Taming the Waters’ Flow

Taming the Waters’ Flow. Lake Chabot Historical Walk. , “Aha!” exclaimed Anthony Chabot It was spring of 1866 when he saw the raging waters of San Leandro Creek collide with Grass Valley Creek. He studied the vast surrounding watershed and determined it could nourish a reservoir year-round. He had found his dam site. , Taming the waters’ flow would require engineering creativity, and unexpected setbacks. In the fall of 1874, Chabot watched as the rains washed out 21,000 cubic yards of the earthen dam wall downstream. The runaway sediment is believed to have created Arrowhead Marsh at Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline. Once rebuilt, the reservoir was Oakland and San Leandro’s main water supply from 1876-1926. , EBMUD built Upper San Leandro Reservoir in 1926 and Pardee Reservoir in 1928 to supplement Lake Chabot water. In 1964 Lake Chabot was place on “stand-by” to be used only as an emergency drinking supply. , Chabot’s dam was not the first to be built here. In 1860 William Heath Davis, son-in-law of Don José Joaquin Estudillo, built a smaller earthen brush dam near the same site to provide water for Estudillo’s Ranch San Leandro, now the City of San Leandro. , Captions: , The concrete structure to you left is one of the dam’s spillways, improved in 1980. When the lake becomes full, the spillway relieves excess water to San Leandro Creek below. Note how the spillway has changed from (photograph circa) 1878-1882 until today. (photo left); Rains washed out 21,000 cubic yards of the dam wall downstream. The runaway sediment is believed to have created Arrowhead Marsh at Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline. (map below).