Just two years later in , power generation, which continues today, began. Beaver Lake covers about 31, acres and is about 50 miles long. Beaver Dam is the first dam in the tailwater chain offering cold water fishing along the White River. The U. Army Corps of Engineers has built numerous recreational facilities around the lake. Twelve developed parks have paved access roads. All of the parks offer modernized campsites with water, showers, electricity, restrooms and fire rings.
The parks also have dumping stations and boat launches. The 12 recreational areas offer campsites. In addition, there are 7 full-service marinas with some 1, boat slips. Beaver Lake welcomes 3.
Photo at top thanks to Doug Wertman on Flickr. About miles of shoreline extend through three counties: Benton , Carroll and Washington. The multi-purpose project provides flood control, hydroelectric generation, water supply, and recreation. While the possibility of a dam on the upper White River was examined as early as , the first feasibility studies by the U. Army Corps of Engineers for constructing such a dam were made in and However, it was not until that Congress passed a flood control act authorizing its construction.
Several original proposed sites for the dam were determined to be unsuitable. One of these was near Beaver Carroll County , a town named after s settler Wilson Ashbury Beaver, hence the name of the project. The Corps of Engineers chose a final location a few miles upstream near Busch on river mile in Carroll County. The 2,foot-long dam consists of a 1,foot-long concrete section keyed into a limestone bluff, 1, feet of earth and rock embankment, and three small earth and rock dikes that fill gaps between adjacent hills.
The spillway section is feet long. Maximum height of the dam above the streambed is feet. Mean depth is fifty-eight feet, and the maximum depth is feet. The structure contains , cubic yards of concrete and 1. Storage capacity is 1.
At full conservation pool, or normal managed lake level, the reservoir covers 28, acres with a shoreline of miles. The mean hydraulic retention time the time it takes for water to cycle through the reservoir is one and a half years. The bill was vetoed by President Dwight Eisenhower even though it was trimmed in committee by two and a half percent at his request.
Eisenhower had objected to Beaver Dam because of uncertainties over marketing the hydropower from the project. The Southwestern Power Administration had reported that the project was only marginally justifiable. The actual construction process began in November with contract bids awarded to T.
James and Company of Ruston, Louisiana, and J. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 22, , by the Beaver Dam Association. Congressman James Trimble Third District was the principal speaker. Bids for the construction of the powerhouse were opened in November Construction of the powerhouse and switchyard began in Two 77,horsepower Westinghouse units sit atop the turbines, each capable of generating 56, kilowatts.
Power generation began in May The reservoir reached normal operational pool in Beaver was one of the first Corps of Engineers reservoirs in the country to provide for municipal and industrial water supply. This additional use was authorized by the Water Supply Act of , provided a local sponsor could be found to pay for the extra storage capacity. As of , four water districts utilize the lake. Unlike earlier projects in Arkansas, the Corps only acquired flowage easements around the White River.
As soon as the federal Beaver Land Office opened to acquire land for the reservoir in October , developers began to buy and sell property around the proposed lake. Out-of-state investors were quick to buy large acreages that could later be subdivided.
By and large, Beaver reservoir is known as a residential lake. Situated close to the cities of northwest Arkansas, the lake area is home to many people who commute to work.
The Corps maintains twelve recreational parks on the lake. A trout fishery below the dam runs for the first seven miles before the river begins to enlarge again into Table Rock Lake. A portion of the fees collected at the parks and from Corps leases goes to local county governments annually as payment for loss of taxes on inundated property. Enthusiastic fishing reports published in newspapers and national outdoor magazines contributed to interest in the new lake.
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