Tuttle Creek Lake
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Tuttle Creek Lake is a man-made reservoir on the Big Blue River 5 miles (8 km) north of Manhattan, Kansas in the Flint Hills region of Northeast Kansas. It was built and operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Geography
The border between Riley County, Kansas and Pottawatomie County, Kansas is submerged underneath the lake, with Riley County on the West and Potawatamie County on the East. The longest bridge in Kansas spans its northern tip.History
The construction of the dam was given impetus by the Great Flood of 1951, which inundated downtown Manhattan. Nevertheless, the project met with heavy opposition from landowners whose land faced flooding. When the lake began filling up in 1962, it affected 10 towns and entirely submerged many of them. The only one of these submerged towns to rebuild elsewhere was Randolph, Kansas where many of the streets are named after other towns that were submerged. The remnants of "Old Randolph" as its known localy, can still be seen partially submerged to this day.The value of the dam was proven during the Great Flood of 1993, when floodwaters reaching up to 63 feet (19 m) above normal were held back. However, when the dam reached capacity in July 1993, it necessitated the first release of the spillway. All 18 gates on the spillway were raised 4 feet (1.2 m) during the peak of the flood producing a flow rate of 60,000 cubic feet per second (1700 m³/s). The roar of the water was audible half a mile (800 m) away and some people in nearby Manhattan reported hearing the noise. After three weeks the gates were closed, revealing a 20-foot deep canyon that had been carved in the earth of the spillway channel. The exposed rock is 290 million years old. Localy, this area is known as "The Canyon" and is a popular fossil hunting area.
Earthquake threat
Although Kansas is not widely known as seismically active, the Humboldt fault line associated with the Nemaha Ridge passes through eastern Kansas, and probably the most active region on the line is in the general vicinity of the lake. It was recently determined that the geology of the area could potentially produce an earthquake capable of causing the dam to fail, which could risk the lives of thousands downstream in the Blue River and Kansas River valleys. The Army Corps of Engineers has started a project to strengthen the dam sufficiently to withstand such a quake [link].External links
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