Kicking Horse Dam (National Inventory of Dams ID MT00594) is a dam in Lake County, Montana.

The earthen dam was constructed in 1930 by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, with a height of 29 feet (8.8 m) and 5,220 feet (1,590 m) long at its crest.[1] It impounds Dublin Gulch for irrigation and recreation. The dam is owned and operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, while recreation is regulated by the tribal government and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.[2]

The dam is surrounded by the territory of the Flathead Indian Reservation (known as the Tribal Trust Lands of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes), is adjacent to the town of Kicking Horse, Montana (population 80) and adjacent to the Mission Mountains Wilderness. The reservoir it creates, Kicking Horse Reservoir, has a normal water surface of 1.1 square miles (2.8 km2), and a maximum capacity of 8,350 acre-feet (10,300,000 m3).[3] Recreation includes fishing and bird hunting, subject to tribal regulations.

In popular culture edit

American poet Richard Hugo references the dam and the adjacent town in his 1973 poem "The Lady in Kicking Horse Reservoir".

References edit

  1. ^ "Dam Name : Kicking Horse NPDP ID : MT00594". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
  2. ^ FLATHEAD INDIAN RESERVATION Fishing, Bird Hunting, and Recreation Regulations of the CONFEDERATED SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBES and the MONTANA FISH, WILDLIFE & PARKS, 2010 Archived 2012-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Rock Reef Reservoir Benton Lake Area

47°27′16″N 114°04′39″W / 47.45446°N 114.07740°W / 47.45446; -114.07740