Electra Lake is a privately owned reservoir in La Plata County Colorado. Owned by Xcel Energy, Electra Lake provides water storage for the Tacoma Hydro Generating Station. The reservoir's maximum capacity is .

History

Electra Lake Dam, also known as Terminal Dam or Cascade #2, is a rockfill structure with a height of and a length of at its crest, completed in 1902. The lake was named after

Electra Electra (; grc, Ήλέκτρα) is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies.Evans (1970), p. 79 She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, '' Electra'' by Sophocles and '' Electra'' by Euripides. She is also the centra ...

, a character in mythology. It has a normal surface area of . No hydroelectric energy is produced at the dam; water is channeled offsite to the Tacoma Hydro Generating Station via a open wooden flume, "one of only two wooden flumes still operating on hydro projects in the United States." The Tacoma powerhouse stands in the Animas River Canyon and is accessible only by the

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, often abbreviated as the D&SNG, is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on of track between Durango and Silverton, in the U.S. state of Colorado. The railway is a fe ...

. Owned and operated by Xcel Energy, the dam was rebuilt in 1980.

Recreation and marinas

The lake is open to the public for fee use during the summer months.

References

Buildings and structures in La Plata County, Colorado Reservoirs in Colorado Dams in Colorado Xcel Energy dams Bodies of water of La Plata County, Colorado 1902 establishments in Colorado {{Colorado-stub