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List of lakes in Oklahoma facts for kids

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The following is a list of lakes in Oklahoma located entirely (or partially, as in the case of Lake Texoma) in the state. Oklahoma has the largest number of lakes created by dams of any state in the United States, with more than 200. All lakes listed are man-made. Oklahoma's only natural lakes are oxbow and playa lakes. Oklahoma has sixty-two oxbow lakes at least 10 acres in size. The largest, near the Red River in McCurtain County is 272 acres.

Playa lakes are found in saucer-shaped depressions in the high plains region. They are usually intermittent, holding water only after rains. Oklahoma has about 600 playa lakes.

Lakes and reservoirs by size

Broken-bow-spillway
Broken Bow is one of Oklahoma's deepest and most scenic lakes.
Salt plains NWR
Great Salt Plains Lake is the centerpiece of a wildlife refuge that is a critical way-station for migratory birds.
Fort Gibson Lake Oklahoma
Aerial view of Fort Gibson Lake and Sequoyah State Park. Many large Oklahoma lakes have state parks and lodges. Shorelines of most lakes are publicly owned and accessible to everyone.

Ranked by surface acres, Lake Eufaula is the 34th largest lake in the United States and Lake Texoma is the 38th largest.

Name Capacity in acre feet (normal pool) surface acres (normal pool) average depth water clarity
Lake Texoma 2,643,000 88,000 acres (35,612 ha) 30 feet (9.1 m) average to excellent
Eufaula Lake 2,314,000 105,500 22 poor to excellent
Grand Lake o' the Cherokees 1,515,416 41,779 36.3 average to excellent
Broken Bow Lake 918,070 14,200 65 excellent
Tenkiller Ferry Lake 654,100 12,900 51 excellent
Keystone Lake 557,600 23,610 23 average
Oologah Lake 553,400 29,640 19 average
Robert S. Kerr Reservoir 525,700 43,800 12 poor
Foss Reservoir 437,000 8,800 average
Kaw Lake 428,600 17,040 25 poor to average
Fort Gibson Lake 355,200 14,900 24 good
Skiatook Lake 322,700 10,190 32 good
Sardis Lake 274,330 13,610 20 average
Waurika Lake 203,100 10,100 20 average
Markham Ferry Reservoir (Lake Hudson) 200,300 10,900 18 average
Webbers Falls Lake 170,100 11,600 15 average
Hugo Lake 157,600 13,250 12 poor
Lake Murray 153,250 5,728 27 excellent
Sooner Lake 149,000 5,400 28 excellent
Lake Altus-Lugert 132,830 6,260 21 fair
Atoka Lake 125,000 5,700 22 poor
Lake Thunderbird 119,600 6,070 20 average
McGee Creek Reservoir 113,930 3,810 30 excellent
Canton Lake 111,310 7,910 14 average
Tom Steed Reservoir 109,276 6,400 - -
Lake Ellsworth 92,500 5,600 17 fair to poor
Lake Stanley Draper 87,296 2,900 30 good
Fort Cobb Reservoir 80,010 4,100 20 average
Lake Eucha 79,600 2,860 28 excellent
Lake Hefner 75,000 2,500 30 good
Lake of the Arbuckles 72,400 2,350 31 excellent
Wister Lake 62,360 7,333 9 average
Lake Carl Blackwell 61,500 3,370 18 average
Lake Lawtonka 56,574 2,398 24 good
Pine Creek Lake 53,750 3,750 14 good
Lake W. R. Holway 48,000 712 67 excellent
Copan Lake 43,400 4,850 9 average
Lake Spavinaw 38,000 1,584 24 excellent
Great Salt Plains Lake 31,240 8,690 4 poor
Hulah Lake 31,160 3,570 9 poor
Arcadia Lake 27,520 1,820 15 average
Konawa Reservoir 23,000 1,350 17 excellent
Shawnee Twin Lake, No. l 22,600 1,336 17 good
Fuqua Lake 21,100 1,500 14 average
Lake McMurtry 19,733 1,155 17 average
Birch Lake 19,200 1,137 17 good
Bluestem Lake 17,000 762 22 average
Dripping Springs Lake 16,200 1,150 14 excellent
Bellcow Lake 15,613 1,153 14 average
Lake Overholser 13,526 1,581 16.9 max fair to poor
Greenleaf Lake 14,720 920 16 good
Lake Ponca 14,440 805 18 good
Okmulgee brh Lake 14,170 668 21 good
Wes Watkins Reservoir 14,065 1,142 12 good
Fort Supply Lake 13,900 1,820 8 fair to poor
Lake McAlester 13,398 1,521 9 average
Lake R. C. Longmire 13,162 918 14 good
Okemah Lake 13,100 761 17 average
Elmer Thomas Lake 12,000 334 36 excellent
Lake Humpherys 11,900 840 14 good
Lake Chickasha 11,480 (est) 820 14 good
Holdenville Lake 11,000 550 20 average to good

Source: Oklahoma Water Atlas http://www.owrb.ok.gov/news/publications/wa/wa.php. and http://www.owrb.ok.gov/quality/monitoring/bump/pdf_bump/2008/LakesReport.pdf, accessed Mar 1, 2011. Some inconsistencies exist between the two sources.

