click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
Marin County DOES love it's water, but we rely totally on our beloved Mount Tamalpais as a source. We have a "cracker-jack" of a water company, the MMWD, and early in the last century they built a chain of 5 reservoirs on the north-east side of "Mt. Tam".
Alpine Dam was constructed between the summer of 1917 and the spring of 1919. The dam was increased 8' in height in 1924. Today it brims with 1.3 billion gallons of water. When full Alpine Lake's surface area is 135 acres.
click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
MY favorite spot at Alpine Dam is the canyon below the dam, where the upper Lagunitas Creek remains in a natural state. This portion of the Lagunitas has to flow through another reservoir (Kent Lake) before continuing on its journey to the Pacific Ocean at Tomales Bay, aproximately 10 miles away.
click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
This is a much smaller dam made of stones a short way downstream from Alpine Dam. It appears to be part of a stream measuring station but is not used today. Gotta love that silky water...
To see what I think are some REALLY interesting construction photos of Alpine Dam click here.
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