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
Big Bend Dam 47 crosses over the dam, connecting Lyman and Buffalo Counties. Big Bend Dam is located approximately north of I-90, and approximately southeast of Pierre. The next dam upstream is Oahe Dam, near Pierre, and the next dam downstream is Fort Randall Dam, near Pickstown. The construction of the dam resulted in the dislocation of people on the Crow Creek and Lower Brule Reservations. The flooding of the land for the reservoir also resulted in the loss of limited plant life resources used by these people for food and medicine. A monument at Big Bend Dam dedicated in 2002, the Spirit