Youghiogheny River Lake | |
---|---|
![]() The Yoghiogheny River Lake as viewed from below the Youghiogheny Dam | |
Location | Fayette / Somerset counties, Pennsylvania, and Garrett County, Maryland |
Coordinates | 39°47′52″N079°22′09″W / 39.79778°N 79.36917°W |
Type | reservoir |
Primary inflows | Youghiogheny River |
Primary outflows | Youghiogheny River |
Basin countries | United States |
Max. length | 16 mi (26 km) [1] |
Surface area | 4.4 sq mi (11 km2) |
Water volume | 149,300 acre⋅ft (0.1842 km3) Normal |
Surface elevation | 1,440 ft (440 m) [2] |
The Youghiogheny River Lake is a flood control reservoir that is located in southwestern Pennsylvania and western Maryland. It is a significant tourist attraction that brings in more than one million visitors a year to the area. [3]
This lake was formed in 1944 by the damming of the Youghiogheny River upstream from Confluence, Pennsylvania. [3]
The Youghiogheny Dam is an earthen structure, 184 feet (56 m) high and 1,610 feet (490 m) long at its crest, that is owned and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. [4]
The reservoir's normal surface area is approximately 4.4 square miles (11 km2), and it has a maximum capacity of 300,000 acre-feet (370,000,000 m3), although its normal storage level is 149,300 acre-feet (184,200,000 m3). [4]
The dam facilitates flood control, improves river flow and provides twelve megawatts of hydroelectric power. [1]
U.S. Route 40 crosses the lake between Jockey Hollow on the Fayette County side and Somerfield on the Somerset County side. [5]
Somerfield was laid out on the western edge of Addison Township, Somerset County circa 1816 by Philip D. Smyth, who originally named the settlement Smythfield. [6] Somerfield was abandoned, razed, and inundated when the reservoir was filled during the 1940s.
The stone Great Crossings Bridge of the National Road, which crossed the Youghiogheny at Somerfield, is visible at extremely low water levels. [7] The triple-arch sandstone bridge was constructed between 1815 and 1818 by James Kinkead, James Beck, and Evan Evans. [7] [8]
The Monongahela River, sometimes referred to locally as the Mon, is a 130-mile-long (210 km) river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and Southwestern Pennsylvania. The river flows from the confluence of its west and east forks in north-central West Virginia northeasterly into southwestern Pennsylvania, then northerly to Pittsburgh and its confluence with the Allegheny River to form the Ohio River. The river includes a series of locks and dams that makes it navigable.
The Youghiogheny River, or the Yough for short, is a 134-mile-long (216 km) tributary of the Monongahela River in the U.S. states of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. It drains an area on the west side of the Allegheny Mountains northward into Pennsylvania, providing a small watershed in extreme western Maryland into the tributaries of the Mississippi River. Youghiogheny is a Lenape word meaning "a stream flowing in a contrary direction".
Tuttle Creek Lake is a reservoir on the Big Blue River 5 miles (8 km) north of Manhattan, in the Flint Hills region of northeast Kansas. It was built and is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers for the primary purpose of flood control. Secondary functions of the project include release of water stores to maintain barge traffic on the Mississippi River during seasons of drought, maintenance of a multi-use conservation pool for fish and wildlife enhancement and recreation, and release of sufficient water in droughts to maintain water quality for downstream communities.
Wilson Lake is a reservoir in the U.S. state of Kansas, on the border of Russell County and Lincoln County. Built and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood control, it is also used for wildlife management and recreation. Several parks are located along its shoreline, including Wilson State Park.
Kentucky Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River on the county line between Livingston and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The dam is the lowermost of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s and early 1940s to improve navigation on the lower part of the river and reduce flooding on the lower Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It was a major project initiated during the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, to invest in infrastructure to benefit the country. The dam impounds the Kentucky Lake of 160,000 acres (65,000 ha), which is the largest of TVA's reservoirs and the largest artificial lake by area in the Eastern United States. It was designated as an National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1996 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
Crooked Creek is a 26.3-mile-long (42.3 km) tributary of the Tioga River located entirely in Tioga County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
Perry Lake is a US Army Corps of Engineers operated reservoir in northeast Kansas. Its primary purposes are flood control, water reserve for nearby areas and regional recreation. The lake is approximately 11,150 acres (45 km²) in size, with over 160 miles (260 km) of shoreline. Perry Lake's full multi-purpose pool elevation is 891.5 feet (271.7 m) above sea level. Perry Lake is located about 40 miles (64 km) west of Kansas City, just northwest of Lawrence, Kansas. Its close proximity to Kansas City, Lawrence, and the state capitol, Topeka, make it a very popular destination, with the nickname "Paradise on the Plains".
Optima Lake was built to be a reservoir in Texas County, Oklahoma. The site is just north of Hardesty and east of Guymon in the Oklahoma Panhandle.
El Dorado Lake is a reservoir on the Walnut River 0.5 miles (0.80 km) northeast of El Dorado in the Flint Hills region of Kansas. Built and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it is used for flood control, recreation, and water supply. El Dorado State Park is located on its shore.
Lake O’ the Pines is a reservoir on Big Cypress Bayou, also known as Big Cypress Creek, chiefly in Marion County, Texas, USA. The reservoir also occupies a small part of Upshur and Morris Counties. The dam is located approximately 8.5 miles (13.7 km) west of Jefferson.
Mansfield Hollow Lake is a reservoir resting on the border of Windham County and Tolland County, Connecticut. The reservoir provides drinking water for Willimantic and helps control flooding in the 159-square-mile Thames River watershed. It was created by the Mansfield Hollow Dam and is entirely contained within Mansfield Hollow State Park and the Mansfield Hollow Wildlife Area. Designed and constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the dam substantially reduces flooding along the Quinebaug, Shetucket, and Thames rivers. Construction of the project began in 1949 with completion in 1952 at a cost of US$6.5 million. The Mansfield Hollow reservoir is located within the Shetucket River Watershed and is part of the Thames River Basin. Access to the site is available from US Route 6 and State Route 195. The damsite, covering an area of 25 acres (10 ha), was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
John Redmond Reservoir is a reservoir on the Neosho River in eastern Kansas. Built and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it is used for flood control, recreation, water supply, and wildlife management. It borders the Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge to the northwest.
Gathright Dam is an earthen and rolled rock-fill embankment dam on the Jackson River 19 miles (31 km) north of Covington, Virginia. The dam is 257 feet (78 m) tall and 1,310 feet (400 m) long and has a controlled spillway within the structure's southern portion. It creates Lake Moomaw, which has a normal volume of 40 billion US gallons (150,000,000 m3). The dam serves flood control and recreational purposes and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Lake Darling Dam is an earthen embankment dam on the Souris River in the west north central United States, located twenty miles (30 km) northwest of Minot in Ward County, North Dakota. The dam began impounding water in April 1936 and was completed July of that year; it was created for the purposes of water storage and conservation.
Council Grove Lake is a reservoir on the Neosho River in east-central Kansas. Built and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it is used for flood control, recreation, and water supply.
Mississinewa Lake Dam is a dam in Miami County, Indiana, just outside the town of Peru, in the central part of the state.
The Mahoning Creek Dam is a dam in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.
John Martin Reservoir is a reservoir on the Arkansas River in Bent County in southeastern Colorado. Built and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it is used for flood control, irrigation, and recreation. John Martin Reservoir State Park lies on its shore.
The Great Crossings Bridge is a masonry bridge which is on the National Road between Somerset County and Fayette County, Pennsylvania. It crosses the Youghiogheny River near Confluence, Pennsylvania.
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