Pineview Dam - History

History

The Ogden River irrigated approximately 3,000 acres (12 km²) of land in the Ogden area before 1900. Increasing diversions lead to a shortfall of irrigation flow during late summer months. The Geological Survey in 1921 established stream gauging stations along the river. A storage reservoir recommendation was made shortly thereafter by the Bureau of Reclamation, and investigations continued until 1932. The Pineview site was then adopted for a 30,000 acre foot (37,000,000 m3) reservoir.

President Roosevelt authorized the Ogden River Project on November 16, 1935. Fund allotment had begun in 1933 under the National Industrial Recovery Act. Construction began on September 29, 1934. Completion of the Pineview dam and Ogden-Brigham Canal occurred in June 1937. The South Ogden Highline Canal was constructed between 1938-1941.

Its construction is a zone earthfill dam type containing 15,500 cubic yards (11,800 m³) of earth, rock and riprap materials. The crest of the dam is at 4,908.0 feet (1496.0 m), is 30 ft (9 m) wide and 600 ft (180 m) long. Its initial height was 103 ft (31.4 m), resulting in a 44,175 acre foot (54,489,000 m3) capacity. The later Weber Basin Project increased the height of the dam to 137 ft (41.8 m), enlarging the capacity to 110,150 acre feet (135,870,000 m3). By using radial gates, the dam functions with an overflow, channel-type spillway allowing for a flow rate of 10,000 cubic feet per second (280 m³/s).

The Ogden City Conduit is fed by a 72 and 75-inch (1.83 and 1.91 m) conduit at 2,300 cubic feet per second (65 m³/s). A stillout is fed from the same conduit through a 60-inch (1.5 m) outlet. A wye adapter on the 72-inch (1,800 mm) conduit allows additional discharge into the stillout, while 42-inch (1,100 mm) conduit feeds the Ogden City filtration plant located downstream. At 4.7 miles (7.6 km) down the Ogden River Canyon, the Ogden River Conduit splits into the Ogden-Brigham and South Ogden Highline canals. The Highline canal is fed through a 36-inch (0.91 m) diameter, 360 ft (110 m) long steel siphon suspended across the mouth of the canyon. The Ogden-Brigham canal has a flow rate of approximately 120 cubic feet per second (3.4 m³/s), while the Highline canal flows at 35 cubic feet per second (1.0 m³/s) over 5.2 miles (8.4 km).