Milford Lake - Project History

Project History

The construction of Milford Lake was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1954 to provide flood control, water supply, water quality, navigation, and recreation/wildlife. Construction of the Milford Dam began July 13, 1962 at mile 8.3 of the Republican River, as a project owned and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The dam consists of a rolled earth fill embankment of 15 million cubic yards, with an uncontrolled spillway on the right bank. (The term "uncontrolled" refers to the lack of spillway gates such as those at Tuttle Creek Lake in Manhattan, Kansas.) Normal water storage impounds 388,000 acre-feet.

Many contractors were involved with the project during the construction phase. Contractors built new roads and altered existing roadways, and relocated railroad facilities, city owned facilities in Wakefield and Milford, electrical, telephone, and gas lines, and cemeteries. They also built recreation areas and cleared structures from within the reservoir flood pool. The towns of Alida and Broughton ceased to exist, with houses either moved to other locations, razed, burned, or buried.

The town of Alida had a major clearing contract for the removal of the Alida Cooperative grain elevator. Originally a local chiropractor sought to gain permission to develop the grain elevator into a hotel with a restaurant. Corps of Engineers studies showed that the base of the elevator would not support the structure after the lake inundated it. According to local newspaper articles, it took six separate blasts over a two-day period to bring the elevator down.

Broughton had two railroads that came through the town, the Rock Island from the east and the Union Pacific from the southeast. The town had a stockyard, grain elevator, Post Office, school, church, telephone exchange, grocery store, private homes, and a blacksmith’s shop under a large cottonwood tree. According to a local newspaper article, many men who lived in the area worked for the railroads. Even though the town is gone, an annual Broughton picnic is held for those who still remember.

Portions of the towns of Wakefield and Milford were relocated to higher ground. Farms were dismantled and trees were removed from areas soon to be covered by the lake waters.

Impoundment of the lake began January 16, 1967 and six months later on July 13, the multipurpose pool elevation of 1144.4 mean sea level was reached. Milford Lake’s dedication ceremony was held in May 1968. Lyndon Johnson, then President of the United States, was scheduled to appear but did not come.

Over the course of the last 34 years the Milford Lake Project has provided over $921 million in flood prevention, with $250 million during the 1993 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 1992 – Sept. 30, 1993). The initial cost of construction of the dam and reservoir was approximately $49,700,000.