Links

Public Reservoirs in Oklahoma
Reservoir Nearby Town River Basin Surface Acres Elevation MSL Maintained By Comments
Lake Altus-Lugert Altus North Fork of the Red River 6,260 6,500 information and photos
American Horse Lake Geary 100 Oklahoma Wildlife Department information
Lake of the Arbuckles Sulphur Rock Creek 2,350 National Park Service information
Arcadia Lake Arcadia;Edmond Deep Fork 1,820 Army Corps of Engineers information
Atoka Lake Atoka 5,900 information
Birch Lake Barnsdall Birch Creek 1,137 Army Corps of Engineers
Bluestem Lake Pawhuska Middle Bird Creek 720 876
Broken Bow Lake Broken Bow Mountain Fork River 14,200 Army Corps of Engineers information
Lake Burtschi Chickasha 180 Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Canton Lake Canton North Canadian River 7,910 Army Corps of Engineers information and photos
Carl Blackwell Lake Stillwater Stillwater Creek 3,350 Oklahoma State University
Carl G. Etling Lake Boise City Carrizo Creek 159 Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Cedar Lake Heavener Big Cedar Creek 78 information and photos
Clayton Lake Clayton Pearl Creek 66 information and photos
Claremore Lake Claremore, Oklahoma 470
Copan Lake Copan Caney River 4,850 Army Corps of Engineers information
Lake Dahlgren Noble 30 Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Dripping Springs Lake Okmulgee 1,050 information and photos
Eucha Lake Eucha, Oklahoma Spavinaw Creek 2,800 City of Tulsa
Eufaula Lake Eufaula Canadian River 102,000 Army Corps of Engineers information, photos and videos
Evan Chambers Lake 80 Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Fort Cobb Reservoir Fort Cobb Cobb Creek 2,000 information and photos
Fort Gibson Lake Fort Gibson Grand River 19,900 Army Corps of Engineers information, photos and video
Fort Supply Lake Fort Supply Wolf Creek 1,800 2,400 Army Corps of Engineers information
Foss Reservoir Foss Washita River 5,956 information and photos
Grand Lake Grove, Afton, Langley Grand River 41,749 Grand River Dam Authority information, photos and videos
Great Salt Plains Lake Jet, Cherokee Salt Fork Arkansas River 8,700 Army Corps of Engineers information, photos and video
Greenleaf Lake Braggs Greenleaf Creek 930 information and photos
Heyburn Lake Kellyville Polecat Creek 890 Army Corps of Engineers information
Holdenville Lake Holdenville Little River
Hugo Lake Hugo Kiamichi River 18,196 Army Corps of Engineers information and video
Hulah Lake Copan Caney River 3,570 Army Corps of Engineers information, photos, and video
Konawa Reservoir Konawa Canadian River (Jumper Creek) 1,350 Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company
Keystone Lake Sand Springs Arkansas River 23,600 Army Corps of Engineers information, photos and videos
Ellsworth Lake Lawton East Cache Creek 5,000 information
Elmer Lake Kingfisher 60 1,119 Oklahoma Wildlife Department information and photos
Elmer Thomas Lake Lawton Little Medicine Creek 334 information, photos and video
Hefner Lake Oklahoma City 2,500 information, photos and video
Hudson Lake Locust Grove Grand River 12,000 Grand River Dam Authority
Lone Chimney Lake Pawnee County Camp Creek 550 &nbsc; &nbsc;
McGee Creek Reservoir Atoka McGee Creek 3810
Nanih Waiyah Lake Tuskahoma 131 Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Oologah Lake Oologah, Nowata, Claremore Verdigris River 29,500 Army Corps of Engineers information, photos and video
Optima Lake Hardesty Beaver River Army Corps of Engineers information
Overholser Lake Oklahoma City, Bethany, and Yukon North Canadian River 1,581 1,242 City of Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust
Ozzie Cobb Lake Rattan 116 Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Pine Creek Lake Fort Towson Little River (Red River) 3,750 Army Corps of Engineers information
Raymond Gary Lake Fort Towson Gates Creek 263 Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Robert S. Kerr Reservoir Sallisaw Arkansas River 43,800 Grand River Dam Authority information
Sardis Lake Clayton Jackfork River 14,360 Army Corps of Engineers information, photos and video
Schooler Lake 35 Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Skiatook Lake Skiatook 10,190 Army Corps of Engineers information, photos and video
Spavinaw Lake Spavinaw Spavinaw Creek 1,636
Tom Steed Reservoir Snyder Otter Creek 6,400
Tenkiller Lake Cookson, Vian, Gore, Park Hill, Tahlequah Illinois River 12,900 Army Corps of Engineers information, photos and videos
Texoma Lake Kingston Red River 93,000 Army Corps of Engineers information, photos and videos
Thunderbird Lake Norman Little River (Canadian River) 5,349 The Bureau of Reclamation owns the dam, which is operated by the local Central Oklahoma Master Conservancy District.
Vanderwork Lake Gotebo Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Vincent Lake Arnett Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Watonga Lake Watonga Oklahoma Wildlife Department
Waurika Lake Waurika Beaver Creek 10,100 Army Corps of Engineers information and photos
Webbers Falls Lake Webbers Falls Arkansas River 11,600 Army Corps of Engineers
Wister Lake Wister Poteau River 7,300 Army Corps of Engineers information and photos
W. R. Holway Lake Salina Grand River 712 Grand River Dam Authority
Yahola Lake Tulsa 400 City of Tulsa

Lakes and reservoirs (alphabetically)

USACE Tenkiller Lake and Dam
Tenkiller Ferry Lake and dam.
Altuslake-2
Lake Altus-Lugert is located in the rugged Quartz Mountain region of Oklahoma.
Keystone Lake aerial map
A satellite photo of Keystone Lake illustrates the sinuous nature of most large Oklahoma man-made lakes
Lake Lawtonka and Mount Scott and Migrating Geese
Mt. Scott in the Wichita Mountains looms over Lake Lawtonka.
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List of lakes in Oklahoma Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.