Historic Lake Hemet Dam

Construction on Lake Hemet Dam began in 1891 and was completed four years later on October of 1895. It stood at 122.5 feet and was the largest solid masonry dam in the world. A title it held for sixteen years.<br><br> Building of the dam itself was not the only engineering feat of its builders. Prior to building the dam a road from Hemet to Garner Valley had to be built so supplies and equipment could be taken to the damsite. In some spots the steep winding road had grades up to 18 percent. The reservoir area had to be cleared of trees and one million board feet of lumber from those trees was used for the construction of buildings, forms for construction, flumes and scaffolding. Much of the dam was comprised of granite stones weighing between 5 and 15 tons each and were quarried from the surrounding bluffs. The thousands of stones used were secured by Portland Cement imported from Belgium.<br><br> Reservoir capacity was increased in 1923 when the Lake Hemet Water Company increased the height of the dam by 12.5 feet, raising the dame to its present 135 feet.