Santa Anita Dam

About

Santa Anita Dam, also known as Big Santa Anita Dam, is a concrete thin arch dam on Santa Anita Creek in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, California. Owned by the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, the dam serves for flood control, water conservation and debris control. The dam is 225 feet (69 m) high and 612 feet (187 m) long, holding 858 acre-feet (1,058,000 m3) of water with a maximum capacity of 1,028 acre⋅ft (1,268,000 m3). The catchment area for the dam is 10.8 square miles (28 km2). The dam was built between 1923 and 1927. The dam has three valves that control releases of stormwater.

The dam is situated in the steep San Gabriel foothills, north of Sierra Madre and Arcadia. It is located just north of the boundary of the Angeles National Forest. The dam is visible from Santa Anita Canyon Road, which runs along the west slope of the Santa Anita Canyon and provides access into trails further upstream along Santa Anita Creek. The viewing window for the dam is very short, only about a half-mile; the access road which runs down into the canyon from Santa Anita Canyon Road is closed to the public. However, the First Water trail, which leads downstream from Chantry Flat along the creek, is said to provide access to the reservoir.