Dam It, Mother Nature! Traditional Cache

We've been enjoying this great wide open area lately, getting away from the hustle and bustle of modern life.

Exploring all the roads and trails on our ATV, we've come across some interesting locales.

Thought we'd share some of them.

Warning!

The "roads" are rough!

High clearance a must!



Skeedadle Dam

The remnants of this dam straddle the California-Nevada border, and it is an impressive historical site. On May 25, 1889, William A. Clark filed a claim to all the water of Skedaddle Creek to irrigate the sagebrush lands of eastern Honey Lake Valley. To accomplish this, Clark proposed to dam the creek at the “narrows.” The dam would span the canyon some two hundred feet and be 126 feet in height. To fund the project, Clark formed the Honey Lake Water Company, and it was incorporated on June 17, 1889. It was estimated that the dam would cost $30,000. Construction of the dam began in October 1889, and it was anticipated that the dam would be complete by the following spring. In November, Company Engineer, Alexander Center, reported that construction had progressed better than expected and that the dam’s height would be raised an additional fourteen feet. It was during that month of November that one of the severest winters on record began. The November and December snows made work difficult and by January work came to a complete halt. Blizzards blanketed the countryside and then followed bitter cold temperatures that sent the thermometer to –30 degrees. Snowstorms continued and by the end of January it was estimated that on the higher slopes of Skedaddle, the snow depths surpassed ten feet! (Normal annual precipitation at the dam site is 7 inches a year, in 1889-90 it received 22 inches).
By the first part of February 1890, Company officials announced that the dam was 90% complete. The region, however, was struck with what is commonly referred to as a false spring. Temperatures soared into the 60+ degree range accompanied by warm rains. Then came the floods. Mose Spencer, construction foreman, was an eyewitness. Spencer stated that Skedaddle Creek became a raging torrent, flowing 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Fortunately for the Company, the weather changed abruptly and turned cold, followed by heavy snows and the flood quickly subsided. Damage to the dam was minimal, two of the floodgates were destroyed at an estimated loss of $1,000. In early March, warm spring rains again hit the region. Not only did Skedaddle Creek become a raging torrent, as it had been a few weeks earlier, but poor drainage was compounded by sheets of ice. The dam could not withstand the effects of the storm and it was breached in the middle. This was a major set back for the Company, but they continued to rebuild the dam. Progress was slow. In May, a violent thunderstorm, accompanied by heavy rains, caused considerable damage to the dam and this was the final blow to the project.
The Company was on the verge of bankruptcy and work on the dam was suspended. The Company sued its building contractor and engineer, citing faulty plans and workmanship. In the meantime, laborers and suppliers sued the Company to recover money owed to them. On an optimistic note, the Lassen Advocate hoped the project would be resurrected, since the floods proved that, beyond a doubt, the creek was a major water supply.