![]() | Along I-80 Frontage Road (Exit 36), 20 miles east of Sparks
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Original Date Visited: 8/14/07
Revisited: 11/19/22
Signed: No
Notes: Finding this marker can be a bit tricky. Leave the interstate at Exit 36 and turn right (westbound) onto a very discreet frontage road that hugs the freeway. Proceed 1 mile to the marker on your left. The frontage road will lose pavement just past the marker, but you can make a swift left underneath the railroad tracks to access the dam itself. However, I wouldn't recommend this. This dirt path may pop your tires and might not be worth the trouble since visitors cannot access the dam anyway. You'll find at least a dozen exits in the Truckee River Canyon elsewhere and are there for a reason. Use them to find some very pretty and secluded points along the river!
Hit and Run? |
Exact Description:
Derby Dam, constructed under specification Number 1 and Drawing 1 of the U.S. Reclamation Service, now the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, diverts the flow of the Truckee River for irrigation use. It was the forerunner of such mighty structures as Hoover, Grand Coulee, Shasta and Glen Canyon Dams.
Derby Dam was authorized by Secretary of the Interior E.A. Hitchcock on March 11, 1903. It is part of the Newlands Project, named in honor of Nevada Senator Francis G. Newlands who worked for passage of the reclamation laws in 1902. Derby takes it name from a nearby Southern Pacific Railroad station of the day.
Charles A. Warren & Co. of San Francisco, the contractor, started work on the dam on October 2, 1903 and finished May 20, 1905. Operational water diversions began in 1906.
Related Links & Markers:
- 62 - Truckee River - West - 63 - Truckee River - East - 215 - Lahontan Dam
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