Merritt Dam is a dam in

Cherry County, Nebraska Cherry County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 5,713. Its county seat is Valentine. The county was named for Lt. Samuel A. Cherry, an Army officer who was stationed at ...

, southwest of

Valentine A valentine is a card or gift given on Valentine's Day, or one's sweetheart. Valentine or Valentines may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Valentine (name), a given name and a surname, including a list of people and fictional char ...

, in the north-central part of the state. The earthen dam impounds the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snak ...

as it flows along the southern edge of the

Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest The Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest is a United States National Forest in the north-central Sandhills region of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The area of the national forest is . The forest is managed as part of the U.S. Forest Service's Nebras ...

in the Sandhills. It created Merritt Reservoir in 1964 as a project of the

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

. The reservoir holds almost , with about of sandy shoreline and 3,000 surface acres () of water. Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area is adjacent to the eastern side of the reservoir and offers boating, fishing, camping, and hunting activities.

References

External links

Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area - Nebraska Game & Parks Commission
Dams in Nebraska State parks of Nebraska United States Bureau of Reclamation dams Reservoirs in Nebraska Bodies of water of Cherry County, Nebraska Protected areas of Cherry County, Nebraska Dams completed in 1964 {{CherryCountyNE-geo-stub