Morrison-Knudsen’s construction of Diamond Valley Lake’s West Dam, East Dam, and Saddle Dam represents the largest earthwork project in the history of the United States, involving over 40 million cubic yards of foundation excavation and 110 million cubic yards of embankment construction.
MK’s tireless dedication to their craft left many touting “The Diamond Valley Lake project is truly a World Class civil works project” with materials drilled, blasted, crushed, loaded, hauled, placed, and compacted at an unsurpassed rate in the dam construction industry. The rock operations literally moved the mountain of rock from the south rim of the reservoir and placed it across the valley floor to form two two-mile long dams at each end of a 4-1/2-mile valley.