Littlerock Dam and Reservoir
Littlerock Reservoir lies on Little Rock Creek at the north edge of the San Gabriel Mountains, near the Antelope Valley community of Littlerock. The reservoir was created to store water for orchards and farms in the Palmdale and Littlerock area, where irrigation water was essential to early agricultural development.
Littlerock Dam was designed by engineer John S. Eastwood, who was known for his reinforced concrete multiple-arch dam designs. Work on the dam began after years of planning, surveys, revised designs, water-rights questions, and district agreements. In late 1917, plans for a large storage dam on Little Rock Creek were announced in the Antelope Valley Ledger Gazette. Between 1918 and 1922, Eastwood prepared several designs for possible dam sites on the creek.
On June 26, 1922, Bent Brothers signed a contract with the Palmdale Water Company to build the dam. The following day, the Littlerock and Palmdale Irrigation Districts approved the contract, and construction preparations began. Final approval for Eastwood's multiple-arch dam at the present site came on November 4, 1922. By then, mixer plant equipment, a rock crusher, and concrete-spouting equipment were already on site.
Seventeen months later, Littlerock Dam was declared complete on April 1, 1924. At the time, it was recognized as one of the highest reinforced concrete multiple-arch dams in the United States. The reservoir filled to capacity for the first time in early April 1926 after heavy rains, when water poured over the small spillway.
The dam became an important water-storage structure for the southern Antelope Valley, serving both agricultural and community needs. It also became a familiar landmark in the Angeles National Forest, valued not only for its practical purpose but also for its unusual engineering form.
Sources:
Historic American Engineering Record, Littlerock Dam, HAER No. CA-8.
California Department of Public Works, Second Biennial Report, 1924.
Littlerock Chamber of Commerce.
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Littlerock Dam remains in service as part of the Palmdale Water District and Littlerock Creek Irrigation District water system. Water stored in Littlerock Reservoir comes from rainfall and snowmelt runoff in the San Gabriel Mountains and is transferred to Palmdale Lake for treatment and distribution.
The dam and reservoir are historically important, but the recreation area has been closed to regular public use since 2015. The closure began during drought conditions and has continued because of public health, safety, maintenance, sediment, and site-management issues. Local agencies and community supporters have continued to discuss possible reopening, but there is no confirmed regular public reopening date.
A major continuing issue is sediment accumulation in the reservoir. Palmdale Water District has described a sediment removal project intended to restore reservoir storage and flood-control capacity, protect habitat, and maintain the reservoir's usefulness as a water source.