Fort Randall Dam

Fort Randall Dam
Dam with hydroelectric power station
Tributaries: Missouri River Drain: Missouri River Larger cities on the shore: Fort Randall, Pickstown Major cities nearby: Wagner, Spencer
South Dakota , United States
Coordinates	43 ° 4 ′ 0 ″  N , 98 ° 33 ′ 0 ″  W Coordinates: 43 ° 4 ′ 0 ″  N , 98 ° 33 ′ 0 ″  W
Data on the structure
Lock type:	dam
Construction time:	1946-1956
Height of the barrier structure :	52 m
Building volume:	38.227 million m³
Crown length:	3 261  m
Power plant output:	320 MW
Data on the reservoir
Water surface	413 km² (or 346 km² or 479 km²)
Reservoir length	171 km
Storage space	5700 million m³ (or 7000 million m³)
Catchment area	682,410 km²

The Fort Randall Dam (English: Fort Randall Dam ) is a dam that dams the Missouri in South Dakota to the reservoir Lake Francis Case .

The dam is part of the “Pick Sloan Program” dam project to develop water resources in the Missouri area. The construction of the dam was decided in the Flood Control Act of 1944. The US Army Corps of Engineers began construction of the dam in 1946. President Dwight D. Eisenhower pressed the button to generate electricity for the first time in 1954. When completed in 1956, the cost of the dam and the reservoir at 200 million were US dollars .

The dam is in southeastern South Dakota within sight of the eponymous Fort Randall near Pickstown (South Dakota) 19 km west of Wagner on South Dakota Highway 46 and 40 km northeast of Spencer (Nebraska) on US Highway 281. The name comes from Colonel Daniel W. Randall, who was a former treasurer in the Army. The reservoir is named after former South Dakota MP and Senator Francis H. Case . It extends 171 km to Big Bend Dam at Fort Thompson.

The eight generators of the hydropower plant can each generate 40 MW, that makes a total of 320 MW. That's enough to supply 245,000 households with electricity.

For the water area of ​​the reservoir there are contradicting data of 413 km², 346 km² or 479 km², for the storage contents 5700 million m³ or 7000 million m³ are given.

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  Aerial view of the dam and the reservoir

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  Location of the dams of the Pick Sloan project and the Indian reservations affected by flooding

See also

• List of the largest dams on earth
• List of the largest reservoirs on earth
• List of the largest hydroelectric plants in the world
• List of dams in the United States

Web links

Commons : Fort Randall Dam  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Fort Randall Dam & Lake Francis Case on the Army Corps of Engineers website