Raystown Lake

Raystown Lake
Raystown Lake Dam
Location	Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates	40°26′01″N 78°00′24″W / 40.43361°N 78.00667°W / 40.43361; -78.00667Coordinates: 40°26′01″N 78°00′24″W / 40.43361°N 78.00667°W / 40.43361; -78.00667
Primary inflows	Raystown Branch Juniata River
Basin countries	United States
Max. length	28 mi (45 km)
Surface area	8,300 acres (33.6 km2)
Max. depth	200 ft (61.0 m)

Raystown Lake is a reservoir in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. It is the largest lake that is entirely within Pennsylvania. The original lake was built by the Simpson family of Huntingdon as a hydroelectric project. The current 8,300-acre (34 km²) Raystown Lake was completed in 1973 by the Army Corps of Engineers. Raystown is around 190 ft deep in the deepest area near the dam. The lake was created primarily to control floods, provide electricity, and support recreational activities.

Boating, swimming, mountain biking, scuba diving, and fishing are all popular activities. There are many campsites on the lake, as well as several boat launches, restaurants, and trails. Firework displays are held at the Raystown Lake Resort on Memorial Day Weekend, July 3, and the Sunday night before Labor Day. The fireworks at the resort are watched from the lake but can also be seen from the Pennsylvania Route 994 bridge; the resort is just south of this bridge.

There are many recreational opportunities around Raystown Lake, although the optimistic boom in tourism never really occurred, due partly to the fact that much of the surrounding land is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers and is not available for residential development. Therefore, summer homes, etc., were built near the lake but not on the waterfront and never grew as popular as had been hoped. However, this makes the experience of boating on the lake very different from many other lakes; the hills on the shores of the winding lake are blanketed right down to the water by the trees. In 2015, a Texas-based energy company proposed building a large resort and marina on the shore; however, several residents joined together in an attempt to protest the project, and it remains on hold.

The development of the first Raystown Dam in 1905 conceived the starting point for a history in consequential dams which eventually led to the creation of Raystown Lake in 1972. It has been said that the original dam was the creation of George Ernest and Warren Brown Simpson. The formation of the idea had been recorded by the New Era Journal, October 12, 1905 in which it stated: "earlier in the year 1905 George Ernest Simpson and Warren Brown Simpson were fishing along the Branch. It was good water for bass at that time and their catch was very gratifying. Uncle Ernest, sometime during the day, said: 'W. B., this would make a fine location for a hydroelectric development.'" That idea took immediate fruit for they were both "promoters." No one knows how much time and thought was put into the project idea, but eventually permanent charters for the development of the stream were granted by the Commonwealth and signed by Governor Pennypacker on March 30, 1906 (Drake, 1905).