WSP00205

• File Number: 8111.600
• Description: ARCA Annual Reports
• Basin: Arkansas
• Date: 5/1/1984
• Author: ARCA
• Title: Thirty-Fifth Annual Report Arkansas River Compact Administration for the Year 1983
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Annual Report

6. Facts about the John Martin Project:
The John Martin Reservoir Project was built by the Corps of
Engineers, United States Army. The project was authorized by
Congress in the Flood Control Act of June 22, t936, when the federal
responsibility for flood control throughout the country was assigned to
the Corps of Engineers. It is located on the Arkansas River, 58 miles
upstream from the Colorado-Kansas stateline and 18 miles upstream
from the city of Lamar, Colorado. Construction of the project began in
the fall of 1939, but work was suspended by World. War II from the
spring of 1943 to the spring of 1946. The project was completed in
October 1948 at a cost of about $15 million. The War Department Civil
Appropriation Act of June 24, 1940, changed the name of the project
from Caddoa Reservoir Project to John Martin Reservoir Project, in
honor of the late Congressman John A. Martin of Colorado. It is
operated by the United States Army Engineer District, Albuquerque,
New Mexico. Mr. Russell Smith has been the resident superintendent of
the project since October, 19'16.
_. The John Marlin Reservoir Project is part of the comprehensive
plan for the control of floods and the development of the water
resources of the entire Arkansas River basin. The reservoir. provides
270,375 acre-feet of storage capacity for flood control. It protects the
fertile Arkansas River Valley below the dam. It provides 350,951 acre-
feet of storage space for conservation and recreation. John Martin
Reservoir supplies water to the irrigated lands below the dam as far as
Garden City, Kansas. The top of the conservation pool is 3,BS1 feet
above mean sea level, which provides 350,951 acre-feet of storage for
irrigation. The release of stored flood waters in excess of the con-
servation and recreation pools and above elevation 3.851 feet is planned
so that, when combined with flows originating downstream from the
dam, the capacity of the channel will not be exceeded. Upon request of
the Arkansas River Compact Administration, irrigation water for
downstream water users is released through the outlet works in the
base of the dam. Downstream flood damages prevented by John
Martin dam already exceed the cost of the project. Benefits have
already passed the $92 million mark.
Recreation and favorable fish and wildlife habitats are derived from
this project. With reservoir lands open to all, there are many attractive
public use areas (or outdoor recreation, water sports, fishing and
boating, or just relaxed living. During construction some embankment
material was obtained from a 75-acre tract of land immediately
downstream of the dam. This excavated area, averaging 12 feet deep,
filled with water and formed Lake Hasty, the center of year-round
recreation.
John Marlin Dam consists of a concrete gravity structure 1,644 feet
long and t20 feet high, and an earthfill structure 2,600 feet long. The
concrete gravity structure contains a gated spillway provilled with
sixteen 30 feet by 64 feet tainter gates with their operating machinery.
There are earthen wing dams on either side of the main dam. The
north wing da.m is 3,880 feet long, connecting to the earthfill structure
of the main dam at the north abutment. The soutb Wing dam is 5,807
feet long and connects to the south end of the concrete structure of the

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