Derby Dam is a diversion dam

Diversion dam

A diversion dam is the term for a dam that diverts all or a portion of the flow of a river from its natural course. Diversion dams do not generally impound water in a reservoir...

 on the Truckee River

Truckee River

The Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river is about long. Its endorheic drainage basin is about , of which about are in Nevada. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great...

, located between Reno

Reno, Nevada

Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...

 and Fernley

Fernley, Nevada

Fernley is a city in Lyon County, Nevada, United States, within Reno-Sparks-Lake Tahoe metropolitan. The city incorporated in 2001, including land in Washoe County; prior to that it was a census-designated place . The population of the CDP was 8,543 at the 2000 census; the city itself had an...

 in Storey

Storey County, Nevada

Storey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 3,399, which was estimated to have risen to 4,110 in 2006...

 and Washoe

Washoe County, Nevada

Washoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. The population was 421,407 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Reno. Washoe County includes the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area.-History:...

 counties in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

. It diverts water that would otherwise feed Pyramid Lake into the Carson River

Carson River

The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is long....

 watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 for irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 use. It is operated by the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District

Truckee-Carson Irrigation District

The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District is a political subdivision of the State of Nevada, which operates dams at Lake Tahoe, on the Truckee River and Lake Lahontan as well as of canals and of drains in support of agriculture in Lyon County and Churchill County.Diversion of water by the TCID from...

. The dam was named after the Derby Southern Pacific Railroad

Southern Pacific Railroad

The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

 station.

The project was authorized by Ethan A. Hitchcock

Ethan A. Hitchcock (Interior)

Ethan Allen Hitchcock served under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt as U.S. Secretary of the Interior.-Early life:...

 and built in 1903, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1978 as the "Derby Diversion Dam."

History

The dam was constructed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation following an authorization for construction issued on March 14, 1903. Construction commenced on October 2, 1903 and was completed on May 20, 1905.