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million. The dam spans 14,300 feet across the creek at a height of 140 feet, and now serves the community as a park and water recreation area as well as a retard- ing barrier for floods much larger than the event of June 1965. Cherry Creek Dam was designed and built by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to store the Standard Project Flood, which is approximately equivalent to the 500-year event. The dam eliminates the flood potential from 385 square miles of the total 409 square miles at the mouth. ~ ~ ~ With the history of major flooding on the South Platte River through 1933, and with the culmination of planning, design, and construction of the Cherry Creek Reservoir in 1950, the Denver metropolitan area saw the need for an additional flood control structure on the South Platte River, just downstream of the confluence with Plum Creek. During the 1950s, the planning and design for a flood control reservoir were completed for Chatfield Dam. At that time, however, funding was not available to initiate and complete construction. The floods of 1965 changed the minds of many concerning the need for the structure. After assessing the damages within the Denver area at $300,000,000 and the loss of 8 lives, the project was funded and construction began. In 1973, final closure of the dam was made and the facility became capable of storing tributary flood- waters. All the related reservoir improvements, including recreational facilities, are scheduled to be completed and totally operational in 1976. Chatfield Dam is located approximately one-half mile above the City of Littleton corporate limits, in Douglas and Jefferson Counties. As with the Cherry Creek Dam, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers built Chatfield Dam to store a Standard Project Flood with a maximum outlet release of 5000 cfs. With Chatfield Dam in place, the reach of the South Platte River lying within Arapahoe County will still experience flooding from tributary streams in Littleton and from the west. To assist the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers with needed flood control measures along the 6.4 miles of the South Platte River which lie adjacent to the City of Littleton, in Arapahoe County, citizens of Littleton voted in 1971 to put up local funds to assist the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in implementing a mutually satisfactory project for flood control. Presently, the city is in the process of intensive planning on ~ ~ 10 ~.