Lake Temescal aerial 1939


Description:
Aerial view of Lake Temescal (looking southeasterly). The road approaching from the lower right is Broadway; the road coming in at the bottom left is Tunnel Road, which becomes Landvale Road. The two roads cross just to the left of the Lake Temescal dam. The Sacramento Northern Railway right-of-way can be seen in the lower center of the photograph, roughly midway between Broadway and Landvale Road and angling in a straight line toward the intersection of the two roads. The Sacramento Northern track pass through a tunnel below Broadway and continues along Lake Temescal's left (northern) shore toward the Montclair district.

Date of Document:
1939

Document Author:
Unknown

Geographic Location:
Telegrpah Avenue and 51st Street, Oakland, Calif.

Context:
In the 1866, French Canadian-born Anthony Chabot, who earned his reputation as the father of hydraulic mining in the Sierra Nevada during the Gold Rush, founded the Contra Costa Water Company and began construction of an earthen dam in the hills above Oakland. He chose as the site for the dam the confluence of Temescal Creek and one of its main tributaries known today as the Tunnel Branch. Built largely by Chinese laborers, the dam was completed in 1868, creating Lake Temescal (originally named Lake Chabot) and Oakland s first municipal water supply. But even before its completion, Chabot and others understood that the reservoir would be insufficient to meet the fresh water needs of Oakland s growing population. In 1874, Chabot turned his attention to building an even larger reservoir by damming San Leandro Creek. In 1936, Lake Temescal (which straddles the Hayward fault) was among the first three public parks established by the East Bay Regional Park District. Its stone Beach House, built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), was completed in 1940. Erosion resulting from the addition of the third bore to the Caldecott Tunnel in the 1960s and the construction of Highway 24 (the Grove-Shafter Freeway) approach to the Caldecott Tunnel in the early 1970s caused a dramatic increase in sediment in Lake Temescal. In the late 1970s, the reservoir was dredged and other measures were taken to help reduce sedimentation.





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