1932 Prettyboy Dam on Gunpowder River near Parkton, MD

(Satellite)

kiddle
"The Prettyboy Dam was finished in 1932." The reservoir and the forests around it are owned by the City of Baltimore because it is part of its water supply. "There's a story about how Prettyboy Reservoir got its name. It's said that the lake was named after a settler's horse, named Pretty Boy. The horse supposedly drowned in a creek that was once in the area."

The water dissipation technique for the far spillway is different than the middle two. A closer look at the above photo shows the outer two spillways curve into an apron while the middle two just drop down into the river.

yelp, Ana B. on Mar 10, 2024

This view clearly shows that they run the outlet works while spilling water.

AmericanWhitewater

Down the Gunpowder River posted
If you've walked up or down those almost vertical stairs in Parkton, MD., You have found one of the sources of the Gunpowder River coming out of Prettyboy Dam.

Tim Feeser: Back in the 1970’s, the water flow was held to a trickle in the summer. Thanks to Trout Unlimited and some cooperative folks in Baltimore, a minimum flow agreement was reached. This was the genesis of the year round trout fishery we have today.

176 steps [overview]

Kimberly Moore commented on Daniel's post
This is a picture from my son’s drone. Spent many years there hiking and swimming.

 

reddit, RusselStrouseStudio (also Instagram)

Note that the outlet works is running in every photo of the dam. The outlet works removes the water from the lower depths of the reservoir where the water is colder. The cold water and constant flow is probably to help the fish. 

This information confirms my fish theory and informs us that the fish are trout. It also informs me about Google's relatively new AI application. I read that some websites are suing Google because people are no longer "clicking through." That is, they use the summary info rather than click the link and go to the website for the information. Obviously, that reduces the website's "hit count." I'm a boomer, and I still click through. But in this case, I could not find the information on the websites! For the reddit link, I could not access the comments. For the Facebook link, I have no idea where Google found that information. But that was exactly the info that I was after.

Google search results
reddit link
Facebook link

Upstream has different fish species than the downstream has.

storymaps
"Boat propulsion is limited to rowing, paddling, or battery powered motors...The black bass population is the primary focus of sampling efforts and management. Electrofishing surveys are conducted to assess the population structure of black bass and other gamefish.  "

brayman
$6m project completed in Apr 2010.
"The Prettyboy Dam project involved the installation of an underwater anchorage system necessary to secure the concrete gatehouse to the dam."