1901 photo of the original earthen Lower Otay Dam. The Lower Otay Reservoir was connected to the City of San Diego's water system in 1906 via the Bonita Pipeline. Following heavy rains (ostensibly the work of the 'rainmaker' Charles Hatfield) the dam burst in 1916 and the Otay Valley was flooded. A wall of water 40 feet high went downstream, destroying buildings and bridges, and washing of tons of wreckage into San Diego Bay. The dam was rebuilt as a concrete arch gravity structure 149 feet high and renamed Savage Dam in 1918.