Canyon Dam (California)
Canyon Dam is an embankment dam on the North Fork Feather River in northern California, southwest of Westwood. Located about southeast of Chester, the dam forms Lake Almanor, a large and shallow reservoir surrounded by the Sierra Nevada mountains.
First constructed in 1910 by the Great Western Power Company as part of the Upper North Fork Feather River Project, the dam was originally planned to be built of masonry but was later changed to an earthfill design. The dam's primary purpose was to store water for the Western Canal Company, an irrigation district in the Central Valley and a subsidiary of Great Western. The dam provided flows for a hydroelectric plant about downstream at the Big Bend Powerhouse, today submerged by the reservoir behind Oroville Dam. Canyon Dam was modified in 1927 and 1962 to increase its usable storage. Today the dam and reservoir, owned by Pacific Gas and Electric, supply water to the 41 megawatt Butt Valley Powerhouse and provide summer flow for six hydroelectric plants on the North Fork Feather River downstream.
