Sheridan Lake, a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

, is located on Spring Creek in

Pennington County, South Dakota Pennington County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 109,222, making it the List of counties in South Dakota, second most populous county i ...

. Built over the site of Sheridan, the first county seat, it is owned and operated by the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

and is one of the recreational areas of the

Black Hills National Forest Black Hills National Forest is located in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, United States. The forest has an area of over 1.25 million acres (5,066 km2) and is managed by the Forest Service. Forest headquarters are located ...

Overview

Sheridan Dam was built in 1939 as an earthen structure, tall with a length of at its crest. The maximum capacity of the reservoir is , and the normal storage is . Facilities include a marina, improved swimming beach, campground and group campground on the North Shore; campgrounds and swimming beach on the South Shore; and various picnic and overlook areas. The dam across Spring Creek is very small and accessible only on foot. Lake water levels remain constant since the lake is not used for flood control or irrigation. Sheridan Lake is accessible via

U.S. Route 385 U.S. Route 385 (US 385) is a spur of U.S. Route 85 that runs for 1,206 miles (1,941 km) from Deadwood, South Dakota to Big Bend National Park in Texas. Route description , - , TX , 545 , 877 , - , OK , 36 , 58 , - , CO , 317 , 5 ...

north from

Hill City, South Dakota Hill City is the oldest existing city in Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 872 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. But as of the 2024 census, the population is now over 1,000. Hill City is located sout ...

and Three Forks or south from

Lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and

Deadwood Deadwood may refer to: Places Canada * Deadwood, Alberta * Deadwood, British Columbia * Deadwood River, a tributary of the Dease River in northern British Columbia United States * Deadwood, California (disambiguation), several communit ...

, or through a scenic route via Sheridan Lake Drive, a paved county highway, from

Rapid City Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed. It is the second-mo ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Black Hills Reservoirs in South Dakota Protected areas of Pennington County, South Dakota Black Hills National Forest Bodies of water of Pennington County, South Dakota