Magic Dam facts for kids

Magic Dam is a large earthen dam built across the Big Wood River in Idaho, United States. It's located about 40 miles (64 km) north of Twin Falls. This important dam was finished in 1910.

Magic Dam helps people in a few big ways: it stores water for farms, helps control floods, and even makes electricity! The dam creates a huge lake called Magic Reservoir, which holds a lot of water – about 195,000 acre-feet (240 million cubic meters). This water is used to irrigate, or water, over 89,000 acres (36,000 hectares) of farmland near towns like Shoshone and Richfield.

What Does Magic Dam Do?

Magic Dam is like a giant helper for the area. It serves three main purposes:

Watering Farmland

One of the most important jobs of Magic Dam is to provide water for farms. The water stored in Magic Reservoir flows through canals to help grow crops on thousands of acres of land. This is called irrigation, and it's super important for farmers in dry areas.

Controlling Floods

Rivers can sometimes overflow their banks, causing floods that damage homes and land. Magic Dam helps prevent this by holding back extra water during heavy rains or when snow melts quickly. This protects communities downstream from flooding.

Making Electricity

Magic Dam also has a power station. This station uses the force of water flowing through the dam to spin special machines called turbines. These turbines then create electricity, which can power homes and businesses. The Magic Dam power station can produce up to 9,000 kilowatts of electricity!

How Big is Magic Dam?

Magic Dam is quite impressive in size.

Dam Structure

The main part of the dam is 128 feet (39 meters) high and stretches for 3,100 feet (940 meters) across the river. That's almost two-thirds of a mile long! To make sure the reservoir doesn't overflow, there are also two smaller walls called auxiliary dikes. If there's too much water, a special concrete spillway (a channel for water to flow over) helps safely release the extra water.

Magic Reservoir

The lake created by the dam, Magic Reservoir, is also very large. When it's full, it covers about 3,740 acres (1,510 hectares). It stretches about 6 miles (9.7 km) up the Big Wood River and another 2.5 miles (4.0 km) up a smaller stream called Camas Creek. The dam and reservoir collect water from a huge area of 1,600 square miles (4,100 square kilometers).