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
Gillespie Dam Gillespie Dam The Gillespie Dam is a concrete gravity dam located on the Gila River between the towns of Buckeye and Gila Bend, Arizona. The dam was constructed during the 1920s for primarily irrigation purposes. A portion of the dam failed unexpectedly in 1993 during unusually heavy rains. The Gillespie Dam was constructed circa 1920 by a local rancher, Frank Gillespie, to replace an existing structure. As the dam was located at an important river crossing that would later become US Route 80, the Arizona Highway Department - the predecessor to the Arizona Department of Transportation - constructed a concrete