Terminus Dam

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title: "Terminus Dam" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["dams-in-california", "buildings-and-structures-in-tulare-county,-california", "united-states-army-corps-of-engineers-dams", "dams-completed-in-1962", "earth-filled-dams", "dams-in-the-tulare-basin"] topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminus_Dam" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox dam"]

FieldValue
nameTerminus Dam
image2006 12 29 - Terminus Dam.JPG
image_captionThe dam and Lake Kaweah as seen from the visitor center along Route 198
coordinates
locationThree Rivers, Tulare County, California, U.S.
opening
cost$24 million
owner[[Image:United States Army Corps of Engineers logo.svg
dam_typeEarthfill
dam_height255 ft
dam_length2375 ft
dam_volume7000000 yd3
dam_elevation_crest750 ft
dam_crossesKaweah River
res_nameLake Kaweah
res_capacity_total185600 acre feet
res_catchment561 mi2
res_surface1945 acre
plant_commission1992
plant_capacity20.09 MW
plant_annual_gen40,894,000 KWh (2001–2012)
websiteU.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Lake Kaweah / Terminus Dam
::

| name = Terminus Dam | name_official = | image = 2006 12 29 - Terminus Dam.JPG | image_size = | image_caption = The dam and Lake Kaweah as seen from the visitor center along Route 198 | image_alt = | location_map = | location_map_size = | location_map_caption = | location_map_relief = | coordinates = | country = | location = Three Rivers, Tulare County, California, U.S. | purpose = | status = | construction_began = | opening = | demolished = | cost = $24 million | owner = [[Image:United States Army Corps of Engineers logo.svg|24px]] U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District | dam_type = Earthfill | dam_height = 255 ft | dam_height_thalweg = | dam_height_foundation= | dam_length = 2375 ft | dam_width_crest = | dam_width_base = | dam_volume = 7000000 yd3 | dam_elevation_crest = 750 ft | dam_crosses = Kaweah River | spillway_count = | spillway_type = | spillway_capacity = | res_name = Lake Kaweah | res_capacity_total = 185600 acre feet | res_capacity_active = | res_capacity_inactive= | res_catchment = 561 mi2 | res_surface = 1945 acre | res_elevation = | res_max_depth = | res_max_length = | res_max_width = | res_tidal_range = | plant_operator = | plant_commission = 1992 | plant_decommission = | plant_type = | plant_turbines = | plant_capacity = 20.09 MW | plant_annual_gen = 40,894,000 KWh (2001–2012) | website = U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Lake Kaweah / Terminus Dam | extra = Terminus Dam is a dam on the Kaweah River in Tulare County, California in the United States, located near Three Rivers about 15 mi from the western boundary of Sequoia National Park and 20 mi 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 high and 2375 ft long. The reservoir has a maximum capacity of 185600 acre feet of water, although it usually sits at much lower levels.

Background

Various informal proposals to dam the Kaweah River existed in the early 20th century. In April 1917, a group formed in Visalia, representing irrigation ditch companies across the region, to discuss building the dam. Around the same time, the California legislature approved plans to investigate the project's feasibility. Initial engineering surveys began in May 1917 along the Kaweah. After the California legislature passed the Water Control Act of 1927, the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District was formed in January 1928, which was the first flood control district in the state. In the early 1940s, the United States Army Corps of Engineers took surveys for the purpose of a flood control dam along the Kaweah, as well as the nearby Tule River. Amid World War II, the Bureau of Reclamation blocked the release of the report for more than two years, due to an executive order by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In March 1943, Tulare County created a committee to launch their own studies on building the dam, to present their findings to the United States Congress. In June of year, the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District also petitioned the United States Congress to build the dams. The Army Corps of Engineers took additional surveys for the dams in 1943 into 1944, proposing a 180 ft high structure along the Kaweah River, which would create a reservoir of 1860 acre. In March 1944, the United States House Flood Control Committee approved $4.6 million toward building both the Kaweah and Tule dams, as part of legislation that became the Flood Control Act of 1944, signed into law that December.

By January 1945, the planned Terminus Dam along the Kaweah was constructed to be 223 ft high, which was higher than initial estimates to account for larger and more regular flooding. The structure was named for originally being the terminus of a railroad extending from Visalia. The project was delayed at first due to the ongoing war, but by August 1945, Congress authorized funds for preliminary tests for the planned dams. In May 1946, preliminary drilling work began for the site. However, lack of funding prevented more immediate action for construction. 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. In 1950, two Yokuts villages were excavated, which would be underwater after the dam was finished. Many of the artifacts were removed by the U.S. National Park Service's Interagency Archaeological Salvage Program before the beginning of work on the dam.{{cite web |url=https://npshistory.com/publications/corps/terminus-reservoir/sec7.htm|title=The Inter-Agency Archeological Salvage Program|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|work=Terminus Reservoir: Geology, Paleontology, Flora & Fauna, Archeology, History |date= |access-date=May 26, 2025}} Following downstream floods in December 1955 into early 1956, the United States Congress authorized $18.6 million toward building the Terminus Dam in July 1956, partly as a response to the floods. A month later, the Army Corps of Engineers publicly released their updated plan – the new dam would be earth-filled, with a height of 225 ft, a length of 2700 ft long, and enough storage capacity to hold more than double of the December 1955 floods. In preparation for the new dam, the California Highway Department relocated a portion of SR 198 to higher ground. Further progress was stalled due to insufficient federal funding, until the 1959 fiscal year. In December 1958, the Army Corps approved a $9.4 million construction contract to a joint venture based in Monrovia, California.

History

Construction for the Terminus Dam began in January 1959, with a formal groundbreaking ceremony held on February 19. By the end of July 1959, construction work was 9% complete, consisting of tree removal, soil movement, and an outlet tunnel. During the fall of 1959, water flow along the Kaweah was low, which allowed workers to divert the river and start building the dam's base. By December 1959, construction work was 27% complete. A team of 151 workers and engineers built the dam, while another 138 people relocated the portion of SR 198. That month, an observation area opened to allow visitors to view the progress of the construction. By February 1961, construction work was about halfway complete, with a small portion left open due to the potential for winter flooding. The water diversion tunnel was finished on July 1 of that year, forcing the Kaweah River into a 12.75 ft tunnel. At that time, workers could construct the unfinished portion. Throughout 1961, phone and electric company workers removed power lines and poles. In April 1962, the dam's spillway was finished. On May 18, the dam, along with the nearby Success Dam, were both formally dedicated. Congressman Harlan Hagen attended the ceremony, along with roughly 500 others, including General William F. Cassidy. The cost for Terminus Dam was $19.3 million. Operations were handled by the Army Corps.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Terminus_Hydroplus.JPG" caption="The fusegates at Terminus Dam are tested by high water in 2005"] ::

The waterway behind the dam, Lake Kaweah, was formally signed into law on August 8, 1962, following unanimous approval by the House of Representatives in June, and approval by the Senate in July. During a flood in 1963, a television station in Los Angeles falsely reported that the dam burst. The reservoir behind the dam filled for the first time in 1964, with an initial capacity of 150000 acre feet. Originally, the reservoir was designed to accommodate about 8000 acre feet of storage space for sedimentation, or the accumulation of silt. A hydrographic survey in 1977 indicated that about 7000 acre feet of sediment had already accumulated; this limited the dam's future flooding potential. In December 1985, both Tulare County and the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District requested for the Army Corps to study expanding the storage potential for Terminus Dam. The Water Resources Development Act of 1996 authorized $20.2 million toward expanding the dam's spillway. In 2001, the spillway expansion project began with excavating about 150 ft of adjacent hillside. In 2002, the Whitaker Construction Company started constructing six concrete fusegates, each 21 ft in height, upstream of the existing spillway. The project, finished in February 2004, increased the dam's flood storage potential to withstand a 1-in-76–year flood, up from a 46–year flood. Upon completion, the fusegates were the third of its type, and largest, to be constructed. The project increased the storage capacity of Lake Kaweah by more than 40000 acre feet, to its current capacity of 185600 acre feet, and ensured the capability of Terminus Dam to pass a flood of up to 300000 cuft/s.{{cite web |url=http://www.hydroplus.com/hydroplus/publications.nsf/(unid)/557BF4A9722906FEC125717F00310D2F/$File/ASDSO2004.pdf |title=The Fusegate System Reaches New Heights in California |publisher=Hydroplus |author1=Kocahan, Hasan T. |author2=Suter, Norbert F. |date= |accessdate=2013-07-23}}

Together with the three other major dams in the Tulare basin, Terminus Dam contributed to the desiccation of Tulare Lake, once one of the largest wetland regions in the United States.

Power generation

In 1982, the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District and the Tulare Irrigation District jointly created the Kaweah River Power Authority (KRPA) to build a hydroelectric facility at Terminus Dam. After the KRPA applied for a license in 1984 to build a 17 MW power plant, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project in August 1986. Construction on the Terminus Power Project began in 1987, and was finished in 1990, when it began delivering electricity to Southern California Edison.

Functions

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Kaweah_River.jpg" caption="View of the reservoir area, drawn down for flood control in September"] ::

As a dry dam, Terminus Dam's primary purpose is flood control; consequently, the reservoir is usually maintained at a very low level, except in late spring and early summer when it is used to store snowmelt runoff from the Sierra Nevada.{{cite web |url=http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/profile?s=TRM&type=res |title=Terminus Dam (TRM) Reservoir Information |publisher=California Department of Water Resources |work=California Data Exchange Center |accessdate=2013-07-23}} The dam provides flood protection for 500000 acre of farmland and 300,000 people along the lower Kaweah River. Shortly after its completion, the dam and reservoir were put to the test by record floods in December 1966, during which Terminus, Success and Isabella Dams prevented a collective $81.9 million of damages.{{cite web |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/wsp/1870c/report.pdf |title=Floods of December 1966 in the Kern-Kaweah Area, Kern and Tulare Counties, California |publisher=U.S. Geological Survey |author1=Dean, Willard W. |author2=Scott, Kevin M. |work=Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1870-C |date= |accessdate=2013-07-23}} Between 1962 and 2012, Terminus Dam has prevented $373,225,000 of flood-related damages.{{cite news |author=Ritchie, Ashley |url=http://visalia.kmph.com/news/environment/84359-lake-kaweah-celebrates-50-years |title=Lake Kaweah Celebrates 50 Years |work=KMPH Visalia |date=2012-05-09 |access-date=2013-07-23}}

Water releases from Terminus Dam are made based on agricultural demand when flood control releases are not required. Snowmelt runoff stored in Lake Kaweah are released at high rates between May and late July-early August during the peak of the irrigation season. The water serves multiple local water districts such as the Tulare Irrigation District (TID) and Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District (KDWCD), as well as urban areas including Visalia and Tulare.{{cite web |url=http://www.itrc.org/databases/cecaplrp/CEC%20APLRP%20Case%20Study%20TID.pdf |title=Case Study: Kaweah River Power Authority and Tulare ID |publisher=California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo |work=California Energy Commission Agricultural Peak Load Reduction Program |date= |accessdate=2013-07-23}}{{cite web |url=http://www.kdwcd.com/kdwcdweb_003.htm |title=About Us |publisher=Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District |accessdate=2013-07-23}} The dam also generates hydroelectricity from a plant built in 1992 by the Kaweah River Power Authority (KRPA), which is jointly managed by TID and KDWCD.{{cite web |url=https://tulareid.org/district-profile |title=District Profile |publisher=Tulare Irrigation District |date= |accessdate=2013-07-23}} Electricity generated here is distributed by Southern California Edison. The power plant currently has a capacity of 20.09 megawatts (MW),{{cite web |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2012-08-28/html/2012-21178.htm |title=Kaweah River Power Authority; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments, Motions To Intervene, and Competing Applications |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |work=Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Project No. 14436-000 |date=2012-08-28 |accessdate=2022-07-19}} upgraded from its original capacity of 17 MW, and generates roughly 40 million kilowatt hours (KWh) per year. The KRPA planned to expand this capacity by a further 9 MW, which would allow for the generation of an additional 9.2 million KWh, but construction has not yet started . In February 2020, the KRPA filed to transfer their operating license to Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, the US subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation.

References

Works cited

  • {{cite book |author=Brewer, Chris |title=Historic Tulare County: A Sesquicentennial History, 1852-2002 |publisher=HPN Books |year=2004 |isbn=1-89361-940-0}}
  • {{cite book |author=Garone, Philip |title=The Fall and Rise of the Wetlands of California's Great Central Valley |publisher=University of California Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-52094-849-5}}

References

  1. "Recent District Projects". Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District.
  2. "Terminus Dam (TRM)". California Department of Water Resources.
  3. "California Hydroelectric Statistics & Data". California Energy Commission.
  4. (April 6, 1917). "Proposal to Store Flood Waters of Kaweah". Visalia Morning Delta.
  5. (April 26, 1917). "Discuss Kaweah Dam Project at Visalia". Hanford Sentinel.
  6. (May 12, 1917). "General Agricultural Review". Pacific Rural Press.
  7. (November 7, 1927). "Water District Voted". Tulare Advance Register.
  8. (January 15, 1928). "Kaweah Delta Water Unit Directors Meet". Visalia Morning Delta.
  9. (April 28, 1943). "Water Conservation District Conservation Program Under Way Has Role In Agriculture". Visalia Times-Delta.
  10. (October 15, 1943). "Army Engineers Make Survey Of Flood Situation". Lindsay Gazette.
  11. (March 31, 1944). "Committee O.K. on Tule, Kaweah Control Works". Lindsay Gazette.
  12. (December 23, 1944). "Flood Control Bill Signed by the President". Visalia Times-Delta.
  13. "Kings River and other Flood Control Projects Cited". Hanford Sentinel.
  14. (September 8, 2008). "Terminus Dam and Reservoir - Kaweah River, California". National Park Service.
  15. (February 7, 1945). "Flood Solution Up to Community". Visalia Times-Delta.
  16. (August 24, 1945). "Army Engineers Given Funds". Tulare Advance-Register.
  17. (May 24, 1946). "Start Drilling at Terminus Dam Site". Tulare Advance Register.
  18. (September 29, 1949). "Engineers Go Ahead With Plans For Terminus Dam on Kaweah River". Tulare Advance Register.
  19. "Native Occupation of the Terminus Reservoir Region". U.S. National Park Service.
  20. (July 22, 1950). "Slick Rock Indian Village Being Excavated". Visalia Times-Delta.
  21. (July 27, 1956). "Senate Votes Added $28,000,000 Allocation for Success, Terminus".
  22. (August 2, 1956). "Details of County Dam Revealed". Tulare Advance-Register.
  23. (December 17, 1958). "Bid on Dam". Madera Tribune.
  24. (January 26, 1959). "Terminus Dam Ceremony, Feb. 19". Madera Tribune.
  25. (February 19, 1959). "Plans Set for Terminus Ground Breaking Today". Lindsay Gazette.
  26. (July 29, 1959). "Construction of Terminus Dam is Progressing Well". Porterville Recorder.
  27. Dan Winston. (December 14, 1959). "300 Men Push Dam and Road Work on Terminus Project". Tulare Advance-Register.
  28. (December 17, 1959). "Terminus Dam Observation Point Opened to Public". Lindsay Gazette.
  29. Redford H. Dibble. (February 18, 1961). "Terminus Dam Half-Finished, Will be Flood-Proof by Fall". Tulare Advance-Register.
  30. Reeve Hennion. (September 28, 1961). "Dam Nearly Done".
  31. (May 18, 1962). "Dams to End Floods Dedicated". Tulare Advance-Register.
  32. Larry McSwain. (June 18, 1965). "Terminus Dam Controls Kaweah River". Hanford Sentinel.
  33. (June 18, 1962). "Lake is Named". Hanford Sentinel.
  34. "Lake Kaweah Bill to JFK". Tulare Advance-Register.
  35. (August 8, 1962). "Joint Resolution".
  36. "Three Rivers Escapes Flooding". Tulare Advance-Register.
  37. (1996). "Kaweah River Basin Investigation, California, Tulare County and King County: Environmental Impact Statement". U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
  38. (October 21, 1997). "A Report on a Flood Damage Reduction and Agricultural Water Supply Project at the Terminus Dam, Kaweah River Basin, California, Pursuant to Pub. L. 104-303, Sec. 101(b)(5)". United States Government Printing Office.
  39. (January 19, 2004). "Lake Kaweah Adds Safety, Capacity with Big Fusegates". Engineering News Record.
  40. Garone, p. 194
  41. (June 2022). "Engineer's Report for Tulare Irrigation District".
  42. (2005). "Water Control Manual Terminus Dam and Lake Kaweah". United States Army Corps of Engineers.
  43. (2025-01-31). "Acting on Trump's order, federal officials opened up two California dams". Los Angeles Times.
  44. Nilsen, Ella. (2025-03-07). "Behind the scenes of Trump and DOGE's chaotic effort to release billions of gallons of California's water". CNN.
  45. . (February 28, 2020). ["Kaweah River Power Authority, Terminus Hydroelectric, LLC; Notice of Application for Transfer of License and Soliciting Comments, Motions To Intervene, and Protests"](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/28/2020-04130/kaweah-river-power-authority-terminus-hydroelectric-llc-notice-of-application-for-transfer-of). *[[National Archives and Records Administration]]*.
  46. Lindt, John. (March 11, 2020). "Kaweah River Power Authority selling hydro plant to Canadian operator". Mineral King Publishing.

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dams-in-californiabuildings-and-structures-in-tulare-county,-californiaunited-states-army-corps-of-engineers-damsdams-completed-in-1962earth-filled-damsdams-in-the-tulare-basin