Kortes Dam
Coordinates42.17408°N 106.8811°W
CountryUnited States
LocationCarbon County, Wyoming
StatusIn use
Construction began1946
Opening1951
OwnerU.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Dam height244 ft (74 m)
Dam length440 ft (130 m)
Dam crossesNorth Platte River
Res nameKortes Reservoir
Res capacity total4,765 acre-feet
Res surface83 acres (34 ha)
Res max depth200 ft (61 m)[1]
Res elevation6,145 ft (1,873 m)[2]

Kortes Dam (National ID # WY01294) is a dam in Carbon County, Wyoming.

The concrete gravity dam was constructed between 1946 and 1951 by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, with a height of 244 feet (74 m), and a length of 440 feet (130 m) at its crest.[1] It impounds the North Platte River for hydroelectric power. Owned and operated by the Bureau, it stands as part of the Kortes Unit of the vast Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program less than two miles downstream from the Bureau's larger Seminoe Dam.

The riverine reservoir it creates, Kortes Reservoir, has a water surface of 83 acres (34 ha) and a volume of 4,765 acre-feet confined to the narrow Black Canyon,[3] which is not stocked with fish and has no boat ramp facilities.[4] However, the five and a half river miles from the base of Kortes Dam downstream to the Pathfinder Reservoir, the Miracle Mile Area, has eleven primitive camping areas and fishing for brown trout, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, and walleye.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Kortes Dam". United States Bureau of Reclamation. Archived 2012-09-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  2. ^
  3. ^ "Kortes Dam". United States Bureau of Reclamation. Archived 2012-09-25 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  4. ^ "Kortes Reservoir/Miracle Mile Area, Wyoming". Recreation.gov. Archived 2021-09-11 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  5. ^ "Kortes Reservoir/Miracle Mile Area". WyomingTourism.org. Archived from the original on 2010-07-14. Retrieved 2012-08-28.