Authorization: River and Harbor Act approved July 24, 1946; Project Document HD 758, 79th Congress, 2d Session.
Location: On the Canadian River at river mile 27.0, about 12 miles east of Eufaula in McIntosh County, Oklahoma.
Status: Complete.
Purpose: Flood control, water supply, recreation, sediment control, fish and wildlife, hydroelectric power, and navigation.
History of Construction: Construction began in December 1956 and embankment closure was completed in February 1964. Power was first generated in July 1964; the last of the three generators started producing commercial power in September 1964. The project was completed for full flood control operation on February 10, 1964.
Type of Structure: The dam is a rolled earth structure 3,200 feet long, including the spillway and powerhouse intake, and rises to a maximum height of 114 feet above the streambed. Oklahoma State Highway 71 crosses the crest of the dam.
Spillway & Outlet Works: The spillway is a concrete-gravity, ogee weir with eleven 40- by 32-foot electrically-operated tainter gates. The gates are separated by ten 8-foot-wide piers, which support a bridge across the top of the structure. The spillway has a gross width of 520 feet and a net width of 440 feet and is located across a portion of the existing river channel. Spillway capacity at maximum pool is 46510767 cubic feet per second (cfs). Bank-full capacity below the dam is about 40,000 cfs, and, on the Arkansas River at Van Buren, Arkansas, is about 150,000 cfs. The outlet works, an integral part of the spillway structure, is a 5-foot 8-inch by 7-foot low-flow sluice passing through the weir near the left end of the spillway. The sluice intake invert is at elevation 500.0, and flows are controlled by a hydraulically-operated gate. Capacity of the sluice at the top of the flood control pool is 2,495 cfs.
Hydrologic Data: The maximum peak discharge occurred in May 1990 with a peak of 234,939 cfs. The volume amounted to 2,374,000 acre-feet over a 16-day period, which is equivalent to 5.30 inches of runoff from the lower basin and 0.94 inches from the entire basin above the dam site. The largest total volume of runoff occurred in 1957 and amounted to 4,550,000 acre-feet, which is equivalent to 10.15 inches from the lower basin and 1.80 inches of runoff from the total area above the dam site. The pool of record was set during this spring 1990 flood event at an elevation of 599.77.