The Flaming Gorge Dam is located in a deep canyon of the Green River, in the northeast of Utah. It was built between 1958 and 1963 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as a major unit in the Colorado River storage project. The multipurpose plan was undertaken in 1956 to control the flow of the upper Colorado and its tributaries and to aid in the development of the rugged, remote upper Colorado River basin.
The dam regulates the flow of the upper river and produces hydroelectricity. The Flaming Gorge Reservoir extends 146 km (91 mi) upstream. It is part of Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, which is administered by the U.S. Forest Service.
The canyon was named Flaming Gorge in 1869 by the U.S. explorer John Wesley Powell because the brilliant red gorge, from a distance, looked as if it were on fire.
The dam is 153 m (502 ft) high and it is some 195 km east of Salt Lake City and 2,780 km west of Washington D.C.
Flaming Gorge Reservoir ©Chris Kofoed
