Box Butte Dam

Box Butte Dam
Box Butte Dam is located in Nebraska
Box Butte Dam
Location of Box Butte Dam in Nebraska
Box Butte Dam is located in the United States
Box Butte Dam
Box Butte Dam (the United States)
CountryUnited States
LocationDawes County, Nebraska
Coordinates42°27′18″N 103°04′38″W / 42.45513°N 103.07723°W / 42.45513; -103.07723
StatusOperational
Opening date1946
Built byUnited States Bureau of Reclamation
Dam and spillways
Height87 ft (27 m)
Length5,508 ft (1,679 m)
Reservoir
CreatesBox Butte Reservoir
Total capacity31,060 acre⋅ft (38,310,000 m3)
Surface area1,600 acres (650 ha)
Normal elevation4,000 ft (1,220 m)[1]

Box Butte Dam (National ID # NE01069) is a dam in the arid northwestern panhandle area of Dawes County, Nebraska.

The earthen dam was constructed from 1941 through 1946 by the United States Bureau of Reclamation with a structural height of 87 feet (27 m) and 5,508 feet (1,679 m) long at its crest.[2] It impounds the Niobrara River for flood control, part of the Bureau's Mirage Flats Project for irrigation water storage. No hydroelectric power is produced here.[3]

The reservoir it creates, Box Butte Reservoir, has a water surface of 1,600 acres (650 ha), 612 acres (248 ha) of surrounding land, about 14 miles (23 km) of shoreline, and a capacity of 31,060 acre-feet (38,310,000 m3).[4] Recreation includes fishing (for northern pike, walleye, largemouth bass, yellow perch, and channel cat), hunting, boating, camping and hiking.

The southern shore of the lake borders the Box Butte Reservoir State Recreation Area.

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Box Butte Dam
  2. ^ "Dam details - Box Butte Dam - Bureau of Reclamation". Usbr.gov. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Project details - Mirage Flats Project - Bureau of Reclamation". Usbr.gov. Archived from the original on 5 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Recreation.gov recreation area details - Box Butte Reservoir - Recreation.gov". Recreation.gov. Retrieved 24 December 2014.