Pomme de Terre Lake

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Pomme de Terre Lake, Missouri

Location	Hickory County, Missouri Polk County, Missouri
Coordinates	37°54′06″N, 93°19′13″W
Lake type	Flood Control Reservoir
Surface area	7,820 acres (multipurpose pool) 16,100 acres (flood pool)
Shore length¹	113 mi
Surface elevation	839 ft
¹ Shore length is an imprecise measure which may not be standardized for this article.

Pomme de Terre Lake is located in South-West Missouri at the confluence of Lindley creek and the Pomme de Terre River (for which it is named). The lake is located in southern Hickory and northern Polk Counties, about fifty miles north of Springfield, Missouri. The name is French and translates to "apple of the earth" or potato.

The lake is part of a series of lakes in the Osage River Basin designed and constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers for flood control. Construction began in 1957 and was complete in 1961 at a cost of $14,946,784. Storage of water began on October 29th, 1961 and the multipurpose pool was reached on June 15th, 1963.

The Dam is adjacent to Pomme De Terre State Park and is crossed by Route 254. It consists of a 14 foot circular tunnel with two 6.5 X 14 foot hydraulic slide service gates and a single 24 inch circular low flow gate. The Dam is 7,230 feet long, 30 feet wide at the top and 950 feet wide at the base (maximum).

There are two arms of the lake that extend from the dam-site. The Pomme De Terre arm follows the Pomme De Terre River and extends for 17 miles. The Lindley arm follows Lindley creek for 12 miles.

[edit] Recreation

There are over 650 campsites along the lake as well as two public swimming beaches. Water skiing and many other forms of water recreation are common at the lake. Every 4th of July the local Chamber of Commerce sponsors a fireworks display launched from an island near the dam site.

Pomme de Terre Lake is well know locally for its largemouth bass, crappie and white bass finishing. It has wider acceptance as a premier Muskie lake. Muskellunge have been stocked in the lake since 1966.