High Mountain Dams in Upalco Unit, Milk Lake Dam, Ashley National Forest, 9.4 miles Northwest of Swift Creek Campground, Mountain Home

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Situated picturesquely on the western tip of Milk Lake at the base of a steep mountainside, the Milk Lake Dam is perhaps the most visually striking of the Upalco Unit dams. It is technologically significant as the only grouted stone masonry dam in the Unit. Beset by structural problems since its completion and the subject of numerous Forest Service complaints, the dam's checkered history makes it appropriate as a symbol of Forest Service leniency and permittee noncompliance. Inventoried by: Clayton Fraser and James Jurale Fraserdesign Loveland, Colorado October 19, High Mountain Dams in Upalco Unit, Milk Lake Dam HAER No. UT-42-K (Page 2)

Historical Information

Milk Lake, an isolated body of water in the Yellowstone River drainage, is situated in a glacial cirque on the west side of the divide that separates the Yellowstone from the Swift Creek drainage. In August Chester Hartman, George Rogers and S. K Daniels filed an application for a special use permit to store irrigation water on Milk Lake. Despite warnings by National Forest Service staff, the partners had by then already begun construction on a small-scale dam at the west end of the lake and, by it was completed. The permit was finally granted by the Forest Service in July Once described as "one of the best projects in the district," the Milk Lake Dam was a grouted masonry structure with a sloped and riprapped downstream face.

It began to leak in and burst in The breach repaired, the dam functioned until when continual structural and administrative problems prompted the Forest Service to withdraw the permit. The structure has begun to leak again, and it is proposed to demolish it to lower the water to its natural level.

Architectural Information

Dam length: 218 feet Dam height: 12 feet Dam width: 7 feet Construct: Grouted fieldstone dam with stone riprap facing on downstream side Lake size: acres; 195 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, Milk Lake Reservoir File, Roosevelt District Ranger Office, Ashley National Forest, Roosevelt, Utah. Field inspection by Clayton Fraser, July For additional information, see Irrigation Canals in the Uinta Basin, HAER No. UT-39. High Mountain Dams in Upalco Unit, Milk Lake Dam HAER No. UT-42-K (Page 3) PfSAWDOWN PAM SCALE l I *<.oo'