High Mountain Dams in Upalco Unit, Drift Lake Dam, Ashley National Forest, 11.4 miles Northwest of Swift Creek Campground, Mountain Home

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Drift Lake is one of several natural high mountain lakes in the Swift Creek and Yellowstone River drainages dammed by the Farmers Irrigation Company in the and to store water for irrigation. The dam is a representative example of small-scale earth-fill construction in the Upalco Unit of the Central Utah Project. Inventoried by: Clayton Eraser and James Jurale Fraserdesign Loveland, Colorado October 19, High Mountain Dams in Upalco Unit, Drift Lake Dam HAER No. UT-42-E (Page 2)

Historical Information

On July 21, the National Forest Service granted special use permits to the Farmers Irrigation Company for water storage rights on Bluebell and Drift lakes, two high mountain lakes in the Yellowstone River drainage. Drift Lake, the smaller of the two, was an elongated natural pool, a quarter mile long and 300 yards at its widest point, located in a cirque at the base of a rock slide ridge. The Forest Service recommended that a 100-foot-Iong by 7-foot-high dam across the southeastern outlet of the lake would greatly increase its active storage capacity. The structure that the irrigation company completed in was more than twice as long and 12 feet high, substantially increasing the lake's volume.

The dam featured standard earth-fill construction, with a variable-slope upstream face covered with a layer of hand-placed riprap stone. Its outlet was a 24-inch corrugated steel pipe with an upright screw-type gate. The original dam and outlet remain. It is proposed that the dam be breached and a spillway built through it to lower the water to within four feet of its natural level.

Architectural Information

Dam length: 235 feet Dam height: 12 feet Dam width: 5 feet Construct: Earth fill dam with stone riprap facing Lake size: acres; 197 acre-foot maximum capacity; 9 vertical foot maximum drawdown Outlet: Gated steel pipe BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION "Preliminary Engineering Report: Stabilization of High Mountain Lakes, Upalco Unit," National Forest Service Report, page 29. William F. Gettleman, "Report on the Lakes and Reservoir of the Headwaters of the Uintah, Whiterocks and Lakefork Rivers, Uintah Project, Utah; February page 21. Drift Lake Reservoir File #I6-E, Roosevelt District Ranger Office, Ashley National Forest, Roosevelt, Utah. Field inspection by Robert Righter, July For additional information, see Irrigation Canals in the Uinta Basin, HAER No. UT-30.

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