Box Butte Dam Explained

Box Butte Dam
Location Map:Nebraska#USA
Coordinates:42.4551°N -103.0772°W
Location:Dawes County, Nebraska
Status:Operational
Opening:1946
Builder:United States Bureau of Reclamation
Dam Height:87feet
Dam Length:5508feet
Res Name:Box Butte Reservoir
Res Capacity Total:31060acre feet
Res Surface:1600acres
Res Elevation:1220m (4,000feet)

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 and long at its crest.[1] 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.[2]

The reservoir it creates, Box Butte Reservoir, has a water surface of, of surrounding land, about of shoreline, and a capacity of .[3] 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.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dam details - Box Butte Dam - Bureau of Reclamation. Usbr.gov. 24 December 2014.
  2. Web site: Project details - Mirage Flats Project - Bureau of Reclamation. Usbr.gov. 24 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141105054055/http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=Mirage%20Flats%20Project. 5 November 2014. dead.
  3. Web site: Recreation.gov recreation area details - Box Butte Reservoir - Recreation.gov. Recreation.gov. 24 December 2014.