Welcome time travelers!

In February 1874 a large Chinese work force entered this woodland setting to begin construction of San Leandro Reservoir. Later renamed Lake Chabot after its French-Canadian originator Anthony Chabot, the dam was built using techniques Chabot learned and invented in the gold-fields of California.

Irish blacksmiths, Portuguese teamsters, and Caucasian masons and miners would also join the construction ranks. However, it was the 800 Chinese "shovel men" that moved over 600,000 cubic yards of earth to create Chabot's dream dam. once the primary drinking water supply for Oakland and San Leandro.

The dam's colorful past is a storyteller's playground of engineering feats, ghost mansions, and mud-caked stallions. Take this history walk and look at the panels to explore what newspaper articles once heralded as the "Great Reservoir" and one of the "Wonders of the California."

Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.

Show me all markers in:  Oakland, CA  |  Alameda County  |  94605  |  California  |  United States of America

Giant Water Filters
Roots From Another Land
Memorial to the Chinese Laborers
Filtration Basins
A Zoo, a Monkey, and a Mansion Here Too!
Tunnel No. 1 Control Shaft
Yem-Po: Chinese Labor Camp
Taming the Waters' Flow
Of Fins and Flippers
Chabot Dam

• GPX
• KML
• LOC

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.