Lake Bracken 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 ...

in Galesburg, Knox County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Managed by the Lake Bracken Country Club, the lake was formed in 1921 with the damming of Brush Creek. It is part of the Spoon River

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

, and has a surface area of . Its "overall resource quality" was assessed as "fair" in 1996 by the

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) of the state of Illinois is the primary body concerned with the protection of the environment for the state. The Illinois EPA's mission is "to safeguard environmental quality, consistent ...

. Channel catfish, largemouth bass, and carp are known to live in the lake. Lake Bracken was originally formed by the CB&Q (now Burlington Northern) in order to supply its major "Shops" and "Yards" in Galesburg, Illinois with water for the steam locomotives and other machines, equipment, and systems requiring large amounts of water.

References

External links

Lake Bracken Country Club
Reservoirs in Illinois Protected areas of Knox County, Illinois Bodies of water of Knox County, Illinois 1921 establishments in Illinois {{KnoxCountyIL-geo-stub