Lake Berryessa
| Lake Berryessa | |
|---|---|
Satellite photo
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| Location |
Vaca Mountains, Napa County, California |
| Coordinates | 38°34′15″N 122°14′07″W / 38.570938°N 122.23526°WCoordinates: 38°34′15″N 122°14′07″W / 38.570938°N 122.23526°W |
| Type | reservoir |
| Primary outflows | Putah Creek |
| Catchment area | 576 sq mi (1,490 km2) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 15.5 mi (24.9 km) |
| Max. width | 3 mi (4.8 km) |
| Surface area | 20,700 acres (8,400 ha) |
| Max. depth | 275 ft (84 m) |
| Water volume | 1,602,000 acre·ft (1.976 km3) |
| Shore length1 | 165 mi (266 km) |
| Surface elevation | 443 ft (135 m) |
| References | |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, California. This reservoir in the Vaca Mountains is formed by the Monticello Dam, which provides water and hydroelectricity to the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The reservoir was named for the first European settlers in the Berryessa Valley, José Jesús and Sexto "Sisto" Berrelleza (a Basque surname, Anglicized to "Berreyesa", then later respelled "Berryessa"), who were granted Rancho Las Putas in 1843.
Prior to its inundation, the valley was an agricultural region, whose soils were considered among the finest in the country. The main town in the valley, Monticello, was abandoned in order to construct the reservoir. This abandonment was chronicled by the photographers Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones in their book Death of a Valley. Construction of Monticello Dam began in 1953, completed in 1958, and the reservoir filled by 1963, creating what at the time was the second-largest reservoir in California after Shasta Lake. The Monticello Dam with Lake Berryessa, Putah Diversion Dam with Lake Solano, and associated water distribution systems and lands are known collectively as the Solano Project, which is distinct from other federal water projects in California such as the Central Valley Project.
Monticello residents opposed the government and the Solano Project but were unsuccessful. Residents abandoned their homes, the Monticello cemetery had to be relocated, and houses were destroyed. Monticello ranchers were evicted as equipment was auctioned away and the fertile land destroyed and flooded.
The discovery of gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada causes an influx of people to migrate into the central valley. Communities in Solano County exploded as the gold rush took place. To accommodate for the rising population more water was needed for development and sustaining populations. Thus around the 1940s the Solano County Board of Supervisors organized the Solano County Water Council to search for the best place to develop a water project and thus Monticello Dam and Lake Berryessa was born.
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Wikipedia