Qualla: The Glory Hole: Monticello Dam and the Drain That Swallows a Lake https://qualla.com/monticello-dam en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/c/5/monticello-dam-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: The Glory Hole: Monticello Dam and the Drain That Swallows a Lake https://qualla.com/monticello-dam The Glory Hole: Monticello Dam and the Drain That Swallows a Lake: Introduction https://qualla.com/monticello-dam/ Photo credit Alex Wild, CC0. From above, it looks like someone pulled a plug in the middle of a lake. A perfect circle of water spiraling downward into darkness, 72 feet across, swallowing everything the surface sends its way. The Glory Hole at Monticello Dam is not the largest spillway in the world, nor the most powerful. But it may be the most mesmerizing. When Lake Berryessa fills to capacity after heavy rains, the morning-glory spillway activates, and water pours over the circular lip in a smooth, terrifying funnel that drops 200 feet through the dam's interior before emerging below. Videos of the phenomenon have drawn millions of views online. The engineering is elegant. The visual is unnerving. And beneath this lake lies a town that was sacrificed to make it all possible.

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Image: Alex Wild | CC0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/c/5/monticello-dam-wp/9qc5-the-glory-hole-monticello-dam-and-the-drain-that-s-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Glory Hole: Monticello Dam and the Drain That Swallows a Lake: Engineering a Valley's Fate https://qualla.com/monticello-dam/ Photo credit Anthonysthwd, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Solano Project took shape in the 1940s, when the Solano Irrigation District organized to manage the water resources of Putah Creek. On November 11, 1948, the Secretary of the Interior formally authorized construction. The Bureau of Reclamation built the dam between 1953 and 1...

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Image: Anthonysthwd | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/c/5/monticello-dam-wp/9qc5-the-glory-hole-monticello-dam-and-the-drain-that-s-engineering-a-valleys-fate.mp3 0:06 2 full The Glory Hole: Monticello Dam and the Drain That Swallows a Lake: The Town They Drowned https://qualla.com/monticello-dam/ Photo credit Peretz Partensky from San Francisco, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Building the dam meant killing a community. The inhabitants of Berryessa Valley vehemently opposed the project. Even the city of Winters, which stood to benefit from the new water supply, fought against it because of close social ties to the town of Monticello. Opposition changed...

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Image: Peretz Partensky from San Francisco, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/c/5/monticello-dam-wp/9qc5-the-glory-hole-monticello-dam-and-the-drain-that-s-the-town-they-drowned.mp3 0:06 3 full The Glory Hole: Monticello Dam and the Drain That Swallows a Lake: The Hypnotic Drain https://qualla.com/monticello-dam/ Photo credit Seeyardee, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Glory Hole is an uncontrolled morning-glory-type spillway, meaning it operates passively whenever the lake reaches its maximum elevation of 440 feet. Water simply flows over the circular concrete lip, spiraling downward through a vertical shaft and then through a horizontal t...

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Image: Seeyardee | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/c/5/monticello-dam-wp/9qc5-the-glory-hole-monticello-dam-and-the-drain-that-s-the-hypnotic-drain.mp3 0:06 4 full The Glory Hole: Monticello Dam and the Drain That Swallows a Lake: The Danger Below the Surface https://qualla.com/monticello-dam/ Photo credit Gh5046, Public domain. Swimming near the Glory Hole is prohibited, and the prohibition exists for the most direct of reasons. In 1997, Emily Schwalen of Davis was swimming near the spillway when she was caught in the current. She managed to hold onto the concrete rim for approximately twenty minutes be...

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Image: Gh5046 | Public domain

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/c/5/monticello-dam-wp/9qc5-the-glory-hole-monticello-dam-and-the-drain-that-s-the-danger-below-the-surface.mp3 0:06 5 full The Glory Hole: Monticello Dam and the Drain That Swallows a Lake: A Lake's Troubled Second Act https://qualla.com/monticello-dam/ Photo credit Damage10, CC BY-SA 4.0. Lake Berryessa once drew 1.3 million visitors annually. That number has dropped below 400,000, a decline driven not by the lake's appeal but by bureaucratic mismanagement. In 2008, the Bureau of Reclamation attempted to install a new concessionaire, Pensus Inc., to operate the re...

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Image: Damage10 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/c/5/monticello-dam-wp/9qc5-the-glory-hole-monticello-dam-and-the-drain-that-s-a-lakes-troubled-second-act.mp3 0:06 6 full