National Register #78001727
Derby Diversion Dam
I-80 Near the Tesla Gigafactory
Built 1903-1905

The Derby Diversion Dam was the first project constructed as a result of the Newlands Act. Ground was broken in 1903 and it was completed in 1905. While the dam is nothing to write home about, its history is undeniable. It is located about thirty miles east of Reno on the Truckee River. It stands thirty-one feet tall and its main purpose is to divert water along a thirty-two mile long canal to the Lahontan Reservoir, just outside of Fallon. The dam provides irrigation for around 73,000 acres between Fallon and Fernley.

Source: University of Nevada Digital History, Newlands Irrigation Project

The natural course of the Truckee River is from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake.

Prior to construction of the dam, Lahontan cutthroat trout migrated from Pyramid Lake up the Truckee to spawn from March to June then returned to the lake. By the 1940s, the fish was extinct in its native habitat throughout the Truckee River watershed.

In 1967, Pyramid Lake reached its lowest level on record, more than 87 feet lower than it was in 1906 when diversions from Derby Dam began.

In the early 1900s, a wildlife commission had taken small Lahontan cutthroat trout from Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe and placed them in streams in eastern Nevada and across the border in Utah. In 2006, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, stocked the Pilot Peak strain back into its home waters. The fish thrived and has returned to its natural migration and reproduction pattern from Pyramid to Tahoe. Today, anglers are catching trout up to thirty pounds.

Derby Diversion Dam is not open to the public.