Causey Reservoir is a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

located northeast of Ogden,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, United States just off

Utah State Route 39 State Route 39 (SR-39) is a state highway in northern Utah connecting Ogden, Utah, Ogden to Woodruff, Utah, Woodruff via Ogden Canyon and Huntsville, Utah, Huntsville. The highway is on 12th Street in Ogden and the Ogden River Scenic Byway through ...

Geography

Causey is a surface area reservoir on the South Fork of the

Ogden River The Ogden River is a long river in Weber County. Utah, United States. Description The Ogden River's three forks (North, Central, and South) begin in the Wasatch Range in Weber County and converge at Pineview Reservoir, near Huntsville. The r ...

. It is a feature of the Weber Basin Project, and lies at an elevation of about . The reservoir has a maximum depth of and a mean depth of . Causey is located in steep, forested valley terrain and extends into three

canyons A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...

. The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District operates the reservoir.

History

Causey Dam was constructed between 1962 and 1966 by the

Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

to provide water to the northern

Wasatch front The Wasatch Front is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Utah. It consists of a chain of contiguous cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range from approximately Provo in the south to Logan in the north ...

area of Utah. It is an

earthfill dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

Drownings and Deaths

On March 20, 2020, a 19-year-old male drowned. The Weber County Sheriff's office said the call came in at 2:45 a.m. The body was recovered within an hour. On August 14, 2015, a group of individuals was cliff jumping at the reservoir. At one point, a person jumped in and didn't surface. The body of the cliff diver was found the next day at approximately 11 a.m. On September 1, 2007, an 18-year-old exchange student drowned while swimming across a narrow part of the reservoir. The teen's body was found the next day in 121 feet of water. In August 1989 an airman from

Hill Air Force Base Hill Air Force Base is a major U.S. Air Force (USAF) base located in northern Utah, just south of the city of Ogden, and bordering the Cities of Layton, Clearfield, Riverdale, Roy, and Sunset with its largest border immediately adjacent to ...

drowned while swimming to a popular cliff jumping location. In July 1988, a 17-year-old boy drowned while trying to swim to an area to cliff jump. It took over a year for authorities to recover the body.

Activities

Activities at Causey Reservoir include boating and fishing. There are no dedicated boat-launch facilities, and only wake-less speeds are allowed. Fishing includes Kokanee Salmon and several trout varieties, including

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

, cutthroat, and

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

. Causey is also one of the few places in Utah where spearfishing is allowed. (Note: Always check Utah Fishing regulations because they change from year to year) Swimming and cliff jumping are also popular. Camping and picnic sites are available near Memorial Park and along the Ogden River. Camp Kiesel, a

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

camp, is located on the northern arm of the reservoir.

References

External links