Northeast Wyoming River Basins Water Plan
Technical Memoranda

SUBJECT:	Appendix J Storage Operation and Description GILLETTE
PREPARED BY:	HKM Engineering Inc.
DATE:	March 2002

KEY STORAGE FACILITIES

Reservoir:	GILLETTE (or BURLINGTON LAKE/FISHING LAKE)
Date:	26 Feb. 2001
Location:	SWNE 22,T50N,R72W
Owner:	City of Gillette Parks and Recreation Department
Year of Construction:	1908
Total Storage:	2,680 acre-feet
Active Storage:	2,080 acre-feet Note: This is probably not accurate, given the lake's silting problems.
Dead Storage:	2080 acre-feet
Area/Capacity Data:	(Source: "Proposed Ditch and Reservoir," by CB&Q Ry, Feb. 1907, on file in Safety of Dams office, SEO, Cheyenne, Wyoming.)
	Contour Incremental Capacity (af) 47-52 22.82 52-57 347.3 57-62 470.2 62-65 546.8 47-65 1392.5 Nat. Capacity 65-67 260 67-72 741 47-72 2393.5 Capacity with dikes holding 25 feet of water
Dam Construction Type:	Earth Fill
Outlet:	No operational outlet
Spillway:	Principal spillway: Twelve-inch corrugated metal pipe
	Auxiliary: Once the flow capacity for the outlet has been exceeded, the lake spills over the roadway over the outlet pipe.
End-of-Month Storage Records:	No
Water Rights:	(Source: Tabulation of Adjudicated Surface Water Rights of the State of Wyoming, Water Division Number Two, Oct. 1999)
Reservoir Permit Number Permitted Use Priority Date Volume (af) Headgate Location (S-T-R) Gillette 1046R RR 03-20-1907 2080 22-50-072
Designated Use:	Water Supply
Recreational Use:	Trout fishery (bowheads, trout suckers, miscellaneous fish from residents), fishing, non-motorized boating
Associated Irrigation Diversions:	None
Associated Industrial Diversions:	None
Operational Discussion:	Gillette Lake is constructed on the main stem of Donkey Creek, receiving all of the creek's flows and spilling through its outlet (or in cases of severe rainstorms, spilling over the road above the outlet).
	The Wyoming Game and Fish Department takes care of the fishery, including occasional poisonings to clean out the lake in preparation for stocking. The property around the lake includes a city park and baseball fields, but the lake is not used for irrigation.
	In general, the City of Gillette's Parks and Recreation Department maintains the lake at a constant level. As a result, the lake constantly loses capacity to silting. The Parks and Recreation Department dredged the lake 13 years ago, and conversations indicate that it will need to be done again soon. The lake is experiencing a burgeoning cattail population and its shore is seeing much erosion from wave action.
References:	City of Gillette Parks and Recreation superintendent Larry Larson, interview, 26 Feb. 2001.
	Map to Accompany Application, Proposed Ditch and Reservoir, Gillette, Wyo., C B & Q Ry Lines West, Feb. 1907

Gillette Lake Dam cross section (Source: "Map to Accompany Application, Proposed Ditch and Reservoir, Gillette, Wyo.," on file in Safety of Dams office, SEO, Cheyenne, Wyoming.):