Lake McClure

Last updated
Lake McClure
Lake McClure (822109715).jpg
Relief map of California.png
Red pog.svg
Lake McClure
Usa edcp relief location map.png
Red pog.svg
Lake McClure
Location Mariposa County, California
Coordinates 37°38′33″N120°16′57″W / 37.64250°N 120.28250°W / 37.64250; -120.28250
Type Reservoir
Primary inflows Merced River
Primary outflows Merced River
Basin  countriesUnited States
Water volume1,032,000 acre⋅ft (1.273×109 m3)

Lake McClure is a reservoir in the Sierra Nevada foothills of western Mariposa County, California, United States.

Contents

It is formed by the New Exchequer Dam impounding the Merced River, which is a tributary of the San Joaquin River. It is about 40 miles (64 km) east of Modesto.

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has developed a safe eating advisory for Lake McClure based on levels of mercury found in fish caught from this water body [1]

History

The lake was first created by the original Exchequer Dam, built between 1924 and 1926, a concrete gravity arch dam. Exchequer Reservoir's original capacity was 281,000 acre⋅ft (347,000,000 m3). In 1926 its name was changed to Lake McClure to honor Wilbur Fiske McClure, Head Engineers of the State of California, who helped develop and lay out the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Mountains of California. McClure and his brother, John Clarendon McClure, also founded the town of Hacienda Heights, California.

New Exchequer Dam

Lake McClure and Merced River aerial, looking into the afternoon sun. The dam is visible at the top of the lake. Lake McClure and Merced River aerial.jpg
Lake McClure and Merced River aerial, looking into the afternoon sun. The dam is visible at the top of the lake.

New Exchequer Dam was built in 1967 to increase the reservoir's capacity to 1,032,000 acre⋅ft (1.273×109 m3). It is a rock-fill dam with a reinforced concrete face, owned by the local Merced Irrigation District, which supplies northern Merced County farms with water for irrigation through its approximately 800-mile (1200 km) network of canals. At the base of the dam is a hydroelectric plant with a capacity of 94.5 MW.

Besides storing water for irrigation, the lake also provides opportunities for recreation. Only a small amount of water from the lake is used for drinking water, and human contact is allowed. Activities available include boating, water skiing, fishing, and camping. There is a full service marina at the lake as well. Hang gliding is popular at Lake McClure, and the site is reportedly soarable 320 days of the year. [2]

McSwain Dam, about 6 miles (9.7 km) downstream from New Exchequer Dam, was built at the same time and creates Lake McSwain. The lake is a regulating reservoir for releases from Lake McClure. It has a capacity of 9,700 acre-feet (12,000,000 m3), about one percent of the capacity of Lake McClure. There is a hydroelectric plant at the dam with a capacity of 9 MW.

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued a safe eating advisory for any fish caught in Lake McSwain due to elevated levels of mercury. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merced River</span> River in California

The Merced River, in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a 145-mile (233 km)-long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and steep course through the southern part of Yosemite National Park, where it is the primary watercourse flowing through Yosemite Valley. The river's character changes dramatically once it reaches the plains of the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, where it becomes a slow-moving meandering stream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Sonoma</span> Reservoir in Sonoma County, California

Lake Sonoma is a reservoir west of Cloverdale in northern Sonoma County, California, created by the construction of Warm Springs Dam. The lake provides water for countywide growth and development, and for recreation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Oroville</span> Reservoir in Butte County, California, U.S.

Lake Oroville is a reservoir formed by the Oroville Dam impounding the Feather River, located in Butte County, northern California. The lake is situated 5 miles (8 km) northeast of the city of Oroville, within the Lake Oroville State Recreation Area, in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Known as the second-largest reservoir in California, Lake Oroville is treated as a keystone facility within the California State Water Project by storing water, providing flood control, recreation, freshwater releases to assist in controlling the salinity intrusion into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and protecting fish and wildlife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Pedro Reservoir</span> Reservoir in Tuolumne County, California

Don Pedro Reservoir, also known as Lake Don Pedro, is a reservoir formed by the construction of the New Don Pedro Dam across the Tuolumne River in Tuolumne County, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millerton Lake</span> Reservoir in Fresno and Madera counties, California

Millerton Lake is an artificial lake near the town of Friant, about 15 mi (24 km) north of downtown Fresno, California, United States. The reservoir was created by the construction of 319 ft high Friant Dam on the San Joaquin River which, with the lake, serves as much of the county line between Fresno County to the south and Madera County to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castaic Lake</span> Reservoir in the Sierra Pelona of Los Angeles County, California, United States

