Doing a little research on the construction of Bagnell Dam to create Lake of the Ozarks I came across a site, http://www.lakehistory.info/damfacts.html which had the following interesting information.

Bagnell Dam was designed by Stone & Webster Engineering Company of Boston, Massachusetts. The owner of the dam is AmerenUE of St. Louis, Missouri. (At the time of construction, AmerenUE was known as Union Electric Light & Power Company.) Construction began on August 6, 1929, and was completed in April, 1931. The Lake of the Ozarks began to fill on February 2, 1931, and would fill at an average rate of one-and-a-half feet per day. The water reached spillway elevation on May 20, 1931–seventy-eight days after the dam sluiceways were closed. However, the lake water would not reach full reservoir for the first time until the spring of 1932. Total cost of the project was $30 million.

Can you even imagine what a company would have to go through to build something like this today? The legal fees alone the first year would be 10 times more than the whole Bagnell Dam cost!

Anyway, when they were done, Bagnell Dam created one of the largest man made reservoirs in the country at that time, with approximately 1,100 miles of shoreline, more than the Pacific Coast of California! It is a beautiful and wondrous place to live and play. I hope you are lucky enough to someday call it home too!