At 235 meters (770 feet), Oroville Dam is the tallest dam in the United States — taller than Hoover Dam by more than 60 meters. Built between 1962 and 1968 as part of the California State Water Project, it's an earthfill dam rather than a concrete arch, making it less visually dramatic than some famous dams but impressive purely by scale.
The dam gained international attention in February 2017 when erosion on the main concrete spillway, followed by a near-failure of the emergency spillway, prompted the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people from Oroville and downstream communities in the Sacramento Valley. The event forced a multi-year, billion-dollar reconstruction of both spillways and raised serious questions about infrastructure inspection and dam safety regulation. The spillways reopened in 2022.
A free overlook on the crest road offers views of the dam face and the Feather River canyon below. Interpretive displays explain how the dam works, its role in California's water distribution system, and the 2017 crisis. The California Department of Water Resources runs tours of the facilities — check their website for schedules. Even without a tour, the scale of the structure is striking, and watching water release through the rebuilt spillway (when operational) is genuinely impressive.