Wanderlust World Wanderlust World The Great Salt Plains Dam is in the city of Salt Plains in the north central part of Oklahoma. It is part of the Great Salt Plains National Park, which is open year-round for visitors.
The location where the Great Salt Plains dam stands is currently owned by the Federal government, but before that a homesteader named Carl Sheldon searched the land for gold that was supposed to be buried in the area. The area was filled with water and quicksand, so Sheldon tried to pump out the water and sand for 35 years, but never found anything.
In 1940 the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board paid $350 for the land and began construction on the dam. The dam is located at the Salt Fork in the Arkansas River and was needed to prevent the water from flooding the area. It was also used to generate electricity.
The dam was completed in 1941 by the Tulsa District Corps of Engineers and contains 31,420 acre-feet of conservation storage that maintains wildlife and 271,400 acre-feet of flood control storage. The dam took a little over two years to build and cost $4,626,270 and is composed mainly of steel, pipes and concrete.