| Located in a narrow valley of the Snake River, 26 miles southwest of Valentine, Merritt Dam was completed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in May 1964. The dam is a homogenous, rolled-earth, filed structure, 108 feet high with a crest length of 3,222 feet. It is the first Bureau dam to have soil cement surfacing instead of traditional rock rip-rap protection. The only similar dam in Nebraska is the Calamus Dam completed in 1986 near Burwell.
A facility of the Ainsworth Unit, Sandhills Division, Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Project, the dam is operated by the Ainsworth Irrigation District. The Game & Parks Commission administers the H2O surface & adjacent lands for recreation & wildlife. The reservoir has 44 miles of shoreline; 74,486 acre feet of storage, & a surface area of 2,906 acres. It irrigates approximately 34,539 acres of Nebraska farmland. |
Campground: Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area in Valentine Nebraska *