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This practice, known as hydraulic mining, devastated the landscape and eventually led to the first environmental law enacted in the nation, according to the state parks department.

Starting in 1853, hydraulic mining operations that used high-pressure jets of water to blast away at mountains to uncover gold devastated the environment.

The federal government first built the dam in 1906 as a way to stop the seemingly endless flow of debris left over from hydraulic mining during the height of the Gold Rush of the mid 1800s.

Then came the Gold Rush, with hydraulic mining that choked creeks with gravel.

Later, hydraulic mining washed entire hillsides into the cascading Trinity River.