Belle Fourche Dam

The Belle Fourche Dam, also known as Orman Dam, is a dam on Owl Creek in Butte County, South Dakota, USA, approximately eight miles east of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, along U.S. Route 212. Its construction created the Belle Fourche Reservoir, the Belle Fourche National Wildlife Refuge, and the Rocky Point Recreation Area.[2]

Belle Fourche Dam
Construction of the Belle Fourche Dam, circa 1904
Belle Fourche Dam is located in South Dakota
Belle Fourche Dam
Belle Fourche Dam is located in the United States
Belle Fourche Dam
LocationButte County, South Dakota
Nearest cityBelle Fourche, South Dakota
Area8,063 acres (3,263 ha)
Built1911
Built byUnited States Bureau of Reclamation
NRHP reference No.77001239[1]
Added to NRHPNovember 23, 1977

The reservoir has approximately eight thousand acres of water surface, 6700 acres of land, and 58 miles of shoreline. It's stocked with walleye, catfish, and white bass. Average depth is twenty-five feet, but it has areas as deep as sixty feet at full capacity. Common activities at BFR include boating, fishing, ice fishing, ice skating, camping, cooking out, water skiing and fossil hunting.

Construction occurred in several stages between 1903 and 1907. The dam was the first project undertaken by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR).[2][3] At its 1911 completion by the USBR, Belle Fourche Dam was the largest earthen dam in the world. The dam is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1][4] In 1989 it was listed among the approximately 250 Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks.

The dam is described as "a homogeneous earthfill structure containing about 1,783,000 cubic yards of material. It has a maximum base width of 650 feet, a structural height of 122 feet, and a hydraulic height of 97 feet. The crest of the dam at elevation 2989.75 has a length of 6,262 feet and a width of 19 feet."[4]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "South Dakota: Belle Fourche Dam". National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  3. Brian Gevik (March 25, 2015). "Building the Belle Fourche (Orman) Dam - 1903-1907". South Dakota Public Broadcasting. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  4. Ninke, Raymond A. (1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Orman Dam / Belle Fourche Dam". National Park Service. Retrieved December 15, 2017. With five photos and captions.

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