Three Gorges assisted Yu the Great in controling the waters and guiding boatmen. The Xiling Gorge comprises a series of famous gorges, including Military Book and Sword Gorge, Yellow Cow Gorge, and Lantern's Shadow Gorge. In 1919, after Sun Yat-sen had put forward the concept in the Plan for Industrial Development of his (), experts investigated damming the Three Gorges, but it was not until 1994 that the Three Gorges project officially started. In 1944, the Nationalist government recruited John L. Savage, the Chief Engineer of the United States Bureau of Reclamation, who came to China and made a 10-day investigation of
Panjiakou Dam seen on a small island off the reservoir's edge at , particularly during droughts when the reservoir holds less water. The scenery around the reservoir is a popular tourist destination and with the surrounding terrain, it is often called "Qianxi Little Three Gorges". The Panjiakou Dam is a tall and concrete gravity dam. The dam's reservoir has a capacity of and surface area of . Of the reservoir's capacity, is active (or "useful") for power generation and water supply. The dam sits at the head of a catchment area which constitutes 75 percent of the Luan River basin. The dam's