Klamath Project

State: California and Oregon
Region: Mid-Pacific

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Klamath Project History (92 KB)

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Construction

Construction began on the project in 1906 with the building of the main `A` Canal. Water was first made available May 22, 1907, to the lands now known as the Main Division. This initial construction was followed by the completion of Clear Lake Dam in 1910, the Lost River Diversion Dam and many of the distribution structures in 1912, and the Lower Lost River Diversion Dam in 1921. (In 1970, a public dedication at the Lower Lost River Diversion Dam officially changed the name of the structure to Anderson-Rose Diversion Dam.) The Malone Diversion Dam on Lost River was built in 1923 to divert water to Langell Valley. The Gerber Dam on Miller Creek was completed in 1925; the Miller Diversion Dam was built in 1924 to divert water released from Gerber Dam. A contract executed February 24, 1917, between the California-Oregon Power Company (now the Pacific Power and Light Company) and the United States authorized the company to construct Link River Dam for the benefit of the project and for the company`s use, and in particular extended to the water users of the Klamath Project certain preferential power rates. The dam was completed in 1921. The contract was amended and further extended for a 50-year period on April 16, 1956. Project reservoirs offer various recreational activities, including boating, water skiing, fishing, hunting, camping, and picnicking. Recreation facilities at Lower Klamath Lake, Tule Lake, and Upper Klamath Lake are administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Bureau of Land Management administers Gerber Reservoir recreation facilities, while facilities at Malone and Wilson Reservoirs are administered by the Bureau of Reclamation. Clear Lake Reservoir is a part of Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and the recreation opportunities are limited. For information about recreation in the Klamath Project, click on the names below http://www.recreation.gov/detail.cfm?ID=1493 http://www.recreation.gov/detail.cfm?ID=1655 http://www.recreation.gov/detail.cfm?ID=1649 http://www.recreation.gov/detail.cfm?ID=1352 The Klamath Project encompasses an alternately barren and wooded area of Oregon and California, an area steeped in history. The lucrative beaver pelt market lured trappers to the area in the early nineteenth century. Peter Skene Ogden, a trapper for the Hudson Bay Fur Company, entered the Klamath vicinity in 1826. Captain John C. Fremont led a U.S. military expedition to the area in 1843. In the 1840s, early pioneers set out across the `great American Desert` of the Great Plains to settle the west coast of the young United States. For most the promise of California and Oregon lay ahead. The rugged landscape drew farmers to its fertile valleys for nearly a century. Increased agriculture led to increasing demand for irrigation, culminating in construction of the Klamath Project. The Klamath Project covers territory in Klamath County, Oregon, and Siskiyou and Modoc Counties in northern California. Klamath Falls, Merrill, Bonanza, and Malin, Oregon and Tulelake, California, comprise communities on the project. Clear Lake Dam and Reservoir, Tule Lake, and Lower Klamath Lake lie south of the Oregon-California border. Gerber Dam and Reservoir, Upper Klamath Lake, Link River Dam, Lost River, Miller, Malone, and Anderson-Rose Diversion Dams occupy Oregon territory. Temperatures on the project range from -24 to 105 degrees. Settlers carved their niche in Oregon Territory after fur trappers paved the way. In the first century of the United States` history, agriculture remained king here. Most pioneers set down roots to begin farming. As in other parts of the western United States, the proximity of whites and Native Americans led to culture clashes, in Oregon, but the advent of the American Civil War took regular army troops from frontier posts to the eastern battlefields. To protect the Oregon whites against the perceived threat of hostile natives, the Oregon government authorized a volunteer cavalry unit in 1863. Recruits, on their way to join the First Oregon Cavalry Regiment, sang, I`m a raw recruit with a brand new suit. One hundred dollars bounty. And I`ve just come down to Ashland town. To fight for Jackson County. The First Oregon paid the cavalry troopers $31 to $39 a month. Sergeants received a few dollars more. Looking for a strategic location to secure major migration routes, the Regiment`s officers chose the Wood River Valley, near Upper Klamath Lake, to build Fort Klamath. The present site of Klamath Falls received consideration, but the officers passed it over. The area remained fairly quiet for the volunteers, and the need for the First Oregon Cavalry receded with the end of the Civil War. Troop A of the First U.S. Cavalry