It was Saturday afternoon, May 22, Music was provided by bands from Reedley College, and Sanger and Dinuba high schools. Attendance was modest at approximately 3, but the event attracted a large number water leaders.
Many of those individuals were Kings River irrigation water users themselves. Those contributions were noted by the dedication speaker, Army General Samuel D. Sturgis Jr. It is 50 years since studies for this project were initiated by the irrigation interests and 32 years since the first exploratory drillings were made in these hillsides. It has been 16 years since the Corps of Engineers came into the picture with its own investigation.
The explosive groundbreaking in , set off by Governor Earl Warren. A rare view looking upstream of the damsite in with the free-flowing river passing through the future Pine Flat Reservoir. In December — only 19 months after its dedication — Pine Flat Dam captured all of a massive flood flow, preventing vast damage along the river. Charles L. Those dreams of Kaupke and so many other Kings River water users and leaders to develop a major dam at Pine Flat actually began much earlier.
The first rudimentary state investigation identified the possibility of Kings River water storage in the s, when there was virtually no settlement in the region and the empty plains were considered a worthless desert. The valley floor really was not a desert but a seasonal grassland. That began to change quickly in the s in what is now known as the Centerville Bottoms of Fresno County where a few very small ditches were dug near the river.
Others tapped into the Kings River between to bring water into the Centerville area. The first canal of substance was the Fresno Canal in It was an enormous success. Everywhere water was conveyed over the next 30 years by the many dozens of new canals built across the plains, the immense, previously uncultivated prairie blossomed into agricultural productivity.
Homes began dotting the new family farms. Towns were established all over the countryside. By , most major canal construction was completed and the Kings River service area approximated the more than one million acres with surface water availability that it contains today. The Kings River and its early users had to endure much controversy and chaos, not the least of which involved challenges over water rights that continued in some cases into the s. Those legal controversies kept generations of water attorneys busy.
Large areas formerly open to the public have been closed, roads have been barricaded and the dam itself is inaccessible. This is likely because of the dam's importance in protecting the region from floods and the damage that the water would do if the dam was breached. In addition, the Army Corps of Engineers, as a military organization, may have more stringent security requirements than the U.
Bureau of Reclamation and local agencies, which control most major dams in the state. Pine Flat Power Plant is a hydroelectric plant located at the base of the dam. Its three Francis turbine s produce MW combined. The plant's generation is governed by flood control and irrigation needs.
Pine Bluff, Arkansas — Pine Bluff redirects here. For the horse, see Pine Bluff horse. Pine Bluff, Arkansas City … Wikipedia.
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