Little Rock Dam

Little Rock Dam also known as Littlerock Dam, or officially as Little Rock-Palmdale Dam is a concrete gravity dam on Little Rock Creek in Los Angeles County, California, located about 5mi south of Palmdale. The dam and Little Rock Reservoir are owned by the Palmdale Water District and Littlerock Creek Irrigation District, and are used for agricultural and municipal water supply and flood control.The dam is 124ft high from foundation to crest and spans 576ft across the canyon, forming a reservoir with a capacity of 3700acre feet. The reservoir has a surface area of 108acre and receives water from a drainage area of 63.7mi2 on the north slope of the San Gabriel Mountains. A popular recreation spot, the dam, reservoir and vicinity receive about 300,000 visitors each year.Designed by John S. Eastwood, a noted engineer of several dams in the western U.S., Littlerock was originally built in 1924 by the Palmdale Irrigation District (now Palmdale Water District) to provide a water supply for orchards in the area. With a height of 112ft and holding 2400acre feet of water, it was the tallest multiple-arch reinforced concrete dam in the world at the time. The dam's design combined with its record height was highly controversial; the state mandated renovations in 1932, in which concrete buttresses were added to the dam face. In 1938, the dam nearly failed as a result of historic flooding, which led to the evacuation of hundreds of people in downstream towns. The dam was renovated again in 1966 to comply with increasing safety standards and regional urban development. In the 1970s, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).