In February 1874, a large Chinese work force entered this woodland setting to begin construction of San Leandro Reservoir, later renamed Lake Chabot after its French-Canadian originator Anthony Chabot. The dam was built using techniques Chabot learned and invented in California’s gold fields, and Irish blacksmiths, Portuguese teamsters, and Caucasian masons and miners also joined the work. However, the 800 Chinese shovel men moved over 600,000 cubic yards of earth to create Chabot’s dream dam, which once served as the primary drinking water supply for Oakland and San Leandro. Its past included engineering feats, ghost mansions, and mud-caked stallions, and newspapers hailed the Great Reservoir as one of the Wonders of California. Dubbed the Water King by a local paper, Chabot was praised for establishing the Contra Costa Water Company and other water systems in the San Francisco area. A former gold miner, or 49er, his use of the canvas water hose, a predecessor to the water hose, earned him the title Father of Hydraulic Mining, and his name also lives on at Chabot Observatory and Science Center, one of his many charities. A September 11, 1875, newspaper account said that Chinese laborers did the greater part of the hard heavy work, including blasting, carting, and laying pipes.
