Kicking Horse Dam Explained

Kicking Horse Dam is a dam in Lake County, Montana.

The earthen dam was constructed in 1930 by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, with a height of and long at its crest.^[1] It impounds Dublin Gulch for irrigation and recreation. The dam is owned and operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, while recreation is regulated by the tribal government and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.^[2]

The dam is surrounded by the territory of the Flathead Indian Reservation (known as the Tribal Trust Lands of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes), is adjacent to the town of Kicking Horse, Montana (population 80) and adjacent to the Mission Mountains Wilderness. The reservoir it creates, Kicking Horse Reservoir, has a normal water surface of, and a maximum capacity of .^[3] Recreation includes fishing and bird hunting, subject to tribal regulations.

In popular culture

American poet Richard Hugo references the dam and the adjacent town in his 1973 poem "The Lady in Kicking Horse Reservoir".

References

47.4545°N -114.0774°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: Dam Name : Kicking Horse NPDP ID : MT00594 . 2012-08-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305082801/http://ce-npdp-serv2.stanford.edu/DamDirectory/DamDetail.jsp?npdp_id=MT00594 . 2016-03-05 . dead .
2. http://indianlaw.mt.gov/content/salishkootenai/fishandwildlife/fish_bird_recreation_regs_2009_2010 FLATHEAD INDIAN RESERVATION Fishing, Bird Hunting, and Recreation Regulations of the CONFEDERATED SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBES and the MONTANA FISH, WILDLIFE & PARKS, 2010
3. http://findlakes.com/northcentral_montana_lakes_n47w112.htm Rock Reef Reservoir Benton Lake Area