Denison Dam

Description

Denison Dam, also known as Lake Texoma Dam, is a dam located on the Red River between Texas and Oklahoma that impounds Lake Texoma. The purpose of the dam is flood control, water supply, hydroelectric power production, river regulation, navigation and recreation.HistoryCompleted in 1943 primarily as a flood control project, it was at the time the "largest rolled-earth fill dam in the world". Only five times has the lake reached the dam's spillway at a height of above sea level: 1957, 1990, 2007, and twice in 2015. It takes its name from Denison, Texas, just downriver from the damface.Denison Dam contains a total of 18.8 million cubic yards (14,000,000 m³) of rolled-earth fill. It produces roughly 250,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, while Lake Texoma provides nearly 125,000acre.ft of water storage for local communities under five permanent contracts. In addition to two federally managed wildlife-refuge areas, Denison Dam has made possible 47 recreational areas managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, two state parks -- one in Oklahoma and one in Texas -- as well as of open public land used for hunting. General Lucius D. Clay was the principal manager of the project.Oklahoma State Highway 91 and, to a lesser extent, Texas State Highway 91 cross over the dam.