Pinto Dam

Pinto Dam
LocationGrant County, Washington, USA
Coordinates47°26′50″N 119°15′00″W / 47.44722°N 119.25000°W / 47.44722; -119.25000
Opening date1948[1]
Operator(s)United States Bureau of Reclamation
Dam and spillways
Height130 feet (40 m)[2]
Length1,900 feet (579 m)[2]
Width (base)600 feet (180 m)[2]
Reservoir
CreatesBilly Clapp Lake
Total capacity21,200 acre-feet (0.0261 km3)[3]
Catchment area190 square miles (490 km2)[3]
Surface area973.6 acres (3.940 km2)[4]

Pinto Dam is a dam in Grant County, Washington.

The dam was a project of the United States Bureau of Reclamation, completed from 1946 through 1948 as one element of the vast Columbia Basin Project for irrigation water storage, flood control, and hydroelectric power generation.[5] Pinto Dam is an earthen structure, 130 feet high and 1900 feet long at its crest, that provides offstream storage of water.[1]

The six-mile-long crescent-shaped reservoir it creates, Billy Clapp Lake, was originally called Long Lake Reservoir, but was renamed for one of the sponsors of the project, a lawyer from Ephrata, Washington.[6][7] The lake offers year-round fishing for yellow perch, crappie, rainbow trout, and walleye.[4] The Stratford Wildlife Recreation Area borders Billy Clapp Lake on its eastern shore and hosts migrating waterfowl. Another sizable lake, Brook Lake, also stands below the dam.

  1. ^ a b United States Bureau of Reclamation (2009-04-30). "Pinto Dam: General". Archived from the original on 2015-06-16. Retrieved 2015-01-23.
  2. ^ a b c The Story of the Columbia Basin Project. Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. p. 59.
  3. ^ a b United States Bureau of Reclamation (2009-04-30). "Pinto Dam: Hydraulics and Hydrology". Archived from the original on 2015-06-16. Retrieved 2015-01-23.
  4. ^ a b Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife. "Billy Clapp Lake". Retrieved 2015-01-23.
  5. ^ United States Bureau of Reclamation (2013-12-04). "Columbia Basin Project". Archived from the original on 2015-02-15. Retrieved 2015-01-23.
  6. ^ Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. "Billy Clapp Lake Unit". Retrieved 2015-01-23.
  7. ^ Cassandra Tate (2005-03-10). "Grand Coulee Dam". Retrieved 2015-01-23.