Tuttle Creek Lake
| Tuttle Creek Lake | |
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Tuttle Creek Dam
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| Location | Pottawatomie / Riley / Marshall counties in Kansas |
| Coordinates | 39°15′25″N 96°35′32″W / 39.25694°N 96.59222°WCoordinates: 39°15′25″N 96°35′32″W / 39.25694°N 96.59222°W |
| Type | Reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Big Blue River |
| Primary outflows | Big Blue River to Kansas River |
| Catchment area | 25,000 km² (9,600 mi²) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 25 km (16 mi) |
| Max. width | 2 km (1.3 mi) |
| Surface area | 50 km² (19 mi²) |
| Max. depth | 15 m (50 ft) |
| Water volume | 0.41 km3 (0.098 cu mi) (normal level) |
| Shore length1 | 160 km (100 mi) |
| Surface elevation | 328 m (1075 ft) |
| Settlements | Manhattan |
| References | |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Tuttle Creek Lake is a reservoir on the Big Blue River 5 miles (8 km) north of Manhattan, in the Flint Hills region of northeast Kansas. It was built and is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers for the purpose of flood control.
The lake is bordered by Tuttle Creek State Park, which features 1,200 acres (4.9 km2) of recreational areas, including nature trails, camping sites, and an artificial beach. The state park also hosts the Country Stampede Music Festival every summer.
The border between Riley County (on the west) and Pottawatomie County (on the east) is submerged underneath the lake. The dam is roughly two miles north of Manhattan, Kansas, and is crossed by Kansas Highway 13. Near the river delta at the lakes northern end, a bridge carrying Kansas Highway 16 spans the lake.
The construction of Tuttle Creek Dam as a Corps of Engineers project was given impetus by the Great Flood of 1951, which inundated downtown Manhattan. Nevertheless, the project met with heavy opposition from landowners whose land faced flooding. Residents of the Blue Valley organized opposition under the phrase "Let's quit this dam foolishness," and the campaign led to victory for Democrat Howard Shultz Miller in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1952. Although the opposition was heated, it failed to ultimately stop the dam.
When the lake began filling up in 1962, it affected ten towns and entirely submerged four of them (from north to south): Cleburne at 39°31′49″N 96°38′6″W / 39.53028°N 96.63500°W, Randolph, Garrison Cross and Stockdale. The only town to rebuild elsewhere was Randolph, where the streets are named after the submerged towns. The remnants of "Old Randolph", as it's known locally, can still be seen partially submerged to this day.
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Wikipedia