Enloe Dam and Powerplant, Embankment dam in Okanogan County, United States.
Enloe Dam is a concrete arch-gravity structure that crosses the Similkameen River in Okanogan County. The facility holds back water to form a reservoir that extends upstream from the dam site.
The structure was built in 1920 and named after Eugene Enloe, president of the Okanogan Valley Power Company. It provided electricity for the region before operations stopped in 1958.
The dam is named after Eugene Enloe, president of the Okanogan Valley Power Company, who secured the site rights in 1916 and put $150,000 of his own money into the $350,000 construction. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 18, 1978. The Colville Indian tribes now seek its removal to restore salmon to the Similkameen River.
The dam lies about 4 miles west-northwest of Oroville, just above Similkameen (Coyote) Falls. The concrete powerhouse downstream is partly ruinous, and the reservoir above the dam is largely silted up, only 9 feet deep. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places, so check access conditions before walking down to the structures.
A powerhouse with two turbine generators sits about 260 meters downstream and is no longer operating today. This facility was once central to electricity generation for the region.
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