replaced the First Oregon in July 1867. Five years later conflicts between the Klamath and Modoc Indians, placed on the same lands by the United States Government, resulted in the Modoc War. Kientpoos, more commonly known as Captain Jack, led the Modocs to Tule Lake, where they entrenched themselves in the lava beds against 1,000 troops for six months. After fierce and bloody fighting, General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby started negotiations with the Modocs in an effort to convince them to return to the reservation. Instead, on April 11, 1873, Captain Jack and his group ambushed Canby, Alfred Meachem, Leroy Dyar, and Reverend Elisar Thomas, killing Canby and Thomas, and wounding Meachem. Captain Jack surrendered to the U.S. Army on June 1, 1873. The Army tried and convicted Captain Jack, Schonchen John, Black Jim, and Boston Charley for the murders of Canby and Thomas. All four were executed at Fort Klamath on October 3, 1873. In 1882, five years after the Modoc War, farmers introduced irrigation to the Klamath area. Several Linkville residents incorporated the Linkville Water Ditch Company. They dug a low capacity ditch connecting town lots to the Link River, two miles above present day Klamath Falls. William Steele enlarged the ditch and extended it fifteen miles in 1884. The Klamath Falls Irrigation Company took over the ditch after Steele died in 1888. Subsequent enlargements turned the ditch into a high capacity canal, known as the Ankeny-Henley Canal. The Van Brimmer Brothers also started a small ditch in 1882, to irrigate 4,000 acres near the Oregon-California border on Lost River. Construction took four years, and after completion, the brothers incorporated the Van Brimmer Ditch Company. Then, J. Frank Adams and some neighbors completed a six mile canal from Lost River to Adam`s Point in 1886. Originally Adams` canal received water from White Lake through the Van Brimmer canal. Light precipitation in the winter of 1887-88 left Adams` canal dry, forcing him to tap Lower Klamath Lake as a more productive water supply. Adams lengthened the canal to twenty-two miles in 1904. Charles and Rufus Moore excavated a canal on the west side of the Link River rapids in 1877 to furnish power for a saw mill and transport logs from Upper Klamath Lake to the mill. The brothers built another canal, beginning in the same location, to power a flower mill and supply irrigation water for lots and orchards in west Klamath Falls. In October 1903, John T. Whistler, Oregon District Engineer of the Reclamation Service, investigated the Klamath region at the request of Chief Engineer, later Reclamation Director, Fredrick H. Newell. Whistler recommended a controlling dam at the lower end of Upper Klamath Lake to retain enough water to irrigate 200,000 acres. Older residents of the area recommended Clear Lake as a Reservoir instead of Upper Klamath Lake. Newell visited Klamath in 1904 to assess the project`s possibilities. While there, he addressed a large audience. In his speech, Newell said he believed Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock would approve construction of the project. Approval of the Klamath Project rested on adjudication of all vested and conflicting water rights; surrender of rights on Lower Klamath and Tule Lakes; cessation of rights and title to the federal government by Oregon and California for Lower Klamath and Tule Lakes; and Congressional approval allowing Hitchcock to destroy navigability of the two lakes. Hitchcock and Newell received petitions for a Reclamation project beginning in late 1904 and early 1905, as residents of Klamath Falls, Merrill, Bonanza, and the immediate area campaigned for the Project. Reclamation secured rights to land and water from owners of the Little Klamath Ditch, the Ankeny-Henley Canal, and the Jesse D. Carr Land & Livestock Company on April 7, 1905, for a total of $337,500. Only the Klamath Canal Company threatened project authorization. Three men named Hawkins, Brown, and Gould incorporated the Klamath Canal Co. on May 18, 1904. The company filed on water rights from Upper Klamath Lake in 1904, equaling the total flow of the Link River. Prospects of Reclamation involvement in the area convinced the company`s owners to cease construction of the main canal, including a circuitous 7,000 foot tunnel. Reclamation estimated the company spent approximately $84,000 on construction. The Klamath Canal Co. claimed expenditures of $175,000 and wanted $200,000 to transfer its rights and contracts. Reclamation filed on the waters of Upper Klamath Lake and Link River in July 1904, when investigations and surveys confirmed the project`s feasibility. Reclamation doubted the validity of Klamath Canal Co.