Kaw Lake 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 contr ...

completed in 1976 in the northern reaches of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, near Kaw City which is located on a hill overlooking the lake. The lake is approximately east of

Ponca City Ponca City ( iow, Chína Uhánⁿdhe) is a city in Kay County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The city was named after the Ponca tribe. Ponca City had a population of 25,387 at the time of the 2010 census- and a population of 24,424 in the 2020 ...

.Recreation.gov, "Kaw Lake, OK. US Army Corps of Engineers.
Retrieved September 6, 2013. Newkirk is west of the upper end of the lake. Kaw Dam is long and above the stream bed. The dam lies above the mouth of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United ...

. The top of the flood control pool is , while the normal operating level is 1,010 feet.Title Dam at Kaw Lake

The Reservoir covers approximately 17,040 acres (69 km²). It is the seventh largest lake in Oklahoma by surface area. At normal levels, the lake holds of water, the ninth largest lake in capacity in Oklahoma. (See

List of lakes in Oklahoma The following is a list of lakes in Oklahoma located entirely (or partially, as in the case of Lake Texoma) in the state. Oklahoma has more than 200 lakes created by dams. All lakes listed are man-made. Oklahoma's only natural lakes are oxbow and ...

) It lies mostly in

Kay County Kay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, its population was 43,700. Its county seat is Newkirk, and the largest city is Ponca City. Kay County comprises the Ponca City micropolitan statistical a ...

and partially in Osage County. Kaw Dam was authorized by Congress in the Flood Control Act of 1962. Ground was broken for the dam on May 21, 1966. The original town of Kaw City was covered by the waters of Kaw Lake in 1975. The city was rebuilt about two miles west of the old site during the late 1960s.Pittman, Annette. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. "Kaw City.

/ref> The dam was completed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Corps of Engineers in May 1976. The cost of the dam and the lake was $111 million. The Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA), a state governmental agency created in 1981 to provide wholesale electricity to cities and towns in Oklahoma, purchased the substructure of the dam in July 1987 at a cost of $3.8 million and constructed a hydroelectric plant that was completed in September 1989 at a cost of $25 million. Kaw Hydroelectric generates approximately 104 gigawatt hours of energy annually. The generator is nominally rated at 25.6 megawatts at of gross head with a maximum rating of 36.7 MVA. The plant at Kaw Dam provides power for over 35 municipal electrical systems in Oklahoma and southern Kansas. The project engineer for the Kaw Lake dam was Everette W. Woodham, Jr. The Corps of Engineers and Camp McFadden offers camping on the west shore of Kaw Lake at Ponca Cove. The City of Enid began a project in 2020 to lay a 70-mile pipeline to tap Kaw Lake as a municipal water source. The project will transport 10 million gallons of water per day.

Camp McFadden

Camp McFadden is an outdoor recreational area on over overlooking the west side of Kaw Lake near

, Oklahoma. Camp McFadden was created in 1927 as a children's camp by Bill McFadden on the Kygar ranch. The camp includes high and low ropes courses, cabins, a lodge with full kitchen, outdoor activities, and RV and tent camping and is used for team building, reunions, youth and church camps, weddings, and getaways. Future plans include a volleyball court, disc golf, softball field, soccer field and archery range. Camp McFadden is a non-profit

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of ...

References

External links

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Kaw LakeKaw Lake information and photos on TravelOK.com
Official travel and tourism website for the State of Oklahoma
Camp McFadden Recreation AreaKaw Lake AssociationOklahoma Municipal Power Authority information on Kaw Lake at "operations" tabPonca City Tourism

Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
{{authority control Protected areas of Kay County, Oklahoma Protected areas of Osage County, Oklahoma Reservoirs in Oklahoma Dams in Oklahoma United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Dams completed in 1976 Bodies of water of Kay County, Oklahoma Bodies of water of Osage County, Oklahoma