In September and October 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through what is now Lake Oahe while exploring the Missouri River. Oahe Dam was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944, and construction by the United States Army Corps of Engineers began in 1948. The world’s first rock tunnel boring machine was invented in 1952 by James S. Robbins for the Oahe Dam project, which marked the beginning of machines replacing human tunnelers. The earth main dam reached its full height in October 1959. It was officially dedicated by President John F. Kennedy on August 17, 1962, the year in which it began generating power. The original project cost was $340,000,000.
Counties bordering lake: 14, including 4 in North Dakota, and 10 in South Dakota
Tours
Tours of the powerplant are given daily, Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Native American displacement
As a result of the dam's construction the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation lost bringing it down to today. Standing Rock Reservation lost leaving it with. Much of the land was taken by eminent domain claims made by the Bureau of Reclamation. Over and above the land loss, most of the reservations' prime agricultural land was included in the loss. The regions where the populations were resettled had soil with a higher clay content, and resources such as medicinal plants were less prevalent. The loss of this land had a dramatic effect on the Indians who lived on the reservations. Most of the land was unable to be harvested before the land was flooded over with water. One visitor to the reservations later asked why there were so few older Indians on the reservations, and was told that "the old people had died of heartache" after the construction of the dam and the loss of the reservations' land. As of 2015, poverty remains a problem for the displaced populations in the Dakotas, who are still seeking compensation for the loss of the towns submerged under Lake Oahe, and the loss of their traditional ways of life. Huff Archeological Site is a fortified Mandan village site on what is now the bank of Lake Oahe. It is designated a National Historic Landmark, but is endangered by erosion pressure from the lake.
2011 flooding
Excessive precipitation in the spring, along with melting snow from the Rocky Mountains forced the dam to open the release gates, releasing in June with another through the power plant totaling. The previous release record was in 1997.