Castaic Lake is a reservoir formed by Castaic Dam on Castaic Creek, in the Sierra Pelona Mountains of northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, near the town of Castaic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Bullards Bar Reservoir</span> Reservoir in Yuba County, California

New Bullards Bar Reservoir is a large reservoir in northeastern Yuba County, California, United States, at an elevation of 2,000 feet (610 m) in the Tahoe National Forest and about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Yuba City. The 969,600 acre-foot (1.1960×109 m3) reservoir is formed by New Bullards Bar Dam on the North Yuba River, a tributary of the Yuba River. It also receives a portion of the Middle Fork's flow that is diverted to the reservoir via tunnels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Melones Lake</span> Reservoir in California, USA

New Melones Lake is a reservoir on the Stanislaus River in the central Sierra Nevada foothills, within Calaveras County and Tuolumne County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whiskeytown Lake</span> Man-made reservoir in California, United States

Whiskeytown Lake is a reservoir in Shasta County in northwestern California, United States, about 8 miles (13 km) west of Redding. The lake is in the Whiskeytown Unit of the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area.

Lake Del Valle is a storage reservoir located 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Livermore, in Alameda County, California. It is within Del Valle Regional Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silverwood Lake</span> Reservoir in the San Bernardino Mountains of California, United States

Silverwood Lake is a large reservoir in San Bernardino County, California, United States, located on the West Fork Mojave River, a tributary of the Mojave River in the San Bernardino Mountains. It was created in 1971 as part of the State Water Project by the construction of the Cedar Springs Dam as a forebay on the 444 mi (715 km) long California Aqueduct, and has a capacity of 73,000 acre⋅ft (90,000,000 m3).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Pablo Reservoir</span> Reservoir in California, United States

The San Pablo Reservoir is an open cut terminal water storage reservoir owned and operated by the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD). It is located in the valley of San Pablo Creek, north of Orinda, California, United States, and south of El Sobrante and Richmond, east of the Berkeley Hills between San Pablo Ridge and Sobrante Ridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Englebright Lake</span> Reservoir in California, United States

Englebright Lake is an 815 acre reservoir on the Yuba River, impounded by Englebright Dam, in the Sierra Nevada, Northern California, United States. The reservoir stores 45,000 acre feet of water with nearly 24 miles of shoreline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear River (Feather River tributary)</span> River in California, United States

The Bear River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sierra Nevada, winding through four California counties: Yuba, Sutter, Placer, and Nevada. About 73 miles (117 km) long, the river flows generally southwest through the Sierra then west through the Central Valley, draining a narrow, rugged watershed of 295 square miles (760 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French Meadows Reservoir</span>

French Meadows Reservoir is a manmade lake 36 miles (58 km) northeast of Foresthill, California, United States on the Middle Fork of the American River. The reservoir is 2.9 miles (4.7 km) long, 0.6-mile (0.97 km) wide, with 7.3 miles (11.7 km) of shoreline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O'Neill Forebay</span> Reservoir in Merced County, California

O'Neill Forebay is a forebay to the San Luis Reservoir created by the construction of O'Neill Dam across San Luis Creek approximately 12 miles (19 km) west of Los Banos, California, United States, on the eastern slopes of the Pacific Coast Ranges of Merced County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Exchequer Dam</span> Dam in Mariposa County, California

New Exchequer Dam is a concrete–faced, rock-fill dam on the Merced River in central California in the United States. It forms Lake McClure, which impounds the river for irrigation and hydroelectric power production and has a capacity of more than 1,000,000 acre-feet (1.2 km3). The Merced Irrigation District (MID) operates the dam and was also responsible for its construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rollins Dam</span> Dam in Nevada County, California

Rollins Dam is a dam on the border of Nevada and Placer counties in northern California, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stony Gorge Dam</span> Dam in Glenn County, California

Stony Gorge Dam is a dam in Glenn County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Rock Dam</span> Dam near Palmdale, California, US

Little Rock Dam, also known as Littlerock Dam, or officially as Little Rock-Palmdale Dam, is a concrete gravity dam on Little Rock Creek in Los Angeles County, California, about 5 mi (8.0 km) south of Palmdale. The dam and Little Rock Reservoir are owned by the Palmdale Water District and Littlerock Creek Irrigation District and are used for agricultural and municipal water supply and flood control.

References

  1. Admin, OEHHA (2014-12-30). "Lake McClure". OEHHA. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  2. Admin, OEHHA (2012-02-19). "Lake McSwain". OEHHA. Retrieved 2018-11-13.