List of dams and reservoirs in Minnesota explained

This is a list of dams and reservoirs in the U.S. state of Minnesota and pertinent data in a sortable table. There are more than 1,250 dams in the state. Over 800 are public facilities and of these 430 are owned by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.^[1]

This list includes the most notable structures, namely all that generate hydroelectricity,^[2] any operated by the Mississippi Valley Division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE),^[3] and all dams with reservoirs larger than 100,000 acre feet according to the USACE National Inventory of Dams^[4] Notable structures in popular recreation areas are also included, in particular those at the headwaters of the Mississippi and along the North Shore of Lake Superior. Historically significant structures as well as dams whose removal have sparked media interest are also included. Furthermore, there are many dams that have yet to be listed that call Minnesota home.

List of Minnesota dams and reservoirs

Key to symbols
	Dam located on a border with another state
	Dam located on the border with Canada
	Facility does not fall under the authority of the FERC
–	Data point not applicable

Dam	County	Owner	Y	Type	Height		Impounds	Reservoir Capacity		MW	River	Primary purpose
					ft	m		acre.ft	dam^3
Aaron Lake Dam	Douglas	MNDNR	1964	Gravity	8feet	Lake Aaron	190000acre feet		Chippewa	Recreation
Bemidji Dam *	Beltrami	Otter Tail Power	1907	Gravity	33feet	Lake Bemidji	4500acre feet	0.1	Mississippi	Hydroelectric
	Big Stone Roberts	MNDNR	1937	Gravity	15feet	Big Stone Lake	205000acre feet		Minnesota	Hydroelectric
Blanchard Dam	Morrison	Minnesota Power	1925	Gravity	46feet	ROR	16358acre feet	18.0	Mississippi	Hydroelectric
Blandin Dam	Itasca	Minnesota Power	1916	Gravity	21feet	Paper Mill Reservoir	4000acre feet	2.1	Mississippi	Hydroelectric
Brainerd Dam	Crow Wing	City-owned	1888	Gravity	22feet	Rice Lake	13000acre feet	3.3	Mississippi	Hydroelectric
Coon Rapids Dam	Anoka Hennepin	Three Rivers Park District	1913; 2010	Gravity	35feet	ROR	2000acre feet		Mississippi	Recreation
Dayton Hollow Dam	Otter Tail	Otter Tail Power	1908	Gravity	41feet	Dayton Hollow Reservoir	5000acre feet	1.0	Otter Tail	Hydroelectric; wildlife; recreation
Dead Lake Dam	Otter Tail	MNDNR	1938	Gravity	9feet	Dead Lake	100240acre feet		Dead River	Recreation
Deer Lake Dam	Itasca	MNDNR	1938	Earth	8feet	Deer Lake	324984acre feet		Deer	Recreation
Dillon-Boulton-Syltie (Porter Dam)	Lincoln	Yellow Medicine River Watershed District (YMRWD)	1974	Earth	32	9.75	Porter Reservoir (Alternate names: Dillon's Pond, Lake O'Lena, Lake Porter)	827,640	1,020,879		Unnamed tributary of North Branch Yellow Medicine River	Flood control; public recreation; water supply; wildlife
