Denison Dam facts for kids

A picture of the Denison Dam and hydroelectric power plant.

Denison Dam, also known as Lake Texoma Dam, is a dam on the Red River between Texas and Oklahoma. The job of the dam is to control flood waters. It also makes a water supply and energy from hydroelectricity. The dam controls the Red River and provides a place where people can have fun in the water.

History

Denison Dam was finished in 1943. At that time, it was the largest "rolled-earth fill dam" (a kind of dirt) in the world. The dam is named for Denison, Texas which is not far away. The dam's spillway is 640 feet (200 m) above sea level. Water has gotten high enough go into the spillway five times.

Denison Dam is made from 18,800,000 cubic yards (14,400,000 m³) of rolled-earth fill. It also produces 250,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year. The dam holds the Red River back to make Lake Texoma which has 2,616,259 acre-feet (3.227108×10⁹ m³) of water. The lake is used to give water to local towns and cities. The dam has 47 areas for people to have fun. The area around the lake has 80,000 acres (32,000 ha) of land people can hunt on.

Oklahoma State Highway 91 and Texas State Highway 91 cross over the dam.