Inspectors visited Oroville Dam 14 times since 2008 but never considered the integrity of the hillside that eroded below the emergency spillway, leading to a near catastrophe that forced the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people downstream, state records show. The inspections by the state’s Division of Safety of Dams repeatedly mentioned the concrete apron, or weir, at the top of the emergency spillway, and often included photographs of it. “The structure was stable appearing, and the concrete remains sound,” inspectors wrote after their latest visit to the state-run dam in August 2016.