Gardiner Dam near Elbow, Saskatchewan

A road trip from a couple of years ago and we will have to return to this area again someday. Hopefully, it will be a nicer day. The day was hot, very windy, and smokey. Lee put the drone up for a couple of minutes in the wind. The wind gusts were over 45 km/h. Gardiner Dam, located 25 kilometers north of the Village of Elbow on the South Saskatchewan River, is the principal dam that impounds Lake Diefenbaker. In conjunction with the Qu'Appelle River Dam, the 64-meter-tall, 5,000-meter-long dam was officially opened on July 21, 1967. Both dams create Lake Diefenbaker, a 225-kilometer-long reservoir with a full supply level of 556.87 meters. More than a third of Saskatchewan's population depends on Lake Diefenbaker for various purposes, including power generation, irrigation, recreation, wildlife habitat, and municipal and/or industrial use. Constructed between September 1958 and October 1968, Gardiner Dam remains one of the largest earthfill dams in the world. We definitely need to go back and get some better footage!