Oahe Dam

M and D weren't done yet with showers and breakfast, so I drove up to the dam.  The Missouri is neither as muddy nor as free flowing as it once was, as it now consists of a series of long stair steps marked by broad dams and long reservoirs.

Oahe Reservoir extends something like 230 miles upstream into North Dakota (there are a couple of shots from a previous trip at hshipman: Mobridge 2010).  The earthen dam is 240 feet high and probably helps manage the unruly Missouri -- although I doubt the folks in downstream communities appreciated that during the floods of 1997 and 2011.