Ruth Reservoir (also known as Ruth Lake) is the only reservoir on

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

's Mad River. The reservoir and adjacent community were named for early settler Ruth McKnight. The reservoir was formed by construction of R. W. Matthews Dam in primarily for domestic and industrial water supply to

Arcata Arcata (; ; ) is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first founded in 1850 as Union, was officially ...

Eureka Eureka often refers to: * Eureka (word), a famous exclamation attributed to Archimedes * Eureka effect, the sudden, unexpected realization of the solution to a problem Eureka or Ureka may also refer to: History * Eureka Rebellion, an 1854 g ...

, and other communities around

Humboldt Bay Humboldt Bay (Wiyot language, Wiyot: ''Wigi'') is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast (California), North Coast of California, entirely within Humboldt County, California, Humboldt County, ...

. The reservoir was not designed for flood control storage, but nonetheless limited December 1964 flooding to 51 percent of 1955 flow through the community of Mad River (on

California State Route 36 State Route 36 (SR 36) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that is routed from U.S. Route 101 in California, U.S. Route 101 in Humboldt County, California, Humboldt County to U.S. Route 395 in California, U.S. Rou ...

) and 90 percent of the 1955 flood flow at Arcata. A 2- MW hydro-electric plant with two 1-MW turbine generators is powered by water released from the reservoir. The plant generates 5

GWh A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a commo ...

during an average water year. Dry-weather releases flow down the Mad River from the reservoir to be recovered by Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District's

Ranney collector A Ranney Collector is a type of radial well used to extract water from an aquifer with direct connection to a surface water source like a river or lake. The amount of water available from the collector is typically related more to the surface wate ...

s near

Essex, California Essex is a small unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, California. Essex lies on Old National Trails Highway – part of the old Route 66 – just south of Interstate 40 in the Mojave Desert. History Essex, a former oasis along h ...

Recreation

The summer

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

community of

Ruth Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ark ...

developed to expand recreational use of the reservoir. There are 174 cabin lease sites surrounding the reservoir. Registration and inspection is required for all watercraft prior to launching on Ruth Lake. Trailered and motorized boats may be launched only at the marina or at the Ruth Recreational Campground.

References

External links

Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District
{{authority control Reservoirs in Trinity County, California Reservoirs in California Reservoirs in Northern California

Recreation

See also

References

External links