Authorization: Flood Control Act approved 23 October 1962; Project Document SD 143, 87th Congress, 2d Session.

Location:On the Arkansas River at river mile 653.7, about 8 miles east of Ponca City in Kay County, Oklahoma.

Purpose: Flood control, water supply, water quality, recreation, and fish and wildlife.

Status: Completed

History of Construction:Construction began in June 1966 and the project was placed in useful operation in May 1976.

Type of Structure: The dam is a rolled earth-filled embankment 9,466 feet long, including the spillway, and rises about 125 feet above the streambed. The embankment top is 32 feet wide and has a 24-foot-wide, bituminous-surfaced road.

Spillway & Outlet Works: The gate-controlled concrete valley spillway is an ogee weir and includes a stilling basin and outlet works. Total length of the spillway, excluding the non-overflow sections, is 470 feet, with flow over the spillway controlled by eight 50- by 47-foot tainter gates. The spillway structure is located in the right abutment and has a design capacity of 616,200 cubic feet per second (cfs). Low-flow facilities consist of two 5-foot 8-inch by 10-foot sluices located through two intermediate piers. A 48-inch-diameter water supply pipe is located in the right non-overflow. Operational channel capacity at the dam is about 22,500 cfs.

Hydrologic Data: The flood of record occurred 29 September to 21 October 1986 and had a volume of 2,377,000 acre-feet, which is equivalent to 6.70 inches of runoff. Peak inflow to the lake was 185,700 cfs.