Pardee Dam Morning

Pardee Dam Morning
8" x 10" acrylic on 3/4" canvas
$65 + $10 USPS shipping
email: libbyfife@ymail.com

Pardee Dam was finished and opened for business in 1929. Named for the Progressive era politician and CA governor, George Pardee, the dam was an important project for the recently formed EBMUD (East Bay Municipal Utility District) and brought much needed water to the CA East Bay. The dam spans the Mokelumne river and separates Calaveras county from Amador county.

My personal opinion is that dams and bridges such as this one are iconic markers in our nation's history. I would guess that both small and large projects such as this have brought much needed resources to hundreds of thousands of Americans over the years. And although this bridge is specific to where I live, I hope that it produces a generalized sense of nostalgia for the roads, bridges, and tollways that we use everyday but which were established while our country was still relatively young.

This particular view is from the Calaveras side and is of the 2nd bridge. (There appear to be two.) People travel this way to get to the town of Jackson, presumably to work. It was about 7AM when I took some field notes and made some color observations for this painting. The bridge has these stoplights that help traffic to get safely across the span, one car at a time. It was busy but everyone seemed to wait patiently. What else are they going to do after all?

Links to the history of the dam and EBMUD:

As always, if you have comments or would like to pass along a link or info, just let me know.
Libby