O'Shaughnessy Dam (California)
O'Shaughnessy Dam is a 430-foot (131 m) high concrete arch-gravity dam in Tuolumne County, California, United States. It impounds the Tuolumne River, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir at the lower end of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, about 160 miles (260 km) east of San Francisco. The dam and reservoir are the source for the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, which provides water for over two million people in San Francisco and other municipalities of the west Bay Area. The dam is named for engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy, who oversaw its construction.
O'Shaughnessy Dam (California)
The site of O'Shaughnessy Dam before construction began, c. 1914
Construction work on the dam in August 1922
The dam as initially completed in May 1923
The Tuolumne River flows for 149 miles (240 km) through Central California, from the high Sierra Nevada to join the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley. Originating at over 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level in Yosemite National Park, the Tuolumne drains a rugged watershed of 1,958 square miles (5,070 km2), carving a series of canyons through the western slope of the Sierra. While the upper Tuolumne is a fast-flowing mountain stream, the lower river crosses a broad, fertile and extensively cultivated alluvial plain. Like most other central California rivers, the Tuolumne is dammed multiple times for irrigation and the generation of hydroelectricity.
The Tuolumne River at Glen Aulin valley, below Tuolumne Meadows
Top: California Falls. Bottom: Waterwheel Falls, the tallest of several waterfalls along the Tuolumne River.
Lake Don Pedro, in the foothills east of La Grange, is the Tuolumne's largest reservoir.
Flood water is released from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir into the Tuolumne River