Fales-VanHyfte/Lake John Dam	Yellow Medicine	Yellow Medicine River Watershed District (YMRWD)	1981		45	13.72	Fales-VanHyfte/Lake John Reservoir	862,488	1,063,863		Yellow Medicine River Watershed	Food control; public recreation; water supply; wildlife
Fond du Lac Dam	Carlton	Minnesota Power	1924	Arch Earth	80feet	ROR	2675acre feet	14.2	St. Louis	Hydroelectric
Granite Falls Dam	Yellow Medicine	City-owned	1911	Gravity	21feet	ROR	36800acre feet	1.2	Minnesota	Hydroelectric
Hauschild-Thange Dam	Lincoln	Yellow Medicine River Watershed District (YMRWD)	1980	Earth	52	15.85	Hauschild-Thange Reservoir	1,176,120	1,450,722		Yellow Medicine River Watershed	Flood control; private recreation; water supply; wildlife
Heron Lake Outlet Dam	Jackson	MNDNR	1937	Earth	10feet	Heron Lake	100000acre feet		Des Moines-tr	Recreation
Hibbing Taconite Starter Dam No. 1	St. Louis	Hibbing Taconite Company	1937	Earth	100feet		125000acre feet		Day Brook	Tailings
Hoot Lake Dam Diversion Dam	Otter Tail	Otter Tail Power	1913	Gravity	10feet	Hoot Lake	99acre feet	1.0	Otter Tail	Wildlife; hydroelectric; water supply
International Falls Dam ; Rainy Lake Dam	Koochiching Fort Frances	Boise Cascade H2O Power	1909; 2017^[5]	Gravity Arch	38feet	Rainy Lake	4000000acre feet	14.4	Rainy	Hydroelectric; flood control; water supply
	St. Louis	Minnesota Power	1915	Gravity Earth	57feet	Island Lake Reservoir	177000acre feet		Cloquet	Hydroelectric; recreation
	St. Louis	Boise Cascade	1914; 1999	Buttress	20feet	Namakan Lake	702500acre feet		Rainy-tr	Recreation; other
Knife Falls Dam	Carlton	Minnesota Power	1922	Earth	18feet	ROR	1763acre feet	2.4	St. Louis	Hydroelectric
Knutson Dam	Cass	USFS	1929	Timber	9feet	Cass	106051acre feet		Mississippi	Flood control
Lac qui Parle Dam	Lac Qui Parle	USACE	1939; 1996	Gravity Earth	35feet	Lac qui Parle	122800acre feet		Minnesota	Flood control
Lake Byllesby Dam	Dakota Goodhue	Dakota Electric Coop	1911; 2011	Buttress	75feet	Rice Lake	13000acre feet	1.8	Cannon	Hydroelectric; recreation
Leech Lake Dam	Cass	MNDNR	1885; 1957	Gravity Earth	11feet	Leech Lake	838767acre feet		Leech	Flood control; recreation
Little Falls Dam	Morrison	Minnesota Power	1914; 1979	Gravity	30feet	ROR	4780acre feet	4.7	Mississippi	Hydroelectric; recreation
Lock and Dam No. 1 Ford Dam	Hennepin Ramsey	USACE Twin Cities Hydro	1917; 1983	Gravity	56feet	Pool 1	9300acre feet	17.9	Mississippi	Hydroelectric; navigation; recreation
Lock and Dam No. 2	Dakota Washington	USACE	1948; 1995	Gravity Earth	42feet	Pool 2	787000acre feet	4.4	Mississippi	Hydroelectric; navigation; recreation
	Goodhue Pierce	USACE	1938; 1991	Gravity Earth	44feet	Pool 3	1110000acre feet		Mississippi	Navigation; recreation
	Buffalo Wabasha	USACE	1935; 1994	Gravity Earth	42feet	Lake Pepin Pool 4	878000acre feet		Mississippi	Navigation; recreation
	Winona Buffalo	USACE	1935; 1998	Gravity Earth	43feet	Pool 5	106600acre feet		Mississippi	Navigation; recreation