`s water filings because they conflicted with federal laws. However under state law, the company`s claims preceded those of Reclamation. The government served the company notice to abstain from any water diversion on the grounds of interstate navigability of the waters. The company disregarded the notice and diverted water anyway. The Justice Department responded by issuing a temporary restraining order. Meanwhile land owners in the Klamath Basin became more insistent that Reclamation start construction of the project, and increased their opposition to operations of the Klamath Canal Co. Finally, in a meeting in Los Angeles on April 25, 1905, Reclamation and the Klamath Canal Co. reached an agreement. Reclamation paid the company $150,000 for its water rights. At the same meeting Reclamation reached an accord with the Moore Brothers for their rights. Local farmers unanimously supported the project and organized the Klamath Water Users` Association on March 4, 1905. The Oregon and California legislatures and the United States Congress passed all necessary legislation to begin the project by early 1905. Ethan Hitchcock authorized the Klamath Project for $4.4 million on May 15, 1905. The government allocated $1 million immediately. The Klamath Project incorporated several privately built canals and, Reclamation initially constructed Clear Lake Dam and Reservoir, Lost River Diversion Dam, and the A (Main), B (East Branch), and C (South Branch) Canals on the Project. Clear Lake Dam and Reservoir stored water on the Lost River. Water releases from Clear Lake travelled downstream the diversion facilities at Lost River Diversion Dam which then transferred the water into the canals, including D (Adams) and G (Griffith) Canals. In the 1920s, Reclamation increased the irrigable lands of the Klamath Project. To this end, Reclamation constructed Gerber Dam and Miller Diversion Dam on Miller Creek, and Malone Diversion Dam, on Lost River, to irrigate lands northwest of the original Klamath Project lands through the North and West Canals. The Lower Lost River (Anderson-Rose) Diversion Dam increased irrigable acreage in the California lands of the Klamath Project. Reclamation added E (North Poe) and F (South Poe) Canals northeast of the original Project lands, and J Canal in the southeast. Following World War II, Reclamation started reclaiming land around Tule Lake for agriculture. Reclamation drained the marsh lands and constructed irrigation facilities necessary for future farms, including M, N, P, Q, and R Canals. Construction of the Klamath Project started under the direction of Project Engineer D.W. Murphy in 1906, and continued under Walter W. Patch, his 1909, replacement. Mason, Davis & Company of Portland, Oregon, received the first contract for excavating nine miles of the Main Canal, and International Contract Company contracted work on six highway bridges crossing the canal. Mason, Davis & Co. started operations in March 1906. Heavy snowfall and subsequent heavy rains impaired work by horse teams on the excavation and caused delays in receiving equipment and supplies. Because the company had to haul equipment forty miles over the mountains, most equipment did not arrive until June. Mason, Davis & Co. could not work on three miles of the Main Canal during the 1906 irrigation season because the location approximated that of the Ankeny-Henley Canal, then in operation, and threatened to interfere with the canal`s operation. Despite the problems and delays, the company succeeded in completing most of the four miles available for excavation. The work delayed by the use of the Ankeny-Henley Canal faced further postponement because of ground saturation and the early onset of winter. In addition to wet, winter weather, the company encountered hot springs in the area which resulted in more trouble for Mason and Davis. The company removed material from the canal with a skip and a hoist. The hot springs increased water and ground temperatures to dangerous levels during blasting. Several horses received scalding burns, serious enough to necessitate their destruction. The rain and snow, of winter, made canal excavation a slow and arduous task. The work required three steam pumps to handle water from the canal. Mason and Davis could only use the horse teams on the upper portions of the canal cut. The company received a contract extension and completed two sections of the canal May 20, 1907. Mason and Davis completed enough of the section containing the canal headworks to place it into commission June 27, 1907. They did not fully complete the contract until July. Reclamation invited bids for construction of the East Branch Canal May 12, 1906, with a view toward finishing the contract by the opening of the 1907 irrigation season. Reclamation intended to open bids June 21, but no contractors bid on the project. Reclamation officials speculated labor shortages caused the reluctance to bid on the canal, because potential contractors might not feel confident of finishing by the deadline. Reclamation authorized day labor by force account. Project officials hired horse teams for excavation in 1906, until Reclamation shut down the work for