The actual work on the Oroville Dam began in 1961. The embankment of the final dam was completed in 1967, and the spillway was finished in 1968.
Once called the ninth wonder of the world, the Oroville Dam is the tallest dam in the United States, besting Hoover Dam by more than 40 feet. It is comprised of more than 85 million cubic yards of earth.
Just recently, thousands of residents of Marysville and other Northern California communities were told to leave their homes as an emergency spillway of the Oroville Dam could fail at any time unleashing flood waters from Lake Oroville, according to officials from the California Department of Water Resources.
More than a decade ago, federal and state officials and some of California’s largest water agencies rejected concerns that the massive earthen spillway at Oroville Dam could erode during heavy winter rains and cause a catastrophe. Find out more at Mercurynews.com.