	Winona Buffalo	USACE	1936; 2000	Gravity Earth	46feet	Pool 5A	260000acre feet		Mississippi	Navigation; recreation
	Trempealeau Winona	USACE	1936; 1999	Gravity Earth	40feet	Pool 6	180000acre feet		Mississippi	Navigation; recreation
	Winona La Crosse	USACE	1937; 2002	Gravity Earth	41feet	Pool 7	105000acre feet		Mississippi	Navigation; recreation
	Vernon Houston	USACE	1937; 2003	Gravity Earth	42feet	Pool 8	260000acre feet		Mississippi	Navigation; recreation
Lower Red Lake Dam	Clearwater	USACE	1931	Earth	17feet	Red Lake Reservoir	3428000acre feet		Red Lake	Flood control; water supply
Miltona Lake Dam	Douglas	MNDNR	1937; 1988	Earth	8feet	Lake Miltona	280224acre feet		Long Prairie River	Other
Orwell Dam	Otter Tail	USACE	1953	Gravity Earth	60feet	Orwell Lake	20600acre feet		Otter Tail	Water supply; flood control
Otter Tail Lake Dam	Otter Tail	MNDNR	1936	Gravity	10feet	Otter Tail Lake	557200acre feet		Otter Tail	Other
	St. Louis	County-owned	1938; 2002	Gravity	10feet	Pelican	240790acre feet		Pelican	Wildlife; other
Pokegama Lake Dam Pokegama Reservoir Dam	Itasca	USACE	1884; 1936	Gravity Timber	17feet	Lake Pokegama	120000acre feet		Mississippi	Recreation; flood control; navigation
	Blue Earth	Blue Earth County	1910	Gravity	87feet	Rapidan Reservoir				Blue Earth	Hydroelectric
St. Anthony Falls Lower Lock and Dam	Hennepin County	USACE SAF Hydro	1956	Gravity	58feet	Intermediate Pool	420acre feet	9.0	Mississippi	Hydroelectric; recreation
	Hennepin County	USACE Xcel Energy; Crown Hydro	1882; 1963	Gravity	49feet	Upper St. Anthony Falls Pool	4900acre feet	14.2	Mississippi	Hydroelectric; recreation
St. Cloud Dam	Sherburne Stearns	City-owned	1972; 1988	Gravity	22.3feet	ROR	2254acre feet	8.9	Mississippi	Hydroelectric; water supply
	Polk Chisago	Xcel Energy	1905	Gravity Arch	60feet	ROR	14400acre feet	25.0	St. Croix	Hydroelectric; recreation
Sandy Lake Dam	Aitkin	USACE	1895	Gravity	22feet	Big Sandy Lake	79400acre feet		Mississippi-tr	Hydroelectric
Sartell Dam Champion Dam	Benton Stearns	Verso Paper Eagle Creek Renewable	1905; 1985	Gravity	23feet	Little Rock Lake	28000acre feet	9.5	Mississippi	Hydroelectric; recreation
Scanlon Dam	Carlton	Minnesota Power	1922	Earth	18feet	ROR	1763acre feet	1.6	St. Louis	Hydroelectric
Sylvan Dam	Cass	Minnesota Power	1930	Gravity	35feet	ROR	9216acre feet	1.8	Mississippi	Hydroelectric
	Carlton	MNDNR	1907	Gravity Earth	15feet	Thomson Reservoir	4352acre feet	69.6	St. Louis	Hydroelectric; recreation
Vekins Dam	Clearwater	Private	1880	Timber	4feet	ROR				Mississippi	Logging
Winnibigoshish Lake Dam	Cass	USACE	1884; 1990	Earth	7feet	Lake Winnibigoshish	678000acre feet		Mississippi	Water supply; flood control
Zumbro Lake Dam	Wabasha	City-owned	1919	Gravity	65feet	Lake Zumbro	35000acre feet	2.3	Zumbro	Hydroelectric

