Sardis Lake (Mississippi)

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Sardis Lake

Location	Mississippi
Coordinates	34°24′32″N, 89°47′45″WCoordinates: 34°24′32″N, 89°47′45″W
Lake type	reservoir
Primary inflows	Tallahatchie River
Primary outflows	Tallahatchie River
Basin countries	United States
Surface area	98,520 acres (398.7 km²)

For the lake of the same name in Oklahoma, see Sardis Lake (Oklahoma).

Located on the Little Tallahatchie River, Sardis Lake is a 98,520-acre (398.7 km²) water resource development project occupying parts of three North Mississippi counties. The dam site is nine miles (14 km) southeast of the town of Sardis, and is only an hour drive from Memphis, Tennessee.

Sardis Dam was the first of the Yazoo Headwaters Projects to be built. Authorization for the project came when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Flood Control Act of 1936. Shortly after congressional approval, work on Sardis Dam proceeded at a feverish pace. Twelve-hour days, seven days a week were the rule not the exception while Sardis Dam lay strewn on the drawing boards. Out in the dusty fields however, it was a different story. Thousands of men toiled, doing backbreaking work using mules, brush hooks, crosscut saws and axes to clear fourteen miles (21 km) along the Little Tallahatchie River, characterized by cutover hardwood, dense undergrowth and meandering sloughs.

Becoming operational in October 1940, the dam embodied some of the most advanced design and construction methods of its day. At 15,300 feet (4,700 m) in length, and with an average height of 97 feet (30 m), Sardis Dam was for many years the largest earth-filled type in the world!

The most distinctive aspect of the dam's construction was the use of "hydraulic fill" techniques. This required that soil be dredged from the river below the dam site and pumped up to provide the earth fill that forms the major portion of the dam. To facilitate this, the Corps built and operated the "Pontotoc", a special dredge powered by two 3,000 hp (2,200 kW) electric motors. The 425-acre (1.72 km²) “Lower Lake” on the downstream side of Sardis Dam created by the dredging operation, today boasts the project's most dense concentration of recreational facilities.

Sardis Lake has a maximum storage capacity of 1,512,000 acre feet (1,865,000,000 m³) of water. During the fall and winter months the lake is gradually drawn down to a "conservation pool" of 9,800 acres (40 km²). This allows for storage of spring rains from the 1,545-square-mile (4,000 km²) drainage area above the dam. Sardis Lake has performed its flood control mission admirably well. Since it became operational, the dam's emergency spillway has only been overtopped three times by unprecedented high water in 1973, 1983 and 1991. The lake's normal "recreation pool" is 32,500 acres (132 km²). Many visitors to Sardis Lake do not know of the project's role in flood control. To them, Sardis Lake is a place to play. Annual visitation tops 5 million people. The lake is popular with anglers and has a reputation for its abundant bass and crappie. Other recreation activities include hunting, camping, boating, skiing, swimming and picnicking. Its proximity to the University of Mississippi makes it popular with students.