Carter Lake, Iowa

Carter Lake is a city in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,785 at the 2010 census.

History

Carter Lake is the only city in Iowa located west of the Missouri River. This is due to a flood that occurred in March 1877, which redirected the course of the river 1.25 mi (2 km) to the southeast. The remnants of the old river course, called Saratoga Bend, became an oxbow lake, Carter Lake, for which the town is named today.

Soon after the formation of the lake, the site became a flourishing recreational area. It included, "a boathouse at the foot of Locust street, hotels and club houses were numerous and the lake was the scene of many a pleasant rowing and fishing party."

After extensive litigation between Iowa and Nebraska, in 1892 the Supreme Court of the United States finally ruled that Carter Lake belonged to Iowa in Nebraska v. Iowa, 143 U.S. 359 (1892). Although the general rule is that state boundaries follow gradual changes in the course of a river, the Court ruled that an exception exists when a river avulses one of its bends. In 1972, the Supreme Court made another ruling on the circumstances of Carter Lake when it ruled on a boundary dispute between the two states in Nebraska v. Iowa, 406 U.S. 117 (1972).

Carter Lake

Carter Lake may refer the following places:

Carter Lake (Iowa–Nebraska)

Carter Lake is a shallow oxbow lake in Nebraska and Iowa, located next to Omaha and Carter Lake. Soon after its formation the lake was called the East Omaha Lake, and then Lake Nakoma.

History

Carter Lake is a former channel of the Missouri River and was formed in the summer of 1877. The city of Carter Lake, Iowa takes its name from the lake. The lake was formed from the Saratoga Bend in the Missouri River.

The Saratoga Bend was the impetus for the creation of the town of Saratoga, Nebraska Territory, a short mile from the river. However, the Bend was cut off from the river after a flood in 1877. A beach resort with a large boathouse and two-story pavilion, a Rod and Gun Club, and a YMCA camp had all settled on the shores of Lake Nakoma by 1906.

The Carter Lake and Levi Carter Park at 3100 Abbott Drive were named after one of Omaha's original industrialists named Levi Carter, who ran a white lead smelter in the area.

See also

Carter Lake Dam

Carter Lake Dam (National ID # CO01650) is a dam in Larimer County, Colorado.

The earthen dam was completed in 1950 by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, with a height of 214 feet, and a length of 1235 at its crest. It contains offstream storage as part of the Bureau's Colorado-Big Thompson Project for flood control and irrigation. The dam is owned by the Bureau and operated by the regional Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District.

The reservoir it creates, Carter Lake Reservoir, has a water surface of 1,100 acres, about eight miles of shoreline, more than 900 acres of surrounding public land, and a capacity of 112,230 acre-feet. Recreation includes fishing (for rainbow trout, kokanee, brown trout, splake, walleye, yellow perch, bluegill, salmon, largemouth bass, etc.), hunting, boating, camping and hiking.

See also

References

Coordinates: 40°19′32″N 105°12′44″W / 40.32553°N 105.21218°W / 40.32553; -105.21218