Data definitions

Unless referenced differently, all information in the table above is from the USACE National Inventory of Dams (NID)^[4] Specific data fields are defined as follows:^{[6] [7]}

Failed and removed dams

• Berning Mill Dam, St. Michael, Minnesota – Crow River (removed after failure 1986) ^[8]
• Broken Down Dam, Fergus Falls, Minnesota – Otter Tail River (built 1908, collapsed 1909 - ruins remain in the river for recreation) ^[9]
• Flandrau Dam, New Ulm, Minnesota – Cottonwood River (built 1930, removed 1995 after repeated damage from floods) ^[8]
• Hanover Dam, Hanover, Minnesota – Crow River (removed after failure 1984) ^[8]
• Lac qui Parle Dam, Montevideo, Minnesota – Chippewa (built 1958, removed 2012) ^[10]
• Lake Florence Dam, Stewartville, Minnesota – Root River (built 1910s, damaged 1993, removed 1994 - Lake Florence no longer exists)^[8]
• Meeker Island Lock and Dam – Mississippi River (built 1907, became obsolete and removed 1920) ^[11]
• Mill Pond Dam, Appleton, Minnesota – Pomme de Terre River (removed after being damaged in a 1997 flood) ^[12]
• Minnesota Falls Dam, Granite Falls, Minnesota – Minnesota River (built 1909, removed 2010) ^[13]
• Nevers Dam, Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota – St. Croix River (built 1889, removed 1954 after being damaged) ^[14]
• Sandstone Dam, Sandstone, Minnesota – Kettle River (20 ft tall hydropower dam built 1908, removed 1999) ^[15]
• Shady Lake Dam (Oronoco Dam), Oronoco, Minnesota – Zumbro River (built in 1937, removed 2015 after dam failure in 2010)^[16]
• Stockton Dam, Stockton, Minnesota – Garvin Brook (30 ft high mill structure built 1910, removed 1994) ^[8]
• Welch Dam, Welch, Minnesota – Cannon River (built 1890s, removed 1994) ^[8]

See also

• List of locks and dams of the Upper Mississippi River

External links

• Minnesota DNR Dam Finder (Interactive)
• NPDB Dams Database National Performance of Dams Program, Stanford University

Notes and References

1. Web site: Dams and Dam Safety in Minnesota: Minnesota DNR . Minnesota Department of Natural Resources . . 29 Mar 2017.
2. Web site: Listing of Minnesota Hydropower Facility Sites . Minnesota Department of Natural Resources . 2017 . 29 Mar 2017.
3. Web site: St. Paul District Locks and Dams . St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . 8 Nov 2012 . 29 Mar 2017.
4. Web site: CorpsMap: National Inventory of Dams . United States Army Corps of Engineers . October 2016 . 29 Mar 2017.
5. Web site: Enger . John . Leaking wooden dam at International Falls gets an upgrade . Minnesota Public Radio News . 14 Jul 2015 . 29 Mar 2017.
6. Web site: National Inventory of Dams Overview . NID Data Team . . 27 Oct 2016 . 29 Mar 2017.
7. Web site: National Inventory of Dams Data Dictionary . NID Data Team . . 27 Oct 2016 . 29 Mar 2017.
8. Book: Dam removal success stories : restoring rivers through selective removal of dams that don't make sense . American Rivers Friends of the Earth Trout Unlimited . Washington, D.C. Seattle, Wash. Arlington, Va . 1999 . 0-913890-96-0 . xxii, 17–20, 65–68.
9. Book: Diebel, Lynne . Paddling Northern Minnesota: 86 Great Trips by Canoe and Kayak . Trails Books . Black Earth, Wisconsin . 2005 . 9781931599511 . 90.
10. Web site: Cherveny . Tom . Montevideo, Minn., approves removal of dam on Chippewa River . West Central Tribune . 30 Nov 2012 . 30 Mar 2017.
11. Janfinson . John . The Secret History of the Mississippi's Earliest Locks and Dams . Minnesota History . Summer 1995 . 1995 . 254–267 .
12. Web site: Cherveny . Tom . West Central Tribune . Dam removal: A better way to control invasives . Granite Falls Advocate Tribune . 30 May 2013 . 3 Apr 2017.
13. Web site: Minnesota State University . Mankato, MN . Winter 2011 . River Talk Newsletter, Volume 4 Issue 4 . 30 Mar 2017.
14. Web site: Nevers Dam, Saint Croix Falls . John A. Weeks III . 2010 . 2 Apr 2017.
15. Web site: Study opens floodgates on dam removal . CNN . 16 Dec 1999 . 3 Apr 2017.
16. Web site: Setterholm . Andrew . $3 million to transform Oronoco dam area . PostBulletin.com . Post Bulletin, Rochester, MN . 7 Oct 2015 . 3 Apr 2017.