Hidden Dam

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Hensley Lake & Hidden Dam
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Hensley Lake & Hidden Dam
Location Madera County, California, United States. Near Raymond.
Coordinates 37°06′40″N119°53′04″W / 37.111025°N 119.884330°W / 37.111025; -119.884330
Lake type Reservoir
Primary inflows Fresno River
Primary outflows Fresno River
Basin  countriesUnited States
Surface area 1,500 acres (610 ha)
Water volume 90,000 acre⋅ft (0.11 km3)
Shore length120 mi (32 km)
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.
Lake Hensley Vista Point Lake Hensley Vista Point 1.jpg
Lake Hensley Vista Point

Hidden Dam is an earthen dam on the Fresno River in Madera County, California. It creates a reservoir known as Hensley Lake.

Contents

Lake Hensley, California, 2016 panorama .jpg

The dam was constructed in 1974(49 years ago) by the Perini Corporation as part of an expansive United States Army Corps of Engineers project for flood control, irrigation storage, and recreation. [1] [2] The dam is 184 feet tall, is 5730 feet long at its crest, and is the only major storage dam of the Fresno River.

The reservoir it creates, Hensley Lake, has a water surface of two and a half square miles, over twenty miles of shoreline, and has a maximum storage capacity of 90,000 acre-feet. [3] In 1978 the lake was opened to day-use recreation, including water skiing, fishing, swimming, horseback riding, mountain biking, and hiking. [4] The Hidden View Campground offers single and group camping year-round.

The lake is named for local settler and cattle rancher John Jackson Hensley. [5]

Eastman Lake, another Corps of Engineers lake, is located 15 miles to the northwest.

See also

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References

  1. "Hensley Lake". Archived from the original on 2012-11-13. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2004-10-20. Retrieved 2012-08-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Hensley Lake". Archived from the original on 2012-11-13. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  4. "Hensley Lake, California".
  5. The Valley's Legends & Legacies III, by Catherine Morison Rehart, page 99