Jackson Lake Dam
Grand Teton National Park at Jackson Lake Dam

Main sign:
Jackson Lake Dam, a vital link in the development of the water and land resources of the Upper Snake River Basin, was built and is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, U. S. Dept. of the Interior. It was originally authorized for irrigation—some 1,100,000 acres of the fertile Snake River Valley—and for flood control along the Snake and lower Columbia Rivers. Outdoor recreation and fish and wildlife conservation have become important project benefits.

History sign:
The Reclamation Service first surveyed Jackson Lake in 1902-03, leading to construction in 1905-07 of a temporary pole-crib dam to store 200,000 acre-feet of water. It rotted and failed in July of 1910, and in 1911 a new concrete structure was begun to restore the vital water supply for the farmers on the Minidoka Project. An unending string of freight wagons hauled cement from the railhead at Ashton, Idaho, over 90 miles away, often through deep snow and at temperatures down to 50 below zero. The 70-foot high structure, completed in 1916, raised the maximum lake elevation 17 feet, and increased the storage capacity to 847,000 acre-feet.