Terminus Dam
| Terminus Dam | |
|---|---|
The dam and Lake Kaweah as seen from the visitor center along Route 198
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| Location | Three Rivers, Tulare County, California, United States |
| Coordinates | 36°25′01″N 119°00′14″W / 36.41694°N 119.00389°WCoordinates: 36°25′01″N 119°00′14″W / 36.41694°N 119.00389°W |
| Opening date | 1962 |
| Construction cost | $24 million |
| Owner(s) | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Earthfill |
| Impounds | Kaweah River |
| Height | 255 ft (78 m) |
| Length | 2,375 ft (724 m) |
| Elevation at crest | 750 ft (230 m) |
| Dam volume | 7,000,000 cu yd (5,400,000 m3) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Lake Kaweah |
| Total capacity | 185,600 acre·ft (0.2289 km3) |
| Catchment area | 561 sq mi (1,450 km2) |
| Surface area | 1,945 acres (787 ha) |
| Power station | |
| Commission date | 1992 |
| Installed capacity | 20.09 MW |
| Annual generation | 40,000,000 KWh |
Terminus Dam is a dam on the Kaweah River in Tulare County, California in the United States, located near Three Rivers about 15 mi (24 km) from the western boundary of Sequoia National Park and 20 mi (32 km) east of Visalia. The dam forms Lake Kaweah for flood control and irrigation water supply. Completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in 1962, Terminus is an earthfill dam 255 ft (78 m) high and 2,375 ft (724 m) long. The reservoir has a maximum capacity of 185,600 acre·ft (0.2289 km3) of water, although it usually sits at much lower levels.
Terminus Dam is one of four dams built on the rivers of the Tulare Lake basin, located at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. In the 1920s, the USACE and the State of California first surveyed the area for suitable reservoir sites to provide irrigation water. After devastating floods in the late 1930s, the Flood Control Act of 1944 authorized the USACE to build Terminus Dam as part of a system to provide flood protection for the Tulare basin.
In 1948, with plans for the dam on the Kaweah River nearly complete, an archaeological survey of the future reservoir site revealed an unusually rich selection of Native American artifacts. Many of these were removed by the U.S. National Park Service's Interagency Archaeological Salvage Program before the beginning of work on the dam.
Construction of Terminus Dam started in the late 1950s and was completed in 1962. The dam was dedicated along with the Success Dam, further south on the Tule River, on May 18, 1962. The reservoir filled for the first time in 1964 to its initial capacity of 150,000 acre·ft (0.19 km3).Sedimentation had reduced this to 143,200 acre·ft (0.1766 km3) according to a study conducted in 1977.
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