1962 Ellsworth Dam on East Cache Creek near Elgin, OK

(Satellite)

"The lake was built by the City of Lawton in 1962 primarily for water supply, and it also serves as a recreational area." [Google Search AI Overview]

June 2025: Facebook Reel

same reel

The structural height is 96' (30m) with a 300' (91m) spillway width. The max discharge is 106,307 cfs. [news-press]

Apr 2025 Flood:

Lawton Grapevine posted the comment: "Lake Ellsworth is 2 inches from topping the dam with the wind the water is already going over the tops of the gates"

Amanda Barfield Hough: Anyone have a picture of

Joe Collard: What does the spillway look like?

Anonymous participant commented on Amanda's comment

Cody Martin commented on Joe's comment

Jackie Cameron Bess commented on the above posted comment
I’m at Walter’s on snake creek. The only thing holding this river back is a small levy. I’m stressed out. But thanks for the jokes. It helps ease the stress .

Apr 30, 2025: Darrel Yazzie posted a video and photo with the comment: "All 15 floodgates at the Lake Ellsworth Dam are open, with significant water flow exceeding the gate capacity."

Michael Browning: Only 12 are open. 3 gates don't work and water is splashing over those gates.

Marty Watley: 9:20am they went from 6” to 10” at Ellsworth, they must have opened them 5” since then.

Video

Photo, cropped

I prefer views of the downstream side, but I could not find any street views of the downstream side. And only an old view of the upstream side. At least this captures that the spillway is rather long, but a small fraction of the length of the dam. And, according to the above gate photo, the lake must have been full in 2008 as well.

Street View, Mar 2008

Evidently, the lake level doesn't get very far below the top of the gates.

WildlifeDepartment

SouthwestLedger
Construction will soon start on a $47m project to repair the spillway because it was damaged by the 2015 flood. In addition to damaged concrete panels, voids were found under the spillway and it "floated" during the water releases. "The repairs will include installing 110 robust rock anchors, placing more drains beneath the apron, sealing numerous cracks, overlaying the 363-foot-long spillway with a 20-inch-thick concrete slab, retrofitting the spillway retaining walls, adding chute blocks on the spillway stilling basin, and adding riprap along the east side of the spillway."
The dam is 3,900 (1,189m) long.