SWL Home > Recreation > Nimrod Lake > Dam and Lake Info

Dam and Lake Info

What’s Behind the Names:

The Fourche LaFave River forms Nimrod Lake. Fourche means “fork” in French, and LaFave is believed to be the name of a French family who lived in the early 1800’s where the Fourche LaFave meets the Arkansas River. Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, was a mighty hunter. The lake is aptly named “Nimrod” because the wild surroundings have an abundance of game for the hunter.

Project History

The Nimrod Dam was constructed at a time when the country was trying to pull out of the great depression. The war in Europe was raging. Pearl Harbor was eventually bombed, and the United States was drawn into the greatest conflict ever known to humanity. Amidst these hard and troubled times, small rays of hope sprang up all around the country. One of those was the construction of Nimrod Dam.

The Nimrod Lake & Dam were authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1938. Testing the site for the dam started in September of 1939 with core drilling and test trenches. Clearing and preparing the site for construction started in February of 1940. Actual construction of the dam began in April of 1940 and was continued after the start of World War II. It was completed in March of 1942 making it the first to be constructed in the Little Rock District. The total cost of the project was $3,773,000.

Nimrod Lake is a part of a comprehensive plan for flood control and development of water resources in the Fourche LaFave River and lower Arkansas River Valleys.

Recreation was not a part of the initial mission of Nimrod Lake, however, through the years, it has evolved into a significant part of the project. Nimrod now offers a full range of recreational opportunities such as camping, swimming, boating, and hunting.

Updated/Reviewed: 7 Jan 2010