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Crowley Lake
Crowley LakeShow map of CaliforniaCrowley LakeShow map of the United States
Location	Mono County, California
Coordinates	37°37′2.46″N 118°44′22.92″W / 37.6173500°N 118.7397000°W / 37.6173500; -118.7397000
Lake type	reservoir
Primary inflows	Owens River
Primary outflows	Owens River
Basin countries	United States
Built	1941; 83 years ago (1941)
Max. length	12 mi (19 km)
Max. width	5 mi (8.0 km) at widest point
Surface area	5,300 acres (21 km)
Average depth	40 ft (12 m)
Max. depth	100 ft (30 m)
Shore length	45 mi (72 km)
Surface elevation	6,781 ft (2,067 m)
Website	Official website
Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Crowley Lake is a reservoir on the upper Owens River in southern Mono County, California, in the United States. Crowley Lake is 15 mi (24 km) south of Mammoth Lakes.

The lake was created in 1941 by the building of the Long Valley Dam by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), as storage for the Los Angeles Aqueduct and for flood control. The dam is 126 ft (38 m) high and impounds 183,465 acre⋅ft (0.226301 km). For more on the history of the lake, see Owens Lake.

It is known for its trout fishing. Between 6,000 and 10,000 anglers hit the lake on opening day. Crowley Lake Fish Camp, run in cooperation with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, is the only way to access the lake, and visitors can rent boats, book camping sites, and buy supplies at the Fish Camp.

The lake is named after Fr. John J. Crowley, "the desert Padre", who was a key figure in Owens Valley history and a local hero. When it became obvious that the city of Los Angeles's appropriation of the water supply had made agriculture impossible in the Owens Valley, many of the residents of the Valley lost all hope. Father Crowley traveled the Valley, convincing many of them that it could become a tourist destination; however, he was critical of where the dam was to be located. Father Crowley was killed in 1940 in an automobile accident.

Columns

Upon completion of the reservoir in 1941, strange columnar formations were spotted along its eastern shore. These formations feature spaced columns, some rising 20 ft (6 m) tall, spanned at the top with arches and resembling the arcades of Moorish architecture. For decades speculative theories of their natural origin were proposed, but no detailed study was conducted.

In 2015 geologists from UC Berkeley concluded that the formations are the result of snowmelt seeping down into volcanic ash from the catastrophic eruption of the Long Valley Caldera, then rising up again as steam. The water deposited erosion-resistant minerals that remained behind as the ash eroded around them. The researchers counted nearly 5,000 such pillars, which appear in groups and vary widely in shape, size, and color over an area of 4,000 acres (1,600 ha). Some of the columns stand erect approximately a foot apart and feature ringed apertures. Others are warped or leaning at various angles, and others are half-submerged and resemble the petrified remains of dinosaur vertebrae.

See also

• List of lakes in California
• List of dams and reservoirs in California

References

1. "Staff Report : Recommendation to de-List Crowley Lake for Nitrogen and Phosphorus" (PDF). Waterboards.ca.gov. Retrieved 2013-11-02.
2. Webster, William E. "Tales of The Desert Padre: Fr. John J. Crowley Õ15" (PDF).
3. "Mystery Of Crowley Lake Columns Solved". Geology In. January 12, 2017. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
4. Sahagun, L. (2015-11-15). "Researchers determine origin of mysterious stone columns along Crowley Lake". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-11-26.

External links

• Media related to Crowley Lake at Wikimedia Commons
• Map of DWP assets in Long Valley (Largest lake is Crowley)
• Lake Crowley Fishing Map

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Passes	Fredonyer Beckwourth Yuba Donner Mt. Rose Spooner Echo Carson Monitor Ebbetts Sonora Tioga Minaret Kaweah Sherman Tehachapi
Rivers	Feather Yuba Bear American Mokelumne Cosumnes Calaveras Stanislaus Tuolumne Merced Chowchilla Fresno San Joaquin Kings Kaweah Tule Kern Truckee Carson Walker Owens
Lakes	Tahoe Aloha Echo Fallen Leaf Spooner Mono Almanor Oroville Isabella Donner Independence Shaver Huntington Florence Edison Wishon Courtright Tenaya Mammoth Bass Crowley Convict Hell for Sure
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Communities	Angels Camp Auburn Bridgeport Chester Colfax Grass Valley Incline Village Jackson Kernville Loyalton Mammoth Lakes Mariposa Markleeville Nevada City Oakhurst Paradise Placerville Portola Quincy San Andreas Sonora South Lake Tahoe Susanville Sutter Creek Tahoe City Tehachapi Truckee
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Trails	High Sierra Trail John Muir Trail Pacific Crest Trail Sierra High Route

• Reservoirs in Mono County, California
• Dams in California
• Los Angeles Aqueduct
• United States local public utility dams
• Reservoirs in California
• Reservoirs in Northern California