Big Bend Dam with an annual production of 969 million kilowatt hours, and meets peak-hour demand for power within the Missouri River Basin. Located near Fort Thompson, South Dakota, just south of a major bend in the Missouri River (from which the dam takes its name), Big Bend Dam creates Lake Sharpe, named after South Dakota Governor Merrill Q. Sharpe. The lake extends for up the course of the Missouri River passing through Pierre, the State Capitol, to Oahe Dam, another major power-generating and flood control dam. Lake Sharpe covers a total of and drains an area just under . South Dakota Highway
Norris Dam State Park power, providing cheap electricity and allowing the area to modernize to a considerable extent. The city of Norris, located a few miles south of the dam, was developed as a planned city alongside the dam project. The construction of Norris Dam began on October 1, 1933 and its gates were closed on March 4, 1936. The east section of Norris Dam State Park was developed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a "demonstration recreational project" of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The CCC built a lodge, several rustic cabins, and an amphitheater. The land was sold to the