The expense of this dam has been charged to the water users in the North Platte valley, although the benefits are fully as pronounced in Arkansas, Louisiana, and other states of the south.

On the north side of this valley, in Scotts Bluff county, there are two constructed reservoirs along the line of the Interstate canal. Lake Alice, so named in respect of Theodore Roosevelt, and for his daughter Alice Longworth, is a beautiful lake two miles long and about a half mile wide with a maximum depth of about thirty feet. It holds thirty thousand acre feet of water available for use when needed.

Ten miles southeast of this is the larger lake designated as Lake Minatare. This is about three miles across and has a maximum depth of about eighty feet. It will contain 90,000 acre feet of water when filled. The larger portions of this is available for irrigation use when needed. Sixty-seven thousand acre feet of water can be drawn through the outlet valves on emergency. These lakes furnish excellent fishing resorts.

Minatare Dam

Many unexpected formations, or lack of formations, were found in the construction of this dam. All the dirt was first stripped from the Brule clay foundation. Then into the clayrock, a trench was cut to a depth of forty to sixty feet in places, or until it wras believed that the excavation was below any possible seams in the formation. In this trench was built a concrete core for the dam. The length of the dam is 4,000 feet and the maximum fill is sixty-five feet. The top oi the dam is twenty feet wide making a maximum width of 350 feet, for the slope is about two and one-half to 1. The embankment contains a half million yards of earth and 150,000 yards of gravel.