Oldest Dams in South Dakota

South Dakota has 2523 dams with recorded construction dates. The oldest dates to 1894 — 132 years ago. South Dakota's earliest dams were built in the 19th century, an era of westward expansion, irrigation development, and early water infrastructure. Older dams require particular attention for safety, as many were built before modern engineering standards.

#	Dam	County	Year Built	Age	Height (ft)	Hazard	Condition
1	Sturgis #2	Meade	1894	132 yrs	30	Significant
2	Lermeny Dam	Harding	1903	123 yrs	25	Low
3	Sylvan Lake Dam	Custer	1906	120 yrs	37	High	Fair
4	Belle Fourche Diversion Dam	Butte	1907	119 yrs	36	Low	Not Available
5	Hanson Pond	Brown	1910	116 yrs	15	Significant
6	Mcintosh Lake	Corson	1910	116 yrs	20	Significant
7	Herbert Stoick	Corson	1910	116 yrs	22	Significant
8	Richard Glines	Corson	1910	116 yrs	39	Significant
9	East Morristown Lake	Corson	1910	116 yrs	34	Low
10	Pettegrew Dam	Fall River	1910	116 yrs	25	Low
11	E.e Pettegrew Dam No. 2	Fall River	1910	116 yrs	15	Low
12	Farley Lake Dam	Grant	1910	116 yrs	15	High	Fair
13	D. Ulrich	Perkins	1910	116 yrs	15	Low
14	Belle Fourche Dam	Butte	1911	115 yrs	122	High	Not Available
15	Davis Ranch Inc. No.1	Butte	1914	112 yrs	21	Low
16	Virgil Horton 1	Pennington	1916	110 yrs	15	Low
17	Charlie Waters Dam	Fall River	1918	108 yrs	16	Low
18	Burlington Dam	Fall River	1919	107 yrs	52	Low
19	Rodney Winkler Dam No. 1	Butte	1920	106 yrs	20	Low
20	Trout Dam	Fall River	1920	106 yrs	22	Low
21	Dry Draw Dam	Fall River	1920	106 yrs	18	Significant
22	South Buttes	Harding	1920	106 yrs	22	Low
23	City Of Murdo Number #2	Jones	1920	106 yrs	31	Low
24	Nestor Kivimaki Dam No.1	Butte	1921	105 yrs	13	Low
25	Capitol Lake Dam	Hughes	1921	105 yrs	27	High	Fair
26	Old Stickney	Aurora	1926	100 yrs	10	Low
27	Mitchell	Davison	1928	98 yrs	55	High	Fair
28	Henderson House Dam	Fall River	1928	98 yrs	20	Significant
29	Sturgis #4	Meade	1929	97 yrs	37	Significant
30	Third Street Dam	Beadle	1930	96 yrs	7	Low
31	Kukuchka Dam	Butte	1930	96 yrs	17	Low
32	Hoover Dam	Butte	1930	96 yrs	16	Low
33	Stockade Lake Dam	Custer	1930	96 yrs	53	High	Fair
34	Haystack Butte Dam	Fall River	1930	96 yrs	21	Low
35	Zell Lake Dam	Faulk	1930	96 yrs	11	Low	Poor
36	Gustafson Dam	Hughes	1930	96 yrs	14	Low
37	Arke Dam	Jackson	1930	96 yrs	16	Low
38	Belvidere Dam	Jackson	1930	96 yrs	17	Low
39	Kadoka (nid)	Jackson	1930	96 yrs	28	High	Not Rated
40	Okaton Dam	Jones	1930	96 yrs	22	Low
41	Osceola	Kingsbury	1930	96 yrs	18	Low
42	White Hill Dam	Perkins	1930	96 yrs	23	Low
43	East Lemmon	Perkins	1930	96 yrs	30	Low
44	Paulsen	Todd	1930	96 yrs	19	Low	Not Rated
45	Frederick	Brown	1931	95 yrs	20	Low
46	Delbridge Dam	Meade	1931	95 yrs	20	Low
47	Indian Dam No.1	Fall River	1932	94 yrs	16	Low
48	Lake Louise	Hand	1932	94 yrs	34	Low
49	Lake Hanson	Hanson	1932	94 yrs	24	Low
50	James Seiler	Corson	1933	93 yrs	17	Low

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