Don Pedro Dam
Encyclopedia
The Don Pedro Dam, since 1971 also known as the Old Don Pedro Dam, was a dam across the Tuolumne River
in Tuolumne County, California
. The structure is currently flooded underneath Don Pedro Reservoir, which is formed by the New Don Pedro Dam
.
It was a solid concrete gravity dam that was 283 ft (86.3 m) high, 1000 ft (304.8 m) wide, 16 ft (4.9 m) thick at the crest, and 170 ft (51.8 m) thick at the base. It was completed in 1923 where the Tuolumne River had carved a narrow gorge with walls of solid rock about a mile (2 km) below Don Pedro Bar. The reservoir created by this dam contained 290400 acre.ft of water when full, 14.3% of today's capacity.
A 15 kilowatt power plant was part of the dam's original design, and two more 7500 watt
generators were added in 1926 for 30 kilowatts total, just 0.015% of today's capacity. The old dam still exists about 1.5 mi (2.4 km) upstream from the new 1971 dam, and since the old dam topped out at just 580 ft (176.8 m) above sea level it is now under some 250 ft (76.2 m) of water when the new reservoir is full.
Tuolumne River
The Tuolumne River is a California river that flows nearly from the central Sierra Nevada to the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley...
in Tuolumne County, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The structure is currently flooded underneath Don Pedro Reservoir, which is formed by the New Don Pedro Dam
New Don Pedro Dam
New Don Pedro Dam is built across the Tuolumne River and creates Lake Don Pedro in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the U.S. state of California. The New Don Pedro Dam takes its name from Don Pedros Bar which was named after Pierre "Don Pedro" Sainsevain...
.
It was a solid concrete gravity dam that was 283 ft (86.3 m) high, 1000 ft (304.8 m) wide, 16 ft (4.9 m) thick at the crest, and 170 ft (51.8 m) thick at the base. It was completed in 1923 where the Tuolumne River had carved a narrow gorge with walls of solid rock about a mile (2 km) below Don Pedro Bar. The reservoir created by this dam contained 290400 acre.ft of water when full, 14.3% of today's capacity.
A 15 kilowatt power plant was part of the dam's original design, and two more 7500 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
generators were added in 1926 for 30 kilowatts total, just 0.015% of today's capacity. The old dam still exists about 1.5 mi (2.4 km) upstream from the new 1971 dam, and since the old dam topped out at just 580 ft (176.8 m) above sea level it is now under some 250 ft (76.2 m) of water when the new reservoir is full.