Lake Berryessa
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Lake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, California; parts of the lake lie within Yolo County as well. This reservoir is formed by the Monticello Dam, which provides water and hydroelectricity to the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Prior to its inundation, the Beryessa Valley was an agricultural region, whose soils were considered among the finest in the country. The main town in the valley, Monticello, was abandoned in order to construct the reservoir. This abandonment was chronicled by the photographers Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones in their book Death of a Valley.
Construction of Monticello Dam was begun in 1957, and the reservoir filled by 1963, creating what at the time was the second-largest reservoir in California after Shasta Lake.
The lake is heavily used for recreational purposes. It has a seaplane landing area that is open to the public.
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- UC Davis page on the history of the valley
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