the winter of 1906-07. They resumed the following spring using government horse teams on the job. In July 1907, a scarcity of labor forced Reclamation to cease operations on the East Branch Canal in order to concentrate forces on the Keno Power Canal, so-called because its primary role, later on, was to supply the California-Oregon Power Company with water for hydroelectric power generation. Original plans intended the Keno Canal to irrigate 40,000 acres on the west side of Lower Klamath Lake, including reclaimed marsh lands. A board of engineers, consisting of Andrew J. Wiley, D.C. Henny, E.G Hopson, and D.W. Murphy, recommended irrigating the marsh lands directly from the lake and the Klamath River through the California and Northeastern Railway levee, constructed through an agreement between Reclamation and the California and Northeastern Railway in 1907. The California and Northeastern agreed to build a railroad embankment across the north end of Lower Klamath Lake to double as a levee. Further investigations indicated other lands would not justify construction of the full canal. The shortened canal now only needed to satisfy the contract with the Moore brothers and, with some enlargement, supply power for pumping water to the marsh lands. Another board of engineers, consisting of Henny, Hopson, and Murphy, convened in Portland in January 1907, to plan construction and specifications of the Keno Canal. The contract with the Moores required delivery of water through the Keno Canal by October 1, 1907. The board recommended dividing the excavation work into small schedules to permit local contractors to bid on the work. Reclamation would accomplish concrete and excavation work above the headworks by force account. They hoped such contingencies would expedite the work`s progress. The plan went awry as only one company bid on the schedules. Reclamation considered the bid excessive and decided to proceed by force account for the entire canal. Work started in June 1907. Excavation work promptly ran into unexpected dilemmas. The hillside slopes of the canal location proved very steep, with houses and orchards immediately below the site, and a powerplant and wooden pressure pipe nearby, on the Klamath River. These factors prevented any liberal use of explosives for excavating the hard chalk and basalt material. Horse teams handled excavated material where possible. Workers used derricks to remove massive boulders while horse teams dislodged the large rocks with chains. Laborers carried smaller rocks out with wheelbarrows. The Project History complained of having scarce and unsatisfactory laborers, whom Reclamation paid $3.00 for an eight hour day, for several months. Reclamation finished the canal excavation in October 1908. Upon priming the canal, Reclamation discovered considerable seepage which caused movement of the lower banks. Reclamation lined the right bank and bottom of the canal, with four inches of concrete, for a distance of 267 feet. Workers placed riprap the same distance along the left bank. The lining and riprap reduced the seepage greatly, but Reclamation maintained a force of three to five men for several months to puddle subsequent seepage with soil and manure. Reclamation awarded the contract for three schedules of the South Branch Canal to Maney Brothers of Saint Louis on May 8, 1908, and they began work five days later. Maney Brothers did all the excavation work with horses and scrapers. Reclamation allowed a contract extension from November 15, 1908, due to harsh winter conditions. Maney Brothers concluded excavation March 25, 1909. Reclamation lined the section, by force account day labor, with red fir planks. The canal lining required 376,000 board-feet of wood. The planks warped some, above the waterline, but the embankment stayed water tight. The South Branch Canal needed a flume across the Lost River Slough, draining from the Klamath River to the Lost River. Reclamation accomplished the work by force account with day labor. Reclamation built the flume of red fir lumber to a length of 4,300 feet. Flume construction used 722,000 feet of wood. Reclamation cut all the wood in the Cascade Range Forest Reserve. Campbell and Huffman of Klamath Falls, contracted the superstructure work on the flume, including a spillway gate for the Lost River Slough controlled by screws and lifting wheels. W.H. Mason of Klamath Falls, contracted five schedules of the South Branch Canal. He started work in August 1908. Unspecified delays resulted in an extension of Mason`s contract from December 15, 1908 to March 15, 1909. Mason successfully finished the schedules by the new deadline. Reclamation authorized $61,000 for force account work on the South Branch distribution system, and used the money to hire local farmers to work on the system. James W. Jory, a local farmer, received the contract for the three schedules. The Project History reported Jory accomplished satisfactory work. J.M. Heizer conducted studies of the proposed Clear Lake Dam site on Lost River with diamond drills in 1905. L.W. Hall conducted further investigations of the dam in 1908. Excavation by force account, for the outlet channel began in September 1908, under I.S. Voorhees. Winter forced a pause in work for the year. A caretaker occupied the construction camp, and Reclamation took the opportunity to cut juniper logs for telephone poles and a trestle. Reclamation placed William Sargeant in charge of dam construction. In April 1909, he supervised building of the construction camp, organizing the work, and receiving equipment and supplies. Austrians, Montenegrins, and Serbians formed the majority of the work force. Reportedly the Austrians proved outstanding workers, though supervisors considered all satisfactory. Reclamation bought $10,000 worth of new equipment for construction, and had to haul the new equipment fifty-five miles, from the railroad to the dam site. The Reclamation Service increased the labor force in June to begin work on the waste channel. Workers used material excavated from the waste channel in the rockfill portion of the dam. The outlet conduit from the dam to the waste channel stretched 156 feet when completed. The outlet started as two chambers near the foot of the dam, controlled by cast iron gates. The chambers joined forty feet below the gates, forming the main conduit. Workers excavated an average of eighteen feet deep. They encountered porous lava covering hard basalt ten feet deep. Under the basalt they found `a sticky, red, volcanic mud.` The crews excavated cutoff trenches through the muck to the hard rock three feet below and filled them with concrete to stabilize the foundation. The conduit is ten feet in diameter. Reclamation used levees built by Jesse Carr to divert Willow Creek into Clear Lake, retaining enough to water livestock and for boilers and sprinkling. A small, earthen cofferdam upstream proved sufficient to dry the foundation of the dam. To prepare the foundation for the dam embankment, Reclamation cut tules and cleaned out several mud holes. Work crews excavated a five foot wide trench down about seven feet, to bedrock. They refilled the trench with the largest rocks available. Workers used material excavated from the waste channel for the rockfill. The arrangement limited the placement rate on the fill to the excavation rate of the channel. Reclamation built two sixteen foot high trestles across the valley at the dam site. Crews rolled two yard capacity, side dumping cars onto the trestles and dropped rock from them onto the fill. Horses drew trains of three cars to the dump sites. When they completed dumping from the two trestles, crews used posts from the two to build a third trestle across the center of the site. From here workers dropped rock onto the center of the fill. Reclamation crews dug through two feet of tule and marsh grass across the channel to the foundation of the earth embankment. After draining water from the site, the ground surface became impenetrable to the orange-peel excavator acquired for clearing the site. Workers used a plow on the hard material. The material immediately beneath the surface proved too soft to support loaded wagons. Workers rigged up a hoisting engine at one end of the site, attached a plow and slip to it with a cable, and used the combination to excavate the soft material. Seven feet below the surface lay solid basalt slabs with only a few seams. Crews washed the rock, then cleaned the cracks with wire and grouted them. Work crews discovered lava blocks separated by clay seams forming the foundation on the east side of the river. They used gads, steel wedges used to break out loose pieces of rock, and bar drills, small rock drills, to excavate the trench between the lava boulders, afterwards filling the seams with grout or cement, depending on the size of the cracks. On the west side, porous lava seams permeated the foundation. Workers excavated through the lava to the solid rock below. They filled the excavated portions with concrete. A four ton, cast iron roller levelled and compressed the re-fill to four inch layers. Crews filled gaps in the rockfill at the contact point with the earth embankment for a proper foundation. They placed the earth, taken from the east slope of the valley, in six inch layers, watered it, and compressed it with a four ton roller. A nearby borrow pit supplied the stones for the riprap on the upstream slope. Lava encountered in excavation of the waste channel varied in hardness, causing problems for Reclamation crews. They used 40 percent dynamite to `spring` drill holes, then finished blasting with 50 to 500 pounds of `Champion` powder. Where water in the excavation site prevented the use of powder, the crews used only the dynamite. Uncertainty of the rock`s density often resulted in charges being too light or too heavy. Explosions from light charges dissipated through seams and soft spots. Heavy charges dislodged more material than desired. The resulting excavated material ranged from powdered rock to boulders. The boulders required block-holing, or drilling holes in the rocks for a small charge of explosives to break them for removal. Labor shortages afflicted construction of Clear Lake Dam in the early months of 1908. As a result, Reclamation officials considered progress in July and August unsatisfactory. Men frequently deserted the dam construction to take advantage of higher wages from local field harvests. Near the end of August 1908, 100 Bulgarians arrived at the Clear Lake Dam site to begin work. From then until the middle of November, Reclamation retained plenty of labor. Reclamation identified two saddles to the south of Clear Lake, one below the high water mark of the future reservoir. Reclamation decided to raise dikes on the saddles to prevent water from escaping over them during floods. Workers built a 13 foot high dike stretching 1,600 feet across the lower saddle. The other dike measured 3-4 feet high, with a length of 1,200 feet. The labor shortages at Clear Lake Dam stalled construction of the dikes. Reclamation officials prepared to postpone raising the dikes until spring of 1910, but the increase in available workers in September 1909, allowed them to proceed with construction plans. Work started on the dikes October 6, 1909. Crews dug a cutoff trench beneath the embankment sites and filled it with material from the borrow pit. Horses and wheelers hauling earth compacted the embankment sufficiently, eliminating the need for rollers. Austrians worked on the rockfill and proved exceptionally skilled at handling the stones. The Project History said, `the rock embankment was solidly built and presents a first-class appearance.` Reclamation intended to build Clear Lake Dam and dikes by contract, but events altered the plans. Only two companies bid on the work. Maney Brothers of Winnemucca, Nevada, bid $188,980, which Reclamation considered too high. Mahoney Brothers of San Francisco, bid $115,770. Reclamation checked Mahoney Brothers` financial background to discover their poor financial reputation. Reclamation estimated the work would amount to $151,750. When completed in 1910 Clear Lake Dam and dikes cost Reclamation $125,350. Clear Lake Dam is an earth and rockfill structure stretching 840 feet long at its crest. The dam stands forty-two feet high. The top width measures 20 feet with a maximum bottom width of 177 feet. Clear Lake Reservoir has a capacity of 527,000 acre-feet, increased from its original 460,800 acre-feet prior to raising the dam in 1939. President William Howard Taft authorized the issuance of bonds against the Reclamation Fund in 1910, for future work on projects including the Klamath Project. Before expenditure of money from the bonds, he ordered a Board of Engineers from the Army Corps of Engineers examine and report on each project using the bonds. The Board of Engineers visited the Klamath Project September 30 through October 2, 1910. The Board reported the water supply was sufficient and the lands, excluding the marsh lands, could support construction costs. The Army engineers recommended caution on developing the Tule Lake Division, and determined the Modoc Division was feasible, but had yet to receive presidential approval. The Board recommended postponement of developing the marsh lands until they could show agricultural productivity. The Army Board recommended the Klamath Project receive $600,000 from the Reclamation Fund for the years 1911-14. Reclamation engineers decided, in 1910, to put Lost River Diversion Dam at a site called Wilson`s Bridge southeast of Klamath Falls. George C. Clark received the contract for construction of the dam. Reclamation supplied cement, gates, gate frames, and structural and reinforcing steel. Clark started construction in March 1911. As winter approached Clark heated the water and sand for mixing the concrete. Later, workers burned fires under the work for ten days at a time. The fires decreased the time required for the concrete to set. Canvas placed over the concrete allowed heat and smoke from the fires to circulate around the work. Clark`s precautions paid off as the concrete received no damage from freezing. Though it still required some finishing work, Reclamation began storing water behind the Lost River Dam in January 1912. The gatekeeper and a small work force applied the final touches. They built two wing walls at the downstream end of the dam, a garage near the dam, and completed other smaller projects. The Lost River Diversion Dam is a hollow U shaped multiple arch weir, with straight embankment wings. The dam`s crest length extends 675 feet with a structural height of 42 feet. Approximately 225,000 acres of rangeland have been transformed into productive farmland. Principal irrigated crops are barley, irrigated pasture, alfalfa hay and other hay, oats, potatoes, and wheat.

Plan

The Upper Klamath River Basin has extensive land and water resources which are not fully developed. The terrain varies from rugged, heavily timbered mountain slopes to rolling sagebrush benchlands and broad, flat valleys. The project plan includes construction of facilities to divert and distribute water for irrigation of basin lands, including reclamation of Tule and Lower Klamath Lakes, and control of floods in the area. Clear Lake Dam and Reservoir on the Lost River in California, about 19 miles southeast of Malin, Oregon, provide storage for irrigation and reduce flow into the reclaimed portion of Tule Lake and the restricted Tule Lake Sumps in Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge. The dam is an earth and rockfill structure with a height of 42 feet and a crest length of 840 feet. The reservoir has a capacity of 527,000 acre-feet. Gerber Dam and Reservoir, on Miller Creek 14 miles east of Bonanza, Oregon, provides storage for irrigation and reduces flow into the reclaimed portions of Tule Lake and the restricted Tule Lake Sumps in the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge. The dam, a concrete arch structure, has a height of 84.5 feet and a crest length of 460 feet. Reservoir capacity is 94,300 acre-feet. Link River Dam on Link River at the head of Klamath River and just west of Klamath Falls, Oregon, regulates flow from Upper Klamath Lake Reservoir. This reservoir is a principal source of water for the project. The dam is a reinforced concrete slab structure with a height of 22 feet and a crest length of 435 feet. The reservoir has a capacity of 873,000 acre-feet and is operated by the Pacific Power and Light Company, subject to Klamath Project rights. Lost River Diversion Dam is on Lost River about 4 miles below Olene, Oregon. The dam diverts excess water to the Klamath River through the Lost River Diversion Channel and restrains downstream flow in Lost River to control or restrict flooding of the reclaimed portions of the Tule Lake bed and to regulate the flow into the restricted sumps of the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge. It is a horseshoe shaped, multiple-arch concrete structure with earth embankment wings. The structural height is 42 feet and crest length is 675 feet. Anderson-Rose Diversion Dam (formerly Lower Lost River Diversion Dam), on Lost River about 3 miles southeast of Merrill, Oregon, diverts water to serve the lands reclaimed from the bed of Tule Lake. The dam is a reinforced concrete slab and buttress structure with a height of 23 feet and a crest length of 324 feet. Malone Diversion Dam, on Lost River about 11 miles downstream from Clear Lake Dam, diverts water to serve lands in Langell Valley. This dam, an earth embankment with a concrete gate structure, has a height of 32 feet and a crest length of 515 feet. Miller Diversion Dam, on Miller Creek 8 miles below Gerber Dam, diverts water to serve lands in Langell Valley. The dam is a concrete weir, removable crest, and earth embankment wing structure with a height of 10 feet and a crest length of 290 feet. Lost River Diversion Channel extends nearly 8 miles from the Lost River Diversion Dam to the Klamath River. The channel carries excess water to the Klamath River and supplies additional irrigation water for the reclaimed lake bed of Tule Lake by reverse flow from the Klamath River. There are 19 canals that total 185 miles and have diversion capacities ranging from 35 to 1,150 cubic feet per second. Laterals total 490 miles and drains 545 miles. There are 3 major pumping plants with power input ranging from 1,120 to 3,650 horsepower and capacities from 60 to 388 cubic feet per second, and 33 pumping plants of less than 1,000 horsepower. Two pumping plants are under construction, each with 750 horsepower and capacity of 300 cubic feet per second. Tule Lake Tunnel, a concrete-lined structure 6,600 feet in length with a capacity of 250 cubic feet per second, conveys drainage water from Tule Lake restricted sumps to Lower Klamath Lake. This 3,300-foot tunnel, a part of the `A` Canal, has a capacity of 1,150 cubic feet per second and conveys irrigation water from Upper Klamath Lake to serve approximately 63,000 acres. Work on increasing this drain`s capacity from 300 to 600 cubic feet per second was completed in 1981. The drain conveys drainage water from Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge and from irrigated land which has been reclaimed from Lower Klamath Lake. The drain extends from the State Line Road approximately 20 miles north-westerly to Klamath River. The drain removes the excess winter flows and the drainage from the lower closed basin to the Klamath River. Clear Lake Dam, Gerber Dam, and the Lost River Diversion Dam are operated by the Bureau of Reclamation. The Link River Dam is operated by the Pacific Power and Light Company in accordance with project needs. The Anderson-Rose Diversion Dam is operated by the Tulelake Irrigation District, and the Langell Valley Irrigation District operates the Malone and Miller Diversion Dams. The canals and pumping plants are operated by the various irrigation districts.

Contact

Title: Public Affairs Specialist
Organization: Klamath Area Office
Address: 6600 Washburn
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97603
Fax: --
Phone: 541-880-2557

Contact

Title: Public Affairs Officer
Organization: Commissioner`s Office
Address: 1849 C Street NW
City: Washington, DC 20240
Fax: 202-513-0575
Phone: 202-513-0305

Contact

Organization: Ady District Improvement Company
Address: 18110 Keno-Worden Road
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97634
Phone: 541-884-5915

Contact

Organization: Enterprise Irrigation District (Oregon)
Address: 4806 Highway 39
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97603
Phone: 541-884-4986

Contact

Organization: Horsefly Irrigation District
Address: P.O. Box 188
City: Bonanza, OR 97623
Phone: 541-545-6474

Contact

Organization: Klamath Basin Water Users Association
Address: 2455 Patterson Street
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97603
Fax: 541-883-8893
Phone: 541-883-6100

Contact

Organization: Klamath Irrigation District
Address: 6640 K. I. D. Lane
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97603
Fax: 541-882-4004
Phone: 541-882-6661

Contact

Organization: Langell Valley Irrigation District
Address: 9787 East Langell Valley Rd
City: Bonanza, OR 97623
Phone: 541-545-6344

Contact

Organization: Midland District Improvement Company
Address: P.O. Box 63
City: Midland, OR 97634
Phone: 541-884-9501

Contact

Organization: P-Canal Mutual Water Company
Address: P.O. Box 434
City: Merrill, OR 97633
Phone: 541-798-5635

Contact

Organization: Pioneer District Improvement Company
Address: 11147 Highway 66
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97601
Phone: 541-882-0708

Contact

Organization: Plevna District Improvement Company
Address: P.O. Box 16
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97601
Phone: 541-884-2241

Contact

Organization: Shasta View Irrigation District
Address: P.O. Box 46
City: Malin, OR 97632
Fax: 541-723-3315
Phone: 541-723-6621

Contact

Organization: Sunnyside Irrigation District
Address: P.O. Box 1009
City: Merrill, OR 97633
Phone: 541-798-5548

Contact

Organization: Upper Van Brimmer Drainage District
Address: 14889 Anderson Road
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97603
Phone: 541-798-5030

Contact

Organization: Van Brimmer Ditch Company
Address: P.O. Box 292
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97633
Fax: 541-883-8494
Phone: 541-882-6331

Contact

Address: 2800 Cottage Way
City: Sacramento, CA 95825
Phone: 916-978-5100

Contact

Organization: Butte Valley Irrigation District
Address: P.O. Box 86
City: Macdoel, CA 96058
Phone: 530-398-4515

Contact

Organization: Klamath Basin Improvement District
Address: 6640 K. I. D. Lane
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97603
Phone: 541-882-6661

Contact

Organization: Klamath Drainage District
Address: 4910 Lower Klamath Lake Road
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97603
Fax: 541-883-7792
Phone: 541-882-0734

Contact

Organization: Malin Irrigation District
Address: P.O. Box 355
City: Malin, OR 97632
Fax: 541-723-2443
Phone: 541-723-2049

Contact

Organization: Pine Grove Irrigation District
Address: 4806 Highway 39
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97601
Fax: 541-884-5366
Phone: 541-884-4986

Contact

Organization: Poe Valley Improvement District
Address: 6640 K. I. D. Lane
City: Klamath Falls, OR 97603
Phone: 541-884-2241

Contact

Organization: Tulelake Irrigation District
Address: P.O. Box 699
City: Tulelake, CA 96134
Fax: 530-667-4228
Phone: 530-667-2249

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Klamath Project

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More Information about the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation