by a pair of portable concrete mixers on a flatcar, and pumped into place via a long tunnel also mounted on a train car. In November 1950, floodwaters tore through the construction site, contributing to a serious late-season flood event that caused $20–25 million of damage in the San Joaquin Valley. This was the last major flood event on the Kings River before the completion of Pine Flat Dam, which would have "prevented much damage… had [it] been completed". In 1951, a cofferdam was constructed to divert the Kings River along the north side of the canyon to allow the construction of the dam's foundations. In July, the river was blocked from this temporary channel and flowed through the dam's bottom sluice gates for the first time, permitting the northern section of the dam to be built in the former diversion channel. Pine Flat Dam's main structure was built in 37 vertical sections of large concrete forms or "monoliths" that were secured by temporary steel scaffolding that was removed after the concrete cured. By 1953, the dam was high enough to begin impounding the river and flows through the sluice gates were cut, and Pine Flat Lake began to fill. The final cost of Pine Flat Dam was $42.3 million, exceeding the projected cost by more than 25 percent. On May 22, 1954, 3,000 people attended the dedication of Pine Flat Dam. This was far short of the predicted crowd of 15,000. Because of the conflict between local farmers, the USACE and the USBR, "perhaps more citizens would have been present if they had felt that it was really their dam, that they had more to celebrate." Post-construction events Less than two years after completion, Pine Flat Dam halted "what would have been at the time the greatest Kings River flood ever measured" in late November 1955, when the Kings River reached a peak inflow into the reservoir of . In January 1969, the highest releases ever from Pine Flat Dam, , occurred in the wake of a flood that reached a less impressive peak of but had a much greater volume than the 1955 rain flood. The dam's contribution to reducing the impact of floods has allowed greater diversion of Kings River flows for irrigation, and along with other smaller dams in the southern San Joaquin Valley, has contributed to the desiccation of the once-expansive wetlands of Tulare Lake.