Crescent Lake Dam Project is composed of lands of the Tumalo Irrigation District on the west side of the Deschutes River near Bend, Oregon. The principal feature of the project is Crescent Lake Dam, located at the outlet of Crescent Lake. The lake is a large natural body of water formed in a glacial deposit high on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range. Canals, pipelines, and distribution laterals in the project furnish a full irrigation water supply to over 8,000 acres of land. Developed by private interests, various project facilities have been rehabilitated by or through the assistance of the Bureau of Reclamation.
History
The history of irrigation in the general project area dates back to 1871 when individual farmers diverted water from Squaw Creek, a tributary of the Deschutes River. Following the simple individual diversions, community irrigation enterprises were developed. At the end of the 1953 irrigation season, storage was further reduced to 36,000 acre-feet, and the outlet gates were difficult to operate. A program of reconstruction was urgently required to ensure both the safety of the dam and a dependable storage water supply to maintain productiveness on district lands. The Deschutes County Municipal Improvement District had its beginning in 1902 as a State project for the irrigation of lands under provisions of the Carey Act. At first, only direct flow from Tumalo Creek was available, but later Tumalo Reservoir was constructed in a dry basin near the upper edge of the project and was to be filled through a 7-mile feeder canal from Tumalo Creek. The reservoir failed to hold water. In 1922, the project was reorganized into the present district organization and, because of water shortages, the acreage was reduced from the initially contemplated area of 27,000 acres to 15,400 acres. On March 9, 1959, the organization changed its name to the Tumalo Irrigation District. To augment the water supply from Tumalo Creek, the storage right of the Walker Basin Irrigation Company at Crescent Lake was purchased, and a reservoir with a capacity of 86,900 acre-feet constructed. A 9.5-cubic-foot-per-second continuous flow water right in the Deschutes River was obtained from the city of Bend. Also constructed at that time was the diversion dam in the Deschutes River at Bend, the Bend Feed Canal, and other physical works. The irrigated acreage has been reduced considerably from the initial plan. A timber-crib dam was built across Crescent Creek at the outlet of Crescent Lake, and storage was begun in 1922. In the intervening years, there had been a steady deterioration in the timbering and fill, and after 1946, storage was limited to 54,860 acre-feet, 32,000 acre-feet less than the reservoir's capacity.
Construction
Reconstruction of Crescent Lake Dam was begun in 1955 and completed in 1956. Rehabilitation of the canal and lateral system began in 1974 and was completed in 1977. Grain, alfalfa, grass hay, and irrigated pasture are the principal crops produced. Crescent Lake lies wholly within the Deschutes National Forest which administers recreation on the reservoir. Located less than 7 miles from the crest of the Cascade Mountain Range, the reservoir area has 1,985 acres of land available for recreational use, and 4,000 acres of water surface provide 21 miles of shoreline. Facilities for camping, picnicking, and boat launching and mooring have been constructed and an area has been designated for swimming. In addition to these facilities, a Boy Scout camp and private cabins have been built at Crescent Lake. A commercial resort has been developed on the reservoir that provides lodging and supplies for visitors. One of the many attractions of the reservoir is the trout fishing. For specific information about recreational opportunities at Crescent Lake click on the name below. http://www.recreation.gov/detail.cfm?ID=1143 Sumner Dam contributes materially to the economy of the area by controlling seasonal floods of the Pecos River. Brantley Dam of the Brantley Project, about 13 miles north of Carlsbad, New Mexico, also provides flood control benefits and also helps project Avalon Dam. Brantley Dam has 335,054 acre-feet capacity assigned to flood control functions. Though some people might consider Oregon to be less arid than the majority of western states, Washington being another notable exception, in fact all the land east of the Cascade Mountain Range in both Oregon and Washington qualifies as part of the region once known as the Great American Desert. Dry, dusty, hot, and hostile, these lands did not easily support the farmers who sought to cultivate them. Irrigation became a necessity for those trying to survive east of the Cascades. These irrigation works began in earnest near the turn of the twentieth-century and took various forms. State, local, and Federal interests all attempted to cultivate land through irrigation with some efforts succeeding while others did not. Failure often forced residents to seek assistance in constructing irrigation works, usually from state or Federal entities, or abandon their lands. The Crescent Lake Dam Project, situated in Klamath and Deschutes Counties, Oregon, consists of the Crescent Lake Dam and nearly one-hundred miles of canals and laterals. Crescent Lake Dam sits on Crescent Creek at the outlet of Crescent Lake in northern Klamath County. A natural body of water, Crescent Lake originates in a glacial deposit high on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountain Range with a drainage area of about fifty-eight square miles. In its natural state the lake was roughly four-miles long and two-miles wide, covering nearly 4,000 acres. In places the water depth exceeded 200 feet. Roughly twenty-five miles of canals and some seventy miles of laterals extend though the project lands in Deschutes County. The project canals and laterals furnish a full irrigation water supply to over 8,000 acres of land in the Tumalo Irrigation District located on the west side of the Deschutes River in central Oregon near Bend. Irrigation water comes from Tumalo Creek, Little Crater Creek, Crater Creek, Three Springs Creek, and the Deschutes River.(1) The archeological record places various native dwellers in the Great Basin, specifically the Crescent Lake area, approximately 12,000 years ago. The Great Basin region-eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and portions of California, Wyoming, and Colorado-provided homes for many different, mostly nomadic inhabitants. The culture of these residents remained relatively contiguous and largely free of outside influence. Eventually, perhaps thousands of years later, these nomadic groups settled into particular areas and established distinct cultures and bands. Over time these early cultures gradually adopted similar languages, allowing them to communicate with each other but yet retain their individual lifestyles. Despite their unique cultures archaeologists classify these linguistically connected bands together as a single tribe, the Northern Paiute.(2) The Northern Paiute settled throughout eastern Oregon and western Nevada about one-thousand years ago. At the time of European contact the Paiute consisted of several culturally and politically distinct cultures bound linguistically, all speaking the Northern Paiute language. These early tribes were semi-nomadic and traversed the region in small bands hunting, gathering, and fishing. Life changed rather dramatically for portions of the Northern Paiute, principally those living in eastern Oregon, during the late eighteenth century when the horse, originally brought to the Americas by Spanish conquistadors and readily taken up by the Plains tribes, made its way to the northern reaches of the Great Basin. The acceptance of the horse by the Plains tribes accelerated the horse`s migration throughout the west. The first group of Northern Paiute to adopt the horse radically altered their culture in response; after traveling with their Northern Shoshone neighbors for many years this portion of the tribe became known as the Bannocks. Not all the Northern Paiute adopted the horse as readily as the Bannocks. Peter Skene Ogden of the Hudson`s Bay Company documented in detail his travel throughout the region as a trapper, including descriptions of the various inhabitants he encountered. Ogden`s 1926 account included a description of a group of Northern Paiute living in north central Oregon near the Deschutes River. This particular band of Northern Paiute that Ogden encountered either used few horses or none at all. Instead the majority of the Norther Paiute continued their traditional means of subsistence, fishing, gathering, and hunting. Many of the trappers and explorers documented the existence of horses throughout the Great Basin and the apparent choice by the Northern Paiute not to integrate the animal into their established cultures. As the Euro-American presence in the west increased through migration and settlement so did the outside influences on the native inhabitants. Not surprisingly local acceptance and use of the horse coincided with the marked increase in traffic west through the Northern Paiute country during the late 1840s and 1850s. With the arrival of the horse many Paiute hunters consolidated into mounted raiding groups targeting the migrating settlers which escalated already hostile relations between the two entities. Anglo migration west devastated the Paiute culture. The California Trail passed through the center of Paiute territory disrupting traditional Paiute subsistence patterns. Many Paiute responded to the invasion of their native lands by moving further north into Oregon; the Oregon Trail touched only a small part of Paiute territory in the far north. Others chose to capitalize on the situation and found new means for subsistence in the wagons and stock traveling west to California in search of gold.(3) The California gold rush did more to Oregon than just devastate the native landscape and inhabitants. Overland westward migration also brought settlement to the Oregon territory, then comprising most of Oregon and Washington as well as part of Idaho; Oregon officially became a territory in August of 1848. Previous attempts to settle the region, primarily missionary endeavors, made little overall impact on the region, however the massive western migration undertaken after 1848 provided the impetus needed to actually settle parts of the region. Many of these early settlement logically occurred on the western side of the Cascade Mountains, the east retaining its distinction of being part of the `Great American Desert.` Beginning about 1859, sheep and cattle ranching moved into eastern Oregon due to the overwhelming influence and dominance of wheat farmers in the western region. Cattle and sheep ranching originally began on the western side of the Cascades, however the profitability and ease of wheat farming in the region eventually drove the ranchers east where land remained plentiful. The wheat farmers also moved east when they determined that the high bench lands above the above the Columbia provided an excellent location for growing wheat.(4) The same year, 1859, that settlement of the Oregon territory began in earnest, prospectors discovered gold and silver and in Northern Paiute territory; the Virginia Range in western Nevada and the Owyhee basin in Oregon and Idaho. The promise of mineral wealth brought prospectors and businessmen to the region, joining the farmers and missionaries already there. The Northern Paiute, for the most part mounted by this point, responded to this new influx of settlers with hostility. In an attempt to forestall any further damage to their native lands the Paiute chose to attack various encampments throughout the region. In the vicinity of Crescent Lake these attacks lasted nearly ten years prompting military intervention and ultimately led to the establishment of reservations. The Federal government designated several reservation areas, primarily in Nevada, as early as 1859.(5) Settlement patterns in Oregon changed somewhat dramatically after the conclusion of the Civil War. Previously settlement of the region centered primarily on the west side of the Cascade Mountains. By the early 1880s, much of the usable western Oregon farmland was inhabited forcing new settlers to look for new areas to homestead and farm. Initially, new settlers on the eastern side of the Cascades caused problems for the existing cattle ranchers and farmers; the farmers eventually prevailed and the cattlemen moved on, most of them choosing to settle in Idaho.(6) Not surprisingly the advent of farming in eastern Oregon brought a new set of problems to residents. Access to water and timber proved highly challenging, as neither one occurred in abundance east of the Cascades. Later residents found access to these vital natural resources even more difficult. To address the need for water local farmers banded together creating irrigation districts. The irrigation districts then developed plans for long term water usage, including provisions for storage if necessary. In many cases, due to lack of financial resources, irrigation districts often lobbied either state or federal interests for aid in constructing necessary irrigation facilities in their region. In 1902, local water users formed the Tumalo Project, for irrigation of lands on the west side of the Deschutes River in Deschutes County, Oregon. Direct flows from Tumalo Creek and its tributaries provided irrigation water for the initial project. As the project grew so did the need for supplemental storage facilities. To address this need, in 1913 and 1914, the State of Oregon constructed the Tumalo and Bull Creek Dams which formed the Tumalo Reservoir on the southern edge of the project, to be filled with water diverted through a seven-mile feeder canal from the Tumalo Creek. Unfortunately, highly faulted lava comprised the majority of the reservoir floor causing the reservoir to leak to the extent that storage proved infeasible. For this reason, the Deschutes Land Company, predecessor to the Deschutes County Municipal Improvement District, refused the structures; as a result title to the dams and reservoir remained with the State of Oregon. In 1922, the Deschutes Land Company reorganized itself into the Deschutes County Municipal Improvement District. On March 9, 1959, the organization changed its name to the Tumalo Irrigation District. At the same time the water users reorganized the project and decreased the number of acres available for use, from the initially contemplated area of 27,000 acres to 15,400 acres. To augment the water supply from Tumalo Creek and replace the storage capabilities of the Tumalo Reservoir, the improvement district purchased the storage rights of the Walker Basin Irrigation Company at Crescent Lake. The improvement district then constructed the original Crescent Lake Dam intending to provide for 86,900 acre-feet of storage in the resulting Crescent Lake Reservoir. The improvement district also obtained from the city of Bend, Oregon, a nine and one-half second-foot continuous flow in the Deschutes River. To divert irrigation water from the Deschutes River the improvement district built a diversion dam near the north limits of Bend and the Bend Feed Canal to deliver water to project lands. In 1959, the Deschutes County Municipal Improvement District officially became the Tumalo Irrigation District.(7) Reclamation constructed the new Crescent Lake Dam, at the original damsite, replacing the existing structure built in 1922. The original dam, a timber and rock-fill structure thirty-feet high and 150-feet long, formed a reservoir designed to store 86,900 acre-feet of water, though the reservoir only reached a maximum level of 72,500 acre-feet. As the dam aged its capacity progressively diminished due to the steady deterioration of the timber and fill structure. By 1953, reservoir storage had decreased to 36,000 acre-feet. Settlement of the fill also caused difficulties in operation of the outlet gates. The water users feared that the gates might jam and become entirely inoperable, at the same time the rotting of the timber cribbing in the dam raised questions regarding the safety of the structure. Failure of the dam threatened both the downstream community of Crescent Lake as well as crop production due to the loss water storage for necessary irrigation water. During the early 1950s, to ensure the safety of the Crescent Lake Dam and provide dependable storage water for local residents, Reclamation investigated the project at the request of the local water users. At the same time, a private organization investigated the canals and laterals to determine their structural integrity. The investigations led by Reclamation were detailed in the Definite Plan Report which led to Congressional authorization for rehabilitation of the project. On July 1, 1954, Congress authorized emergency rehabilitation of the dam structure through the Interior Department Appropriation Act of 1955 (68 Stat. 361, Public Law 83-465). Rehabilitation of the canal and lateral system, to be accomplished pursuant to the Rehabilitation and Betterment Act of October 7, 1949 (63 Stat. 724, Public Law 81-335) as amended, was authorized on October 7, 1970, by the Public Works Appropriation Act, 1971 (84 Stat. 890). (8) Reclamation began investigations on rehabilitation of the project at the close of the irrigation season in 1953. After approval of the project in July, Reclamation opened bids for construction of Crescent Lake Dam on December 8, 1954. Reclamation awarded the contract on December 30, 1954, to Inter-City Sand and Gravel Company and John Kovtynovich of Eugene, Oregon. Construction work on the project did not begin until the following April due to adverse weather conditions including heavy snowfall. On April 25, 1955, the contractor began actual construction work by entirely removing the old Crescent Lake Dam. Excavation for the dam embankment and other related structures followed, and in July the contractor placed the first concrete in the outlet works conduit. On July 1, 1955, work began on the diversion channel to divert the flow of the river away from the damsite. The contractor completed the diversion on July 23. Work on the project continued steadily until mid-December when weather conditions halted work until May of 1956. The contractor finished all work on the project in October of 1956 and Reclamation accepted the contract as complete on October 24, 1956.(9) The Crescent Lake Dam Project consists of the Crescent Lake Dam and multiple canals and laterals, including the Bend Feed Canal and the Tumalo Feed Canal. Crescent Lake Dam, a zoned earthfill structure, extends 450 feet across the outlet of Crescent Lake, high on the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountain Range, with a structural height of forty feet. A saddle on the right abutment holds an uncontrolled spillway forty-five feet wide. The dam itself sits roughly one-mile upstream of the town of Crescent Lake, Oregon. Crescent Lake Reservoir holds a maximum of 86,900 acre-feet of water. The reservoir stores water from the Deschutes River and provides supplemental irrigation releases when necessary. Water users then divert water to project lands through the river system and privately constructed canal and lateral system. Irrigation water from the reservoir flows into Crescent Creek, which flows into Little Deschutes River and then into the Deschutes River about twenty miles south of Bend, Oregon. From the Deschutes River water travels into the Bend Feed Canal and from there to the 6,650-acres of irrigable lands of the Tumalo Irrigation District, formerly the Deschutes County Municipal Improvement District.(10) Additional project features not owned or constructed by Reclamation include the Tumalo Dam and Reservoir, the Crater Creek Diversion Canal, the Columbia Southern Canal, The Tumalo Feed Canal Diversion Dam, and the Diversion Dam for the Bend Feed Canal. The Tumalo Dam and Reservoir provide temporary regulatory storage for about 800 acre-feet of water; the reservoir does not hold water making it ineffective as a long term storage facility. The Crater Creek Diversion Canal, built in 1913 and 1914, diverts water from Crater and Little Crater Creeks which drain the west slope of Broken Top Mountain augmenting the flow of Tumalo Creek. The Columbia Southern Canal, constructed in 1900 in one of the first attempts to provide water to the district lands, diverts from Tumalo Creek to the Tumalo Feed Canal. The Tumalo Feed Canal Diversion Dam, built in 1913, sits on Tumalo Creek. The Tumalo Feed Canal, also built in 1913 and 1914, was originally constructed to divert the unregulated flows of Tumalo Creek to the off-stream Tumalo Reservoir. As the reservoir did not hold water, the canal serves as the main delivery canal during irrigation months and provides stock and domestic needs during the remainder of the year. Built in 1922, the Diversion Dam for the Bend Feed Canal sits on the Deschutes River in the northern part of the city of Bend, Oregon. Though not part of the Crescent Lake Dam Project these features aid water users by delivering water to project lands.(11) Residents in the vicinity of the Crescent Lake Dam Project chose the former route, requesting assistance from the United States Bureau of Reclamation when failure of an existing dam structure, the Crescent Lake Dam, seemed eminent. Though this project does not qualify as one of Reclamation`s most notable achievements it had a profound impact on the local residents by allowing them to maintain their established lifestyle.
Plan
Water rights are owned on Tumalo Creek, Little Crater Creek, Crater Creek, Three Springs, and the Deschutes River. Water from the Deschutes River is stored and released when required from Crescent Lake. The water is diverted and delivered to project lands through the privately constructed canal and lateral system. The original dam was removed and a new Crescent Lake Dam was constructed in 1986 by the Bureau of Reclamation to provide a total capacity of 91,700 acre-feet (active 86,900 acre-feet) being constructed over a natural lake having unknown dead storage. The 450-foot long new earthfill dam has a height of 40 feet at its crest. The outlet works conduit has a capacity of 1,325 cubic feet per second. An uncontrolled spillway, 45 feet wide, is in a saddle on the right abutment. As part of the operation and maintenance program, the dam crest was repaired and brought up to grade in 1998. The district had been experiencing high water losses in its carriage system that included over 13,300 feet of metal Lennon flumes supported by old wood-trestle. Major facilities rehabilitated included replacing three flumes on the Bend Feed Canal, totaling 10,500 feet, with 72-inch pipeline. The 750-foot tunnel section of the canal, originally lined with untreated wood, was replaced with 78-inch asbestos bonded and coated corrugated metal pipe. The headworks and rubble masonry section at the diversion dam was gunite lined with a 2.5-inch-thick reinforced concrete layer. One Lennon flume on the Tumalo Feed Canal was replaced with 2,830 feet of 54-inch pipeline. Other minor rehabilitation work was completed on the canal and lateral systems. In 1996 the Tumalo Irrigation District replaced a 78-inch diameter, above ground redwood wood-stave pipe with a 927 foot length, 62 inch-diameter buried welded steel pipeline (concrete mortar encased), located on the Bend Feeder Canal. In 1997 the Tumalo Irrigation District transferred the Columbia Southern Canal diversion, on Tumalo Creek, to the Tumalo Feed Diversion approximately 8.4 miles downstream and eliminated the upper diversion. This was accomplished by installation of a 3,000 foot, 60-inch buried pipeline, which parallels an existing 48-inch diameter pipeline. This enables the district to divert their full Tumalo Creek water right of 200 cubic-feet-per-second at one single diversion point. The Tumalo Irrigation District operates and maintains the project. Tumalo Irrigation District's financial obligation to the Bureau of Reclamation was repaid in